The next game in the series is most definitely Gohan's game. He's the star here, and the whole story mode revolves around him. That said, look at Gokou back there trying to steal all of Gohan's thunder.
The first shot of this game is a great Mode-7 flight shot. There needs to be a DBZ flight simulator.
This game was released in the same year as the previous one, from the same developers. Only fighting games can pull off that kind of quick turnaround time.
The story mode here STARTS with Gohan training to face Cell. No earlier sagas are covered, which is unfortunate given how much the first game skipped over.
You get a choice of which characters to use. Even with the opportunity to play as Trunks, I go with Gohan since the game is centered around him. Poor Trunks keeps having to play second-fiddle to Gohan. Just like their dads!
Speaking of which, here's Gokou. Not yet a ghost, he offers what are presumably words of encouragement. This was one situation where Gokou the raging sociopath put aside his narcissism to cheer on his son.
The game also has a two-player versus mode where you can try out all of the characters. Not sure if the first game had one of these; only saw the story mode.
Back to story mode, the first battle is against Piccolo for some reason. I guess he has to lose at the beginning of all of these games. Also, Gohan starts in Super Saiyan 2 even though he hasn't fought Cell yet. Sorta makes up for the first game not having it.
This game has the same dual-plane system as the first, and attacking from the air is pretty effective.
BOOOOOOOOM!
...and Piccolo is dust. Payback for the school of hard knocks, green man!
We interrupt this broadcast for an emergency announcement from Gohan's mom that he has to do homework. This reminds me that supposedly Gokou once had sex. Can you imagine? I can't.
But wait! Here's Mr. Satan, DBZ's perennial weakest character. This game sure does have a lot of dialogue and cutscene. This seems more like a real story mode, but I wish it covered more of said story. With the teenage blonde protagonist, this game is already a step away from being a Final Fantasy. Only components missing are the melodrama and the score by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Mr. Satan has basically no health, and gets one-shotted by Cell in an uncontrollable battle.
Now it's Gokou's turn to fight Cell. This was a GREAT fight in the show, one of the best in the whole series. In my opinion, most of the show's best fights are inside of the Cell Saga, with the two Gokou/Vegeta battles being the exceptions.
Here we see Gokou throwing Cell. Another new addition to this game is the ability to throw, which goes right through enemy blocks. This would have been amazing in the first game.
Finally, Gohan Vs. Cell. Luckily, Cell isn't the death machine that he was in the first game. Matter of fact, this game is MUCH easier.
Super moves are simpler to pull off and the enemies are less likely to block them, so they're a reliable way to take off large portions of enemy health.
Cell proceeds to turn into Exploding Cell, causing Gokou to make THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE~! to save planet Earth.
Now we get Gohan Vs. Cell II, as Cell returns in Super Saiyan 2 form. ...though in this game he's pretty much the same here as the previous fight. Perfect Cell's Super Saiyan 2 form is kinda like Muscle Freeza. Not quite a new form, just a better version of the best form.
Cell has a HUMONGOUS AURA. So... is this the final battle?
A massive Kamehameha wave!
Gohan fires back with one of his own!
Now THIS is cool. A beam tug-of-war, won by mashing the A button. The first game didn't have anything THIS awesome!
Cell is vanquished. Thus ends an extremely short game...
...or does it? Bulma's wild-eyed, drunken father reports that someone wrecked his opium den laboratory. This guy looks way too much like a Miniature Schnauzer.
Next up, Gohan battles... Vegeta! For some reason. Not sure what's going on at this point, but whatever gives the player more to do is cool. They wanted to make a Gohan-themed game revolving around the Cell battle and they somehow found a way to stretch that into a full fighting game story mode. It's the most impressive display of content elongating since The Hobbit somehow became a trilogy of movies.
Here's Zanya... or Xxanya... or something like that. She's one of Bojack's goons in Movie 9. Since that's probably the best movie (and the only one to feature SSJ2 Gohan), it makes sense that they're including some of it here. It was also probably the most recent movie when this game was released.
But first! Gohan fights Piccolo again! I have no idea what's going on!
Just realized that Gohan can be rearranged to spell Hogan. How ironic that Gokou is the spotlight-hog of the two. Gohan is stuck being Macho Man Randy Savage after winning the world title at Wrestlemania IV while Hogan pranced around between him and the camera.
Bojack meets with his wench. These villains were early signs of the changeover into the Buu Saga character designs. Was the Buu Saga even out yet in 1993?
Meanwhile, Gohan catches Dende masturbating. At least, I think that's the look we're seeing. Maybe he was just plotting world domination. Dende is a seedy one.
AHHH! CHRIST! Don't sneak up on me like that, Mr. Popo.
Whoa! It's Kuririn! He sure as heck isn't a playable character, but it's good to see him in a cutscene appearance. Remember when he and Gohan used to be a similarly-leveled heroic duo back in the day? They've come far. Or at least, Gohan has. Kuririn hasn't done much. It's like Gohan is Shawn Michaels and Kuririn is Marty Jannetty.
Gohan takes a moment to talk to the father of his future girlfriend. I wonder what Mr. Satan would think if he knew this young man would someday Put A Lannister in his voluptuous daughter so she could birth the most irritating character in history.
Why is this lady blue, anyway? Why is Bojack green? They're basically space pirates who cross dimensions, but that's about all I know about them.
ZANGYA, that's her name. Gohan battles her in a desert sandstorm. Bad ass!
...Didn't he slice her in half with one kick in the movie? It's been too long.
Bojack is the final boss. This guy was similar to Perfect Cell in the threat he posed, if not slightly more powerful, so this is a good spot for him.
While Cutscene Bojack is a strapping blue pirate, Battle Bojack is a red-maned, green Blanka.
However, since he's so big, most of his energy blasts fly right over Gohan. All things considered, Gohan's small size gives him a distinct advantage in this game.
He's also lightning quick, and can rattle off several jump kicks inside of one leap.
The battle goes to the air, as I wonder what the odds are that Bojack, Brolly, and Buu are all dressed similarly despite being from different parts of the space-time continuum. Toriyama could only draw so many different outfits at a time, I suppose.
A Kamehameha wave ends Bojack's bid to conquer Earth Realm.
Roll credits, as the spirit of Gokou looks on creepily.
Apparently if you play through this game on the hardest difficulty level, the final battle is a surprise fight with Brolly. Really? Brolly is stronger than Bojack and Cell? He's only SSJ1.5!
Hogan... Gohan... IT'S ALL CONNECTED
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Gokou tells Gohan that he needs to train more in order to be able to defeat Cell.
ReplyDeleteThis character select theme makes me want to go to the club. I like it.
Chichi tells Gohan to be careful because he definitely has to win this fight.
Mr. Satan boasts to cell that he's the strongest champion on Earth.
This game looks good. Glad we have a Gohan-centric game from the days he was the titleholder.
The Z fighting againt each other after the Cell Saga was basically Green guy stealing their DNA or something from Bulma's dad lab. You had the choice to go after a specific Z fighter but had no clue if he was the real one or not so basically if you picked a fight against a real Z fighter you'd have to fight the fake one after it too. Gohan vs Broly if I can recall right was basically Gohan wanting to impress his dead father and prove to everyone that he became the strongest. The fight came out of nowhere but oh well.
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