Needless to say you'll need to get to grips with many of the game's intricacies before you're able to meet the likes of Broly on equal footing. This can be a tall order, as the further that you progress through Goku's journey the tougher your opponents become, with later stages really ramping up the difficulty. It takes a heck of a long time to unlock all of these assist fighters, too, as you'll need to earn high ranking scores throughout adventure mode. Sure, it's satisfying to be able to summon Dabura and watch him unleash a powerful move, or chuckle when Bulma runs your opponent over with a capsule bike, but with so many fantastic characters relegated to what are essentially cameo appearances it's hard not to feel disappointed. Instead, the vast majority of fighters have been pushed to one side and only appear as assist characters who can be called upon in the heat of battle.

The mainstays are all here – Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Cell, Majin Buu – but there's a distinct lack of secondary personalities, which, let's face it, isn't what you expect from a Dragon Ball title. It's a shame, then, that the playable character roster is actually quite stunted. Fans of the original series will appreciate the attention to detail in a lot of the dialogue, and a healthy dose of cameos from less popular characters seem like thoughtful additions, too. Goku will often reminisce with various characters about times past, and many conversations even hark back to the days of the lesser known Dragon Ball in which Goku was just a child. The plot of adventure mode, which is exclusive to the game, is little more than an excuse to have all of the vanquished villains return for one big world-ending series of battles, but it's the finer points of the narrative that make it worthwhile.

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