SNES - Dragonball Z: Hyper Dimension

Format
SNES
Publisher
Bandai
Developer
Bandai
Country of origin
Japan
Release date
1996
Genre
1 on 1 Fighter

Dragonball Z: Hyper Dimension

By Eric
1st Jun 04

Licensed games, 90% of the time, are made by people who either don't care about the license, don't care about the gamers who will be buying their product, or both. Unfortunately, this has been true with the recent Budokai games, though to what extent I can't be certain. Sure, it had tons of unlockables and pretty graphics, but the fighting itself was entirely too simple and button mashy. If you remember, there was one punch button, one kick button, a ki button, a block button, and a throw button.

Though Dragonballz has had bad luck with its games, there was one that shone brightly. Dragonballz: Hyper Dimension. Sadly, it was never localized in the US, so if you want it you'll have to either import it or go rom hunting. Each DBZ game seems to cover a different area of the series. This one goes from the middle of the Frieza saga to the end of the Buu saga.

Hyper Dimension is a 2D fighter like Street Fighter or King of Fighters with controls similar to Budokai (except that there is no block button. You block by holding the D-pad away from your opponent). Thankfully, this control scheme works MUCH better in 2D, and despite having just one punch and one kick, there are plenty of combos you can do.
Each fighter has their own special moves that are done with motions you'd remember from other games like the fondly remembered quarter-circles and "Dragon punch motion". Each fighter can shoot a single energy ball, shoot a larger ball upward as an anti-air move, or shoot a large projectile (usually the kamehameha, sometimes not). They also have desperation moves that they can do when their life bar is below 80. I get a grin on my face every time I see Goku go Super Saiyan 3 and proceed to beat his opponent senseless, complete with Genki Dama (spirit bomb).

The game even has innovations. Most of you are familiar with the traditional fighting game setup. One life bar, one energy bar. When your life is gone, you are defeated. When your energy bar goes up, you can use super attacks. Hyper Dimension boldly combines those two bars into one. Each fighter begins with a full ki bar which can be as small as 10 or as large as 900. When you use ki attacks, the bar goes down. It opens up new strategies. Do you use that costly kamehameha wave or do you refrain to keep the extra life points? In story mode, the more powerful characters from the show have higher life bars than you do. Not to worry, though. You can recharge your ki by holding down punch and kick at the same time, though it makes you vulnerable while you do it.

The innovations don't stop there. Battles don't take place on just one screen. You can knock opponents off the screen into an entirely different arena. You can even knock them into the sky and take the fight into the air if you want to. Not only that, but if two fighters' blows strike each other at the same time, it goes into super-fast fighting, where the first person to press an attack button when the two break apart lands a powerful ki finisher. Neat, huh?

Let's not forget characters. Unlike the other games, which loaded you down with all the piddling, insignificant characters just so you'd have more to play with, Hyper Dimension cuts out the minor characters and leaves you with ten that you WANT: Goku, Vegeta, Gotenks, Adult Gohan, Vegito, Piccolo, Frieza, Cell, Majin Buu, and Kid Buu. And don't worry, this time they don't all share the same fighting moves.

Most people probably are hesitant about another dragonballz game, since they usually don't provide the exciting fights and action that they should. However, please give Hyper Dimension a try. It will do you right.

Score: 9.75/10

-- Eric 1st Jun 04

SNES Dragonball Z: Hyper Dimension Images