Posted by I’ve been a fan of Dragon Ball Z ever since I was a kid, and I started playing the mobile game Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle about five years ago. While the game’s ninth anniversary is still about six months away for the global playerbase, which is the version of the game that I play, the Japanese version’s ninth anniversary is about to start. Even though the global anniversary is still sometime away, I still wanted to talk a bit about what has been revealed so far and how I think it will impact the game.
2023 was not a great year for Dokkan. It featured some of the lowest grossing monthly unit releases, and even its large celebrations were all mired in controversy. I think that the game’s “Worldwide Download Celebration” back in August was where the cracks really began to show: bad unit transformation requirements, bad naming choices, bad unit choices, bad animations, bad upgrades for older units, obnoxiously difficult and unfairly designed content that powercreeps 99% of the game, and so on. The rest of the year was largely the same. I think that some of those problems might finally be changing. With the game’s ninth anniversary looming, the headliners for the first part have been revealed: Dokkanfest Exclusive LR Broly and Carnival LR Gogeta from the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie. While it looks like the units are effectively upgrades of the previous Broly and Gogeta released to celebrate the release of the movie back in 2018 (Broly starting Super Saiyan and transforming into Full Power with Gogeta starting Super Saiyan and turning Blue), I can’t complain. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like both units will have transformation requirements built into their passive skills, so they will hopefully transform fairly easily, just like the previous iterations of these units.
The unit choices for part one makes me very hopeful for the rest of the anniversary, and the year for that matter. While I may be slightly biased because my favorite units in the game and teams to run are villain teams, from what I’ve seen, the community is very happy with these choices. I know that I am. Broly from Dragon Ball Super has not received representation in years, so his inclusion during anniversary as a major headliner is an absolute win in my book. Ninth anniversary is genuinely the first anniversary that has gotten me hyped up, and it’s still six months away for myself and the rest of the global playerbase.
Another exciting development is the announcement of upgrades for older units in the game that have already received Extremely Z-Awakens. The game routinely releases EZAs that upgrade older units’ super attack and passive skills to make them more viable in the current state of the game, but this practice does not eliminate powercreep. There are plenty of units that have already received EZAs and have either already been powercrept, or the EZA wasn’t enough to save them in the first place. This introduction of an “EZA 2” makes me very hopeful, and I’m excited to see where it goes.
Finally, the only negative that I can see with this anniversary is the format: part one and two both include a Dokkanfest Exclusive banner and a Carnival banner instead of both Dokkanfest Exclusive banners being part one with both Carnival banners being part two. While this can be difficult because it makes players unsure of which part to prioritize, the global playerbase will at least have the foresight to pick and choose accordingly. As for part two, there’s a lot of speculation going on already in the community. Since the theme has revealed to be “Super,” there’s some ambiguity as to what that could entail. Some possible options include Beast Gohan or Cell Max or the Gammas from Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Super Vegeta, Super Buu, Super Vegito, Kid Buu, and Super Gogeta and Super Janemba. While part two could be a completely disconnected blindside like it was for the eight anniversary, I don’t see that happening due to the split banners between parts and the community reaction to the eighth anniversary. The community is adamantly convinced that part two will include Beast Gohan, the Gammas, and/or Cell Max. I think that this option makes a lot of sense since it is the second movie in Dragon Ball Super and chronologically follows Broly, so it would fit as a part two. The recent release of Hirudegarn on the Japanese version of the game also bode wells for a possible Cell Max because a playable Hirudegarn means that larger characters who would normally be relegated to temporary giant forms can still receive their own full-fledged units. Cell Max would also provide another leader to the newly introduced “Super Bosses” category that Broly will also be leading. However, anniversaries have not always given its headliners the same leader skills, so just because there is one “Super Bosses” leader does not guarantee that there will be a second one in part two, especially because Cell Max would likely be the Carnival unit if he is indeed released. I expect the “Super Bosses” to be fairly straightforward in consisting of the main antagonists of Dragon Ball Super, and I think the category will be fine. There are plenty of viable units in the game that will fit this team, so I expect it to be fine. It won’t be the best team in the game or anything, but it doesn’t need to be. Though a Cell Max unit would be very much appreciated. I could see Super Vegeta, Super Vegito, and some iteration of Super Buu being part two, especially because the LR Goku and Vegeta that transform into Super Vegito and LR Majin Buu (Gotenks) from 2020 are slated to EZA anytime now, though EZAs of big units, especially during anniversary, don’t necessarily have to connect with the anniversary units and their themes. As for Super Gogeta and Super Janemba, I do think that they could be part two because they were the units released for the first anniversary, and the ninth anniversary seems to be redoing the Broly and Gogeta released when the Broly movie first came out, so I could see Gogeta and Janemba being redone as well. Only time will tell.
I think that Dokkan‘s ninth anniversary could be exactly what the game has been needing. The community has been complaining about the lack of good villain units, and especially Broly units. The fact that Broly is a headlining unit is massive for the health of the game and teambuilding variety, and the community seems to be very happy with these choices. 2023 was definitely a low point for Dokkan, but it looks like 2024 is already off to a very strong start. Now to painfully wait six months for the global anniversary…
Broad Scope Entertainment 