It’s safe to say that Dragon Ball FighterZ is taking the fighting game world by storm, culminating in an incredible final match at Evo 2018 between top FGC pros SonicFox and GO1. I personally consider it to be the best Dragon Ball game made (so far, hopefully), thanks to its stunning anime visuals and frenetic action. I’m not a fighting game super-fan, and I’m still struggling to even get the most basic universal combo string down. But thankfully, its accessibility systems mean that picking Dragon Ball FighterZ up is never frustrating, and always a visual delight. No other anime game has captured the look of its source material so well.
Sadly, it looks like we’ve hit the end of the road in terms of new content. Three of four batches of DLC characters have now been released, with Cooler and Android 17 being added September 28th. Fortunately, I think we’ll see a second season of new characters, given the game’s success. Normally, I wouldn’t be excited by this kind of DLC practice, but FighterZ is a damn good game. and I’d rather more characters be added to this version of the game than in an iterative release, like certain Capcom fighters.
The Rules
Still, Season 2 of FighterZ has to have some rules as to what not to include: firstly, no GT. Look, I know, for whatever reason you’re one of those abject freakazoids who loves the look of Super Saiyan 4. I get it, man (well, not really). But, outside of obscure card games and ‘AU’-style DLC packs in the Xenoverse series, GT’s been ignored for years. I don’t see FighterZ as the game to give life back to that dead horse.
Secondly, a limited number of new Saiyans. Look, in a perfect world I’d want Raditz just as much as you, but the main game and existing DLC characters have already stuffed FighterZ FULL of the miserable monkeys. Every single DLC character added so far has been a Saiyan (yes, I’m counting Fused Zamasu, just look at his hair). I’m pretty sure the majority of the cast have at least a drop of Saiyan DNA in them. Enough is enough.
And lastly, absolutely no more Gokus. By my count, there are three whole Gokus, and that’s before you get to body swaps, fusions, and identical fathers. Kotaku had an amazing discussion trying to figure out exactly how many Gokus are in FighterZ.
To be honest, I wouldn’t mind Kid Goku, as he’d offer some body type variety. Additionally, I feel like the fact that the first half of the series, the original Dragon Ball, has no representation whatsoever is an oversight at best and an insult at worst. On that note:
The List
Master Roshi
The legendary Turtle Hermit himself, a three-hundred year-old lewd, cunning martial arts master and Goku’s first on-screen teacher. Master Roshi is first introduced early on in Dragon Ball, giving young Son Goku his Flying Nimbus, a magical cloud that allows the pure-of-heart to fly. Master Roshi is later impressed by Goku’s ability to intuitively mimic his technique, the Kamehameha, and takes him on as a student for the upcoming Tenkaichi Budokai martial arts tournament. The rest is history.
I want Master Roshi to be included for much the same reasons as I gave in the article about our hopes for Jump Force character picks: his inclusion would respect the roots of the series. Master Roshi is also the in-universe creator of the iconic Kamehameha. Roshi has a versatile moveset, including stun attacks and a bulk-up transformation. I imagine his Level 3 Super would be his slow, methodical ‘Original’ Kamehameha combined with his Full-Power state.
Great Demon King Piccolo (Mutant Namekians assist)
Another pick to represent Dragon Ball, and add some visual diversity. The Demon King Namekian is one of the best villains in the whole franchise, and in my opinion, sadly overshadowed by his son/reincarnation. In the distant past, a nameless Namekian wished to become the Earth’s guardian, but his heart was too impure. The Namekian managed to separate out into two halves, the pure half known as Kami, and the evil half known as King Piccolo. King Piccolo was sealed away for a few centuries, before escaping and wreaking havoc, until Goku manages to put a stop to his cruel villainy.
King Piccolo could share elastic properties with Piccolo Jr, as well as using some unique moves, such as eye beams or the Makosen, a two-handed trick attack where one beam is used as a distraction for a second, more powerful blast from the other hand. His Mutated Namek children could also be used as assists, similar to the Ginyu Force aiding Captain Ginyu.
Mr Satan
Listen, I know. Mr Satan isn’t even on the same level as Yamcha, let alone any of the god-tier members on the FighterZ roster. But hear me out; what’s a legendary fighting game without a joke character?
While Dragon Ball started out as a comedic gag manga parodying Journey to the West, it rapidly evolved into a dramatic fighting shonen. I’m not saying the series ever became uber-serious or humourless, but Akira Toriyama’s storytelling priorities had clearly shifted by the time the Tenkaichi Budokai arcs began, even before the sci-fi-tinged Z sagas began. Mr Satan, however, is comedy personified. He is the reigning world champion of the Tenkaichi Budokai tournament, although this status was only won due to the Z-Fighters being busy with saiyans, galactic tyrants or mechanical monstrosities. He doesn’t have any ki training; he’s just a really strong normal guy who’s probably about the same strength as Goku in the first few episodes of Dragon Ball, at best.
Despite his comedic status, FighterZ has the perfect narrative excuse to have Mr Satan as a viable fighter. Android 21’s MacGuffin machine seals away the power of the Earth’s strongest warriors. Mr Satan would be relatively unaffected by this change, thus enabling him to bring the smackdown to these damn dirty Saiyans. He’d use trick and trap moves, not unlike Hit’s playstyle, and his afro serves as necessary hairstyle variety from all the Super Saiyan ‘dos.
Jaco the Galactic Patrolman
Jaco is Akira Toriyama’s favourite character. His hobbies are bringing peace, explosions, and watching action movies.
A parody of Ultraman and other Japanese superhero shows, Jaco is a bumbling space officer sent to Earth to stop a Saiyan child from wreaking havoc (I wonder who that could be?). Unfortunately, his vehicle is damaged, thus leaving Jaco stranded on Earth. He gathers a crew of misfits, including Bulma’s older sister Tights, and sets about fixing his ship so he leave from our backwater planet.
Jaco is another fun pick that would add visual and tonal variety to the assortment of characters. And, like Mr Satan, he can’t really use ki in the slightest. While he is physically strong, his power mainly stems from his smarts and from his tools, including his trusty ray gun and rocket boots. His unique moveset could stem from these tools, while his three-bar Special could be the mighty Macrocosm Cannon, fired from his spaceship.
Uub
I admit, this one is something of a peace offering to those raving GT fans. Uub is one of the most fascinating unexplored characters in the series; a pure-good reincarnation of Kid Buu, the most chaotic version of the eldritch gummy horror. Despite his daunting latent potential, Uub is a very timid young boy, not unlike Gohan early on after his debut. However, after being provoked by Goku at the Tenkaichi Budokai, he reveals his true strength and proceeds to land some good hits on the Super Saiyan. After the fight ends, Goku decides to train Uub, and they fly off to the boy’s village. The series ends, and we never see Uub again. Never.
There’s a lot of untapped potential here. Although FighterZ seems to take place during Super, its DLC features characters from different eras of the show’s history with little-to-no justification. Skipping forwards a few years seems acceptable. We could even go into the future, past the end of Z, and find an Uub who’s been trained by Goku for a few years. He could have access to all of Goku’s moves, such as the Kaioken, as well as certain traits borrowed from Kid Buu thanks to his spiritual heritage. It’d be fun to let Arc System Works play around with a blank slate character without them needing to create one from the ground up, like Android 21.
King Cold
Oh yeah, now we’re talking. One of the most underutilized characters in Dragon Ball (and anime) history, King Cold is the big bad father of our favourite space tyrant, Frieza. Although certain sources claim he was weaker than his son, I never really bought into this claim. Clearly, he was only in his second form, and when he went with his son to Earth to get revenge, the Z-Gang were as terrified of him as they were Frieza. Aaaaand then he gets killed by Future Trunks in, like, a minute flat. Yeesh, tough crowd.
King Cold would be another neat addition thanks to his regal, alien character design and his bulky build (also, his addition would allow you to finally rock a full-on Frieza family). In Budokai Tenkaichi 3, he wields a sword, and I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t do so in FighterZ, adding another weapons-user to an otherwise overwhelming crowd of fist-fighters. Once again, his relatively low screen time would allow Arc System Works to have fun with his moveset. Maybe he could even transform in one of his Super moves… a new Akira Toriyama alien design? Sign me up!
Kale (Caulifla assist)
Alright, alright. I’ll include some Dragon Ball Super characters. Stop heckling me, you bloody fanboys.
Kale’s pretty cool, I guess. A Universe 6 Saiyan (meaning no tail and probably not evil), Kale is a young, shy saiyan with hidden power. Stop me if you’ve heard that one before. When she sees her boisterous friend Caulifla flirting, she gets enraged and releases her true power… a green-tinged Berserker Super Saiyan form, not unlike everyone’s favourite Legendary Super Saiyan.
I like Kale as a design and function more than I do as a personality. She’d add another woman to FighterZ’s sadly male dominated roster, and another large bulky Legendary-style character. Although clearly inspired by Broly, she could be differentiated from the mad titan by having tag-team combos with Caulifla. Alternatively, this slot could be taken by the fusion Kefla, a combination of Super’s two female saiyans capable of taking down Super Saiyan Blue Goku.
Jiren
Why the hell isn’t the strongest character in Dragon Ball history in FighterZ?
Listen. I’d be lying if I said I like Jiren as a character. Although he got more interesting towards the end of the Tournament of Power arc, what with his parallels to Son Goku and his tragic backstory, he never really broke out of cliche for me. This kinda sucks (and summarises my entire feelings towards Dragon Ball Super on the whole). Still, his fights kicked ass, so I can live with it.
It’s possible that Jiren would better serve as a boss character in a potential FighterZ sequel, but I’ll try to balance him here. Jiren could share Broly’s super armour property, or even a stronger version of it. His moveset, otherwise, isn’t actually that flashy in terms of technique; its the raw power behind it that makes him an incredible foe.
Those are my eight picks for a potential FighterZ season 2. What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Sending bombs to my house for not including Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta or Omega Shenron? Leave a comment or nag me on Twitter @georgecheesee.

Ant Banana
September 28, 2018 at 1:33 am
Hey bro. Listen.
It’s nice that you are a fan and all, but it’s clear you do not know what you are talking about. I’d advise you to watch GT and get away from your meme humor. You are offending the real fans.
Mutant Namekian? What in the world is that? Why are you going to throw shade at GT then put Uub in there? Don’t fill in stuff about King Cold with your head canon. If you knew anything about Dragon Ball, you would know there are a lot more female characters than Kale.
Harry Morris
September 29, 2018 at 8:34 am
In George’s defence, his adoration for the Dragon Ball franchise is clear in this article. Having a different perspective on the characters of Akira Toriyama’s universe to you doesn’t make him a non-real fan. The article is intended to entertain, no need to feel upset. 🙂
George Cheese
October 1, 2018 at 4:31 am
Cheers for the kind words, Harry. I’ve probably spent way too much of my life running Dragon Ball websites and doing research around the more niche aspects of Akira Toriyama’s series.
Ant, I’ve seen GT fully about three times, and watch the occasional episode here and there. I actually quite like elements of GT, in fact, more than I like most parts of Super. But I don’t like the designs from when Super Saiyan 4 is introduced onwards, to be honest. Everything before that was actually pretty great, asides from ‘tache Vegeta.
I’m strongly against gatekeeping fandoms in general; even though I’d probably wager I’ve more exposure to Dragon Ball than you, your opinions are still valid, for the most part. Just the way you delivered them ain’t. 🙂
Mutant Namekian is a semi-commonly used term in the fandom to describe King Piccolo’s offspring, who don’t look like traditional Namekians.
I know there are a lot more female fighters than Kale–in fact, I’m struggling to find where I said there aren’t. Videl and Chi-Chi both don’t very strong movesets, Celipa doesn’t get much screen-time.
Thanks for your comments, though! I hope to hear from you again.
Mohamed
September 28, 2018 at 2:30 am
King Cold? Jaco? Are you trying to start a war lmfao!
George Cheese
October 1, 2018 at 4:26 am
You know it :’)
headscarf
September 29, 2018 at 5:33 pm
Your gt comments were unessecary it was an amazing article but you were so annoyeing when it came to gt critisim is okay but you have to watch it first before you follow a band wagon
Harry Morris
September 30, 2018 at 8:49 am
But he has watched it. 🙂
George Cheese
October 1, 2018 at 4:25 am
Hiya Headscarf. Thanks for the kind words about the article in general. I have seen GT (three or four times, in fact), and I do in fact enjoy parts of it (in fact, I’d probably say I like early GT more than I like most of Super), but everything from Super 17 onwards isn’t very good, in my estimation. If they did add GT characters to FighterZ, they should do so in a big batch of 4 or more, so you don’t just have the odd Super Saiyan 4 or Negative Energy Dragon.
KuntWanker
September 30, 2018 at 3:33 pm
Master Roshi – Hell yeah
Piccolo Diamo – sure, but I’d rather have Tao.
Mr. Satan – you’re goddamn right
Jaco – nah. Videl instead.
Uub – not enough references unless it’s GT Uub. Replace with Dabura
King Kold – same reason. Janemba instead
Kale – yes
Jiren – Onviously
George Cheese
October 1, 2018 at 4:26 am
Cheers KW. If we had Videl rather than Jaco, I’d also want Great Saiyaman as opposed to, er, Jiren. Sorry Jiren.
I like Uub and Kold as they ARE blank slate-type characters for ASW to play around with. Uub could definitely be somewhat inspired by GT for sure, though.
Brent Middleton
October 14, 2018 at 11:33 pm
Hey George, finally got around to reading this. As a more casual fan that grew up with Dragon Ball, Z and GT, it was really interesting learning more about the backgrounds of some of these characters and how they could translate into the game. You have a really entertaining voice! Great read.
Ricky D Fernandes
October 15, 2018 at 7:23 pm
I just started playing Dragon Ball Fighterz and I’m loving it. I have no idea who any of these dudes are but that Mr. Satan chap looks awesome.