- Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout
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Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout
Dragon Ball: Final Bout
Developer(s) Bandai Publisher(s) Bandai (First Edition)
Platform(s) PlayStation Release date(s) Genre(s) Fighting Mode(s) Single player
multiplayerRating(s) ESRB: T Media/distribution CD ROM Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, known in Japan and Europe as Dragon Ball: Final Bout (ドラゴンボール ファイナルバウト Doragon Bōru Fainaru Bauto), is a fighting game for the PlayStation. It was produced and released by Bandai in Japan, parts of Europe, and North America in 1997. The game would reissued in Europe in 2002 and in North America in 2004. The game shares the distinction of being the first game in the series to be rendered in full 3D, and the last Dragon Ball game produced for the console. There would not be another new Dragon Ball game for consoles until the release of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai in 2002.
Contents
Gameplay
Final Bout Gameplay.
The game is similar to other fighters but features 3D environments and characters from the Z and GT series of Dragon Ball franchise. Unique in the game were the special ki attacks called a Special Knockout Trick. These were the spectacular versions of the character's ki attacks the player performed at a distance. When these attacks are performed, the camera would cut and pan to the attacking character who would power up and the player would fire. During the attacking character's power up, the opposing character would be giving the opportunity to either retaliate or block upon the moment the word counter would flash on the lower right hand corner of the screen. If the player chose to retaliate, they too would power up and fire a ki attack causing a power crossfire which the camera would ĝÖŞ around both characters ala bullet time.[1] Depending on which player is pressing their button the fastest would determine who would receive the brunt of the blast. Another feature which was carried over from Legends, was a technique called Meteor Smash. With a key combo, players could ignite a chain of mêlée attacks.[1]
Modes of Play
Battle Mode
The standard mode, here players can either face their friends or the computer in random battles.
Tournament Mode
Like other Dragon Ball titles, this mode allows players to fight their friends or the computer in Budokai tournament. This mode can allow up to eight players to join in. Players can also play as their build up character.
Build Up Mode
Carried over from Ultimate Battle 22, this feature gives player the chance to train a character of their choosing and save them via a memory card. Unlike Ultimate Battle 22, this version of the mode allows to build their characters strength to triple digit levels, and comes with experience chart in their character profile. Like Ultimate Battle 22, players have the opportunity to battle their friends with their character in the option called Build Up Battle.
Playable Characters
Main article: List of Dragon Ball charactersThe game's roster features a unique match up from the two Dragon Ball series. Primary starting with principal cast from the GT series Goku, Trunks, and Pan. This would also be the first game to feature her. While other characters Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Cell, Frieza, and Buu would come straight from the Z series. The only character unplayble would be Baby Vegeta in his Oozaru form. An exclusive to the game was the adult Super Saiyan form of Goku in his GT outfit which an unlockable character. Other unlockable characters were the Super Saiyan forms of GT kid Goku and Trunks, Z series Goku, Future Trunks, and Vegeto. The final was the Super Saiyan 4 form of Goku.
Naming conventions
The original Japanese release of the game was unique for its naming conventions for all the characters. All the adult incarnation of Goku are referred by his full name "Son Goku" (孫悟空) while his child incarnation is referred simply as "Goku" (悟空), and his Z series incarnation is presented in all capital rōmaji "SON GOKOU". GT Trunks is naturally referred by his katakana "トランクス". While Future Trunks is presented in all capital English text "TRUNKS". Nearly all Super Saiyan characters are referred with the prefix Super (超), and Super Saiyan 4 Son Goku is referred as "Super 4 Son Goku" (超4孫悟空). This also applies to the super form of Oozaru Baby Vegeta who is referred as "Super Baby" (スーパーベビー). Both Vegeta and Vegito are simply referred as Vegeta and Vegetto and not Super Vegeta and Super Vegito despite they are both in Super Saiyan form. Finally, Kid Boo is referred as simply "Buu" (ブウ).
Voice cast
Character Japanese English Son Goku Masako Nozawa Steven Blum Vegeta Ryo Horikawa Milton James Piccolo Toshio Furukawa Dan Woren Trunks Takeshi Kusao Skip Stellrecht Kid Goku Masako Nozawa Brianne Siddall Pan Yūko Minaguchi Lia Sargent Son Gohan Masako Nozawa Lex Lang Cell Norio Wakamoto Tom Wyner Baby Vegeta Yusuke Numata Joe Romersa Frieza Ryusei Nakao Eddie Frierson Kid Buu Kōzō Shioya Dougary Grant Vegito Masako Nozawa/Ryo Horikawa Steven Blum/Milton James Music
Dragon Ball Final Bout: Original Soundtrack 
Soundtrack album by Kenji Yamamoto Released September 12, 1997 Genre Anime Length 49:57 Language Japanese Label Zain Records The composition was done once again by Kenji Yamamoto. Out of all the pieces used in game only five were new material, and the rest were remixed arrangements of previously used music from both 16 and 32bit eras. The game also featured four brand new songs, the opening theme "Biggest Fight", the closing themes "Kimi o Wasurenai" and "Thank You", and Goku's Super Saiyan 4 theme "Hero of Heroes". All performed by Hironobu Kageyama with Kuko providing backup vocals. On September 12, 1997 nine of the compositions and the four songs would be released by Zain Records exclusive in Japan as Dragon Ball Final Bout: Original Soundtrack (ドラゴンボール ファイナルバウト オリジナルサウンドトラック Doragon Bōru Fainaru Bauto Orijinaru Saundotorakku). The Future Trunks theme arrangement "Hikari no Willpower" was featured as a hidden bonus track.
Track Listing # Japanese title Romaji title Translated English title Length 1. 「THE BIGGEST FIGHT ～激突～」 "The Biggest Fight" ~Gekitotsu~ The Biggest Fight: Clash 3:32 2. 「冒険の旅」～Classic arrange version～ "Bōken no Tabi" ~Classic arrange version~ Journey of Adventure: Classical Arrangement Version 2:41 3. 「孫悟空演部曲」～Classic Arrange Version～ "Son Gokū Enbu-Kyoku" ~Classic Arrange Version~ Son Goku's Fighting Routine Waltz: Classical Arrange Version 2:56 4. 「孫悟空、新たな飛翔！」～Powerful arrange version～ "Son Gokū, Arata na Hishō!" ~Powerful arrange version~ Son Goku's New Flight!: Powerful Arrange Version 3:50 5. 君を忘れない Kimi o Wasurenai I Won't Forget You 3:54 6. 「山吹色の戦士」～Symphony classic version～ "Yamabuki-Iro no Senshi" ~Symphony classic version~ The Golden Warrior: Symphony Classical Version' 3:54 7. 交響曲・ニ短調「魔人」 Kōkyōkyoku Nitanchō "Majin" Symphony in D-minor: "Majin" 4:39 8. 「閃光のポタラ！」～Techno house version～ "Senkō no Potara!" ~Techno House Version The Gleaming Potara!: Techno House Version 5:08 9. THANK YOU ! Thank You! Thank You! 3:53 10. 「パンの願い」～Piano Ballad version～ "Pan no Negai" ~Piano Ballad version~ Wish of Pan: Piano Ballad Version 1:12 11. 交響詩「復讐」 Kōkyōshi "Fukushū" Symphonic Poem: "Revenge" 4:22 12. HERO OF HEROES Hero of Heroes Hero of Heroes 5:00 Hidden bonus track 光のWILL POWER Hikari no WILL POWER Willpower of Light 4:56 Ports
Cover to Atari's 2004 reissue of Final Bout.The game was first released in Japan in 1997 under its original title Dragon Ball: Final Bout. It fared enough in sales to be reissued under the PlayStation the Best for Family series a year later. In parts of Europe (France, Spain and Portugal), the game was also released under the name Dragon Ball: Final Bout in 1997.
In North America, the game was released as Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, and it was the first time a Dragon Ball video game was released in North America with the Dragon Ball license intact. Due to Dragon Ball's obscure popularity at the time, Bandai America only produced 10,000 copies of the game, thus making it a rare gem for collectors of both video games and Dragon Ball-related merchandise, with online retailers Amazon and eBay featuring prices for the game from $100 to $250.
In 2002 the game finally saw a release in the UK, along with other European countries that previously didn't officially receive the game. Finally under little fanfare, Atari reissued the game in 2004 with brand new artwork supplied by Toei Animation. This release coincided with Funimation's dub of Dragon Ball GT.
Localization
When the game was released throughout North America, several changes were made for localization. Naturally, dialog by the Japanese voice actors was replaced, but not by the then current voice cast at Ocean Group. Instead, Bandai America decided to use an uncredited cast of US voice talent. However, the voice effects still consist on the Japanese voice cast, causing the character voices to clash. The game's opening theme, "Biggest Fight", was replaced with an untitled instrumental rock track in the opening FMV. The cast credits at the end of the game, also set to "Biggest Fight" was removed completely. The two closing songs "Kimi o Wasurenai" and "Thank You!" remain instrumental even when the game is beaten at normal and difficult settings. However, Super Saiyan 4 Son Goku's theme, "Hero of Heroes", was left unchanged. At the title screen, the game's sound test is available, whereas in the original Japanese it was a secret that players could only access by holding down certain buttons at once. The Buildup data transfer option was removed due to the fact Ultimate Battle 22 had not been released at that time. When the game was reissued in 2004, the game's data was not altered in any way from its 1997 North American release by Bandai.
The European 1997 version, like with most European Dragon Ball Z releases from the 16-bit and 32-bit era, was released mostly unaltered from the Japanese version, featuring the original Japanese voice acting and with the game's opening theme "Biggest Fight" left intact. The game text was only translated to French and other languages besides English because of the lack of official release in any English-speaking country. When the game was re-issued in Europe in 2002 (which included a release for the first time in English-speaking countries like the UK), the game was kept the same than the previous European version except for the texts being re-translated to English.
Reception
Final Bout Game Reviews Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 46% [2] Review scores Publication Score GamePro 3/5 GameSpot 3.3/10 [3] IGN 3.0 [4] Official PlayStation Magazine (US) 2/5 PSM 1.5/5 Game Force 2.2/10 VicioJuegos 41/100 PXa2z.com 41/2 [5] Thunderbolt Games 3/5 [6] Mega Score 89/100 [7] World of PlayStation 9/10 Akin to many Dragon Ball licensed games, the critical response to Final Bout was less than stellar. Frequent criticisms included sluggish controls and an overcharge of playable Goku incarnations.
Rumors
During the game's lifespan, false rumors began to pop up online about the game's roster of secret characters which claimed to contain Gogeta, Gotenks, Goten, and Pilaf. To add to the confusion, gaming sites like GameFAQs began posting guides featuring said secret characters and methods to unlock them. The methods involved the player having to beat the game an unreasonable number of times and on their next round of play beat the game with a character that would be associated with said character without losing a match. After more than ten years since the game's initial release, no such proof that any of the characters in question actually exist within the game's data.
Another rumor was the story that Bandai came up with the game's character roster by sending out a questionnaire throughout Japan asking Dragon Ball fans what characters they would like to see in a Dragon Ball game.[8] However, people dispute this, as such a story could not account for the multiple character incarnations, with the game featuring six playable incarnations of Goku. Even after ten years, neither branches of the now Namco Bandai have either confirmed or denied this story.
References
- ^ a b Retrieved from the game's North American instructional manual circa 2004.
- ^ GameRankings score
- ^ GameSpot review
- ^ IGN review
- ^ PXa2z review
- ^ Thunderbolt Games review
- ^ Mega Score review
- ^ Ask "Daizenshuu EX"
External links
- Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout at GameFAQs
- Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout at MobyGames
- Dragon Ball Final Bout: Original Soundtrack at MusicBrainz
Categories:- 1997 video games
- Video games developed in Japan
- PlayStation games
- Bandai games
- Dragon Ball games
- Dragon Ball soundtrack albums
- Video game soundtracks
- 1997 soundtracks
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