It is indisputable what this saga means for many people around the world, it marked the childhood of many children, adolescents and even adults, being one of the anime / manga with the longest trajectory in history and one of the most recognized worldwide. A franchise that does not need too much presentation. But in this case, I come to talk about a PlayStation 1 game based on that great anime/manga: Dragon Ball, this game is based especially on Dragon Ball GT, that Dragon Ball series that was not written by the great Akira Toriyama.
And without more, a new Retro Review of an excellent fighting game based on a great anime: Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout.
When I was writing the Digimon Rumble Arena review, I immediately remembered this game that is based on another great anime from my childhood and then I decided that the next retro review was going to be about Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, but what I did not remember clearly was how this game looked in terms of graphics, in my mind it looked much better, but the reality is different. Well, Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout does not look so bad when compared to other games on the PlayStation 1, but I have to admit that it is a game that has not aged as well as others, but unlike Digimon Rumble Arena, I returned to play Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout and the truth is that although obviously you notice the passing of the years, as for the playable, entertained me.
We can notice that this game has a fairly simple graphic quality, both in the characters and the scenarios of battles itself, in the scenarios it is where you notice that it is the least worked aspect of the whole game, but they fulfill their function of creating in pretty normal terms, some locations that we can see in the anime. Regarding the characters, as usual in the old but dear PlayStation 1, they present polygonal designs, an aspect that was very common in this game console, in addition the models of these characters did not have textures that made them stand out, even so , each character in the game was easily recognizable and similar to those seen in the series.
However, there is one aspect of this whole game that I really liked, and I am talking about its introduction. At the start of the game, they present us with an introduction to the game itself, where the quality of drawing is appropriate and perfect as for any official opening of the series, we can see our heroes fight against the most famous enemies of this saga, in choreography of quite decent and spectacular fights, added to that, has a soundtrack that accompanies us throughout the duration of the opening, to add more action to each hit and kick.
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As I said before, in the opening of this game we can hear a soundtrack that accompanies us throughout the duration of that introduction, this soundtrack is very energetic and performed with the mood characteristic of any opening of the Dragon Ball anime. With respect to the general soundtrack of the whole game, it's a pretty decent aspect, each character has a main theme, in addition to the melodies characteristic of each scenario and each situation that is presented in the game, they are melodies that often resemble those seen in the anime and as in most of these, provide action and dynamism to all fights. But the best sound aspect is the sound effects, because for this game, the original voices were used in Japanese, therefore it gives more personality to the characters we fight with, besides we all know that listening a good Kamehameha! gives more emotion than any other attack.
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At first I said that when I played this game again I had a lot of fun, but before that I had to get used to what was Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout in terms of playability. This game has a fairly slow gameplay, an aspect that in my childhood I never noticed, because when playing with your favorite characters, emotion makes you forget the possible bad of something, in this case a game. With some delays at the time of pressing the button and after the character made some action, were aspects of which I had to gradually get used to while playing this game again. In addition, the obvious slowness in the movement of characters, both when moving from one place to another or giving a blow, were clearly aspects and situations that for anyone who plays Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout for the first time, not be of your liking.
Although not everything is bad, throughout the game we can fight against and with some of our favorite heroes and villains of the anime, from the innocent but brave Goku, to the one who is the best villain of the entire franchise, Frieza, but not only they are, we can also find Piccolo, Vegeta, Pan (Goku's granddaughter) and villains like Buu and Cell, among others. In addition to that, there are several transformations and variants of our beloved protagonist. Each of the characters has movements and their characteristic powers that we have seen in the anime, each also has special combos and final moves, where I can easily say that it is the best aspect of the whole game, because despite all that this game lacks, as far as final skills are concerned, is what they tried hardest when developing this game.
Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout is not a game that I would recommend to everybody, I must admit that it is not perfect game and that objectively it is bad and it has aged a little bad during all these years, nevertheless it is a game that I like and quite , since it reminds me of many moments of my childhood and above all, it reminds me of all the exciting moments that Dragon Ball made us live during the childhood and adolescence of many people, to them if I would recommend this game, to those fans that like me , they grew up watching Dragon Ball, going through Dragon Ball Z, then Dragon Ball GT (which despite not being as good as its predecessors, there it is and worth seeing) and ending with Dragon Ball Super.