Namco Bandai powers up Dragon Ball trifecta

E3 2009: Japanese publisher announces Raging Blast for Xbox 360 and PS3, Revenge of King Piccolo for Wii, Attack of the Saiyans for DS; DBZ license holder unclear.

LOS ANGELES--Namco Bandai today announced that it would be hitting the Dragon Ball franchise hard and heavy, revealing three new games based on Akira Toriyama's heralded anime. The first, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, will see release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, while Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo will be available exclusively for the Wii, and Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans will head to the DS. All three games are due this fall.

A fighter in the vein of Atari's Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast features more than 70 fighters, though Namco Bandai notes that the figure includes fighter "transformations." Fighters will be drawn from the Dragon Ball Z universe, with characters facing off to reenact various moments in the series. Namco Bandai also said that players will be able to "experience alternate universe moments that were left out of the original anime and manga series."

Namco Bandai promises interactive and fully destructible environments as well as high-definition visuals in Raging Blast. Special moves seen in the TV and print series will also be re-created for the game, with developer Spike also adding a new special attack system that lends an increased element of verticality to the battles. Players will be able to control Z-Warriors and their antagonists.

Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo for the Wii is an action adventure game that follows Goku during his formative years, what Namco Bandai calls a first on home consoles. The game will be set during Goku's Red Ribbon encounters, according to the publisher, as the aspiring martial-arts master builds his strength battling against a variety of enemies, meeting a number of iconic Dragon Ball characters such as Emperor Pilaf, King Piccolo, and the Red Ribbon Army.

Lastly, Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans for the DS takes on the turn-based strategy genre, another first for the franchise, Namco Bandai claims. Attack of the Saiyans lets players flesh out their three-fighter squad with a number of Z-Warriors, including Goku, Kid Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien.

Namco Bandai's announcements come as a surprise, given that Atari has long been the rights holder to the Dragon Ball game license. Indeed, according to an annual report Atari issued last year, the publisher said that 49 percent of its annual revenues during its 2008 fiscal year came from the Dragon Ball Z license. Last week, CEO David Gardner told GameSpot that Atari needs to strike a balance between working with its own intellectual properties and working with those of others.

Following a dispute with US anime firm FUNimation in October 2007, Atari signed a licensing agreement that would see it retain the rights to make games based on the Dragon Ball Z franchise through January 2010.

Atari had not responded to requests for comment as of press time. "At this time Namco Bandai Games America is officially publishing the 3 Dragon Ball games we announced today at [the Electronic Entertainment Expo]," a Namco Bandai representative told GameSpot.

69 Comments

  • dbzfan007

    Posted Sep 27, 2009 6:17 am PT

    I CANT wait for it!!!

  • ddlcpc

    Posted Sep 12, 2009 3:34 am PT

    is it ture that theres going to be ss3 broly in raging blast.. that woud be awsome..

  • ddlcpc

    Posted Sep 12, 2009 3:26 am PT

    raging blast gameplay looks more awsome than that of blast limit except for the character...

  • DarkSmokeNinja

    Posted Aug 3, 2009 9:19 pm PT

    I'm looking forward to buying this

  • bbymoss

    Posted Jul 14, 2009 5:34 pm PT

    They need to make a good Dragonball adventure game!!! Emphasis on good. Im a big fan of dragonball z and would love to play through an adventure. The arena fighting is fun but i want a developing story.

  • SUPEReeeGO

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 9:21 pm PT

    wow took them long enough lol. destructible environments should be fun. agree with burstlimit514 =D. weird how a lot of composers don't make more games based on anime like Bleach or Code Geass those have fihgting in them too lol

  • burstlimit514

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 1:22 am PT

    hope raging blast has online play.

  • _gamekid_

    Posted Jul 5, 2009 12:59 am PT

    I surely hope this game would be way better than burst limit.

  • axelviiii

    Posted Jul 4, 2009 2:06 am PT

    Im holding out a bit of hope for Raging Blast given Namco's fighting pedigree (Tekken and Soulcalibur for the uninformed), and I'm always happy to see a game based off the original Dragonball. The DS game also seems interesting, and could be really huge given the character count.

    Oops, wrong article.

  • daveneonfarrell

    Posted Jul 3, 2009 1:09 am PT

    Raging Blast looks like crap. Just a re pop of another weak tenkaichi. Bring back dimps and make budokai 4 already. Sheesh

  • ropumar

    Posted Jul 2, 2009 8:18 pm PT

    Naruto ultimate ninja storm is the best fighting game from any anime license.

  • Darryl_Green

    Posted Jul 2, 2009 10:12 am PT

    Hopefully this game goes above and beyond the call of duty of being a game for dragonball fans and becomes something everyone can pick up and enjoy. Also I hope they decide go back to the story mode format that was used in the original Budokai and put actual cutscenes back in the game. An open world story format in the vein of Budokai 3 would be nice too. The graphics really need to step it up though this looks like something I would've seen on my PS2 a few years back Burst Limit was a much better looking DBZ game this generation.

  • YamaBushi13

    Posted Jul 1, 2009 3:17 am PT

    What happened to the people who made DBZ Budokai 3 (not to be confused with DBZ Budokai Tekenchi 3), I think they're better developers (well with regards to controlling the characters)... I am still waiting for Dimps (the developers for the Budokai series) to release a DBZ game with a character list as long as Budokai Tekenchi 3!

    I will see what this one is like though... I dont understand why they keep remaking the DBZ series when they can venture into the DBGT series (ALSO). They should do stories that lead from the beginning of DBZ to the end of DBGT, with hidden characters from the movies!

  • FartMonkey65

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 6:33 pm PT

    I'm so so on the Raging Blast game for 360. I wasn't a huge fan of the DBZ games Spike made, but I love DBZ fighting games.

  • skywalkerforce

    Posted Jun 27, 2009 7:25 am PT

    I just bought Burst Limit yesterday and its great but it def could use some improving. I hope Raging Burst deals with these issues. And a all destructible environment makes for way better gameplay. Very Excited!

  • magintaspiro

    Posted Jun 24, 2009 4:49 am PT

    i can't wait for it

  • DBZMMO-er

    Posted Jun 23, 2009 7:05 pm PT

    DUDE THIS LOOKS AWESOME!!! YOU CAN SMASH THEM INTO STUFF AND BEAT 'EM UP WITHOUT DESTROYING THE FEATURE!!! THIS IS THE UPGRADED TENCHAICHI BUDOKAI GAME!!!

    I can't wait to see the new game mechanics towards this game! I hope you get more than 3 attacks per character... That really ticked me off. And an open world story line would be kick-ass

    and kevin104.......................... this is tenkaichi 4

  • speedy5212

    Posted Jun 13, 2009 12:16 pm PT

    -@damaster101
    How the hell do you think Burst limit's gameplay was like budokai 3 . IMO Budokai 3 is still the best . Budokai 3 was much more challenging and with alot better fighting system

  • heavenboy666

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 3:03 am PT

    I like all fighting game but DBZ the most.

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