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April 24, 2026

Dragon Ball Z – The Legacy of Goku II

By Joe

In the late 90s, FUNimation and various stakeholders tried to make Dragon Ball Z a thing in western markets. Both the original Dragon Ball and its sequel series Dragon Ball Z were partially dubbed and released on VHS with a syndication package sold to local networks. For the first in the US, a Dragon Ball video game (yes, I’m aware of Dragon Power, it doesn’t count), Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, was localized and released on the PlayStation outside of Japan while retailers were sent repackaged versions of the Bandai and AB Toys action figure line. It didn’t take off. Maybe people in the US weren’t quite ready for DBZ? Or maybe the video game was terrible, the toys sucked, and the show was aired in horrible timeslots where it had no chance to take off?

If you’re at all familiar with the Dragon Ball franchise then you know that didn’t last forever. Eventually, networks gave up on it and so did apparently everyone else. Everyone except Cartoon Network who loved acquiring cheap programming to freshen up its broadcast schedule as it tried to incorporate more than just old Hanna-Barbera cartoons into its lineup. Dragon Ball Z found a home on the cable channel and it soon gained enough popularity that Cartoon Network was able to center a new anime block, dubbed Toonami, around it. The only problem was that by the time DBZ had found its audience all of the old product was basically gone. Sure, the VHS tapes were still around, but a lot of the toys had been sent to the discount bin and everyone was doing their best to forget about the PlayStation game. Well, some poor souls paid exorbitant prices for copies on the secondary market that they almost certainly would come to regret, but there was a hunger for more: more episodes, more merch, and definitely more video games.

I had to include a shot from the game’s intro because the lone DBZ animation cel that I own happens to be from this scene.

The delayed fandom in the US meant that everyone basically had to play catch-up when it came to Dragon Ball Z. And in the backs of the minds of those involved was probably the worry that this was just some fad that would crash out so speed was necessary. Infogrames was awarded the video game license which it would release on its Atari brand it had acquired somewhat recently. The first game out of the gate was The Legacy of Goku in 2002. The Game Boy Advance action-adventure role-playing game put the player in control of Goku in a top-down, Zelda-style game where the legendary hero did battle with…wolves and snakes. And often died. The game was a mess with poor collision detection and little refinement. A true cash grab in many ways as the team at Webfoot Technologies was likely given a very small window to develop and release the title. Reviewers were not kind, but since it was the first DBZ game released to a fanbase practically frothing at the mouth for a new game it sold like hotcakes and a sequel was quickly greenlit.

By all accounts, The Legacy of Goku II improved on its predecessor in just about every way possible. Set during the Android/Cell Sagas, Legacy of Goku II puts the player in control of multiple heroes in the same action RPG style with improved collision detection, new maneuvers, and new power-ups. When it arrived on the GBA in 2003, I didn’t pay it much mind. I had played the first game and can confirm it was trash so I wasn’t going to just throw money at a new one. I’m pretty sure I was aware of the improved reviews, but I never did seek it out. Not until almost ten years later when I got the itch to play a DBZ game and wanted something that wasn’t a one-on-one fighter. I picked up a copy on eBay and the post office promptly lost it. I never did get it and didn’t want to double-down by just grabbing another so I moved on. Recently, my local comic book store posted on Discord a bunch of games it had taken in on trade recently and among them was a copy of LoGII. I figured now was finally the time to put my money down (again) and see just how much better than its predecessor this one truly is.

You’ll spend most of your time fighting enemies that look like whatever this thing is.

Legacy of Goku II is once again a top-down or isometric action RPG. Since it’s on the GBA it’s a sprite-based game and all of the characters have a slightly chibi quality applied to them. They’re cute, and most of their faces are just eyes so it’s kind of like everyone has become Krillin. It works even if it’s not as impressive to look at as the later Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure. The music follows the style of the english dub at the time and while it’s not my preference, it’s largely fine if a bit repetitive. You begin the game as Gohan, but as you progress through the story you’ll unlock Piccolo, Vegeta, Trunks, and Goku. And if you clear certain conditions, there’s a post game bonus character in the form of Mr. Satan (referred to as Hercule in this one because it’s for the kids). The game picks up basically right where the previous one ended with Frieza defeated and Goku missing. The game bypasses the Garlic Junior Saga with the only reference to that being the in-game excuse for why the animals attack in the forest (they’re corrupted by the Black Water Mist). The game will take the player through the bullet points of the Android Saga and culminate with the Cell Games. During the game playable characters come and go as the story dictates meaning you will rarely have access to all of the characters at the same time. The game utilizes a Final Fantasy-like world map complete with Mode 7 scrolling which you will utilize to access various locations that are mostly familiar to fans of the show and manga. Within those maps are Capsule Corp logos where the player can save as well as switch characters. There are also maps posted in a few places within each area that will allow the player to return to the world map if they so choose.

The meat and potatoes of the game is walking around and smacking enemies. Most of the enemies you encounter will once again be relegated to wolves, snakes, and the like. Yeah, it’s pretty stupid that any of these characters would pose a challenge taking on any of these guys, but it would also be pretty boring if you could just massacre everything with ease. Characters attack with a standard melee attack while the other button is reserved for ki attacks. You have two resources to manage: health and energy. Health naturally depletes when you take damage while energy depletes as you expend ki either via attacks or transformations. Ki will slowly replenish itself, but health can only be restored by finding consumables as you defeat enemies and smash rocks in the environment or via senzu beans, which are limited, but not finite. Leveling up will also completely refill both meters. What’s much improved this time around is the hit detection. In the first game, Goku’s range was positively puny while this game is quite generous. If you think of the display as a grid your character occupies one square, but his attack will impact the three squares in front of him (the one directly in front, the one diagonally to the character’s right, and the one diagonalley to the character’s left) so you don’t have to be lined up perfectly with an enemy to strike it. It also means the enemies have an easier time hitting the player and this might get you a few times when projectiles are introduced, but it’s definitely more good than bad. Enemies and the player also can’t get pinned against a wall as being knocked back into something will cause the character to bounce off of it usually resulting in them ending up on the other side of the attacker. Again, this means you can’t pin an enemy down, but they can’t do it to you.

Behold! The best attack in the game!

When you first acquire a character they can just punch and shoot a generic ki blast, but during the course of the game they’ll learn new attacks and it’s these attacks (as well as their underlying stats) that separates the characters from each other. Each character will learn one, charged, melee attack which doesn’t cost anything to use, but leaves you open while charging. With any attack, charging it locks the character in place and they can’t change direction so you do need to make sure you have the enemy lined up properly. For Gohan, he gets a a jump kick that helps close gaps. Vegeta has an overhand smash while Trunks attacks with his sword in an arc. Goku has a flurry punch while Piccolo gets the lamest attack as he just spins around with his fists outstretched. It seems to lack the range of the others, but he arguably makes up for it with one of the best energy attacks. And that would be his Special Beam Canon which fires straight ahead and through any enemy it touches. Piccolo can easily clear a screen of enemies with that one while his second attack, the Scatter Shot, is basically a spread shot from a game like Contra. Vegeta has his Big Bang Attack which has a slight vacuum quality to it as it pulls enemies in, though his second energy attack is just a punch. I have no idea where they got that from. Trunks gets perhaps the most abused special attack, his Burning Attack, which is just a weak ki blast that happens to stun the enemy it touches. And unlike say Sub-Zero and his freeze attacks in Mortal Kombat, the stun doesn’t dissipate after Trunks strikes the enemy. It basically persists for 3 seconds and since it’s so cheap to use it makes playing as Trunks a breeze. It even works on bosses! His second attack is just an energy sword wave. Goku has his Kamehameha which is surprisingly weak. It persists like Piccolo’s Special Beam Canon as long as the attack button is held down, but it doesn’t go through enemies and seems to burn through ki incredibly fast. On the other hand, his Spirit Bomb is quite destructive and will stun all of the enemies on screen as well, even ones it doesn’t hit. This does have a downside as once the stun vanishes the enemy immediately goes aggro, but it’s usually nothing Goku can’t handle. Gohan, who will likely end up being your most powerful character, has pretty lame special attacks. His Masenko was turned from a beam attack into a grenade as it arcs making it hard to aim. The longer you charge it the further it goes. His second attack is the Kamehameha and it sucks just as much as Goku’s version.

Transforming into a Super Saiyan is now possible and believe me, it’s most useful moment is for moving these stupid eggs.

Introduced for Legacy of Goku II are transformations. As expected, all of the playable Saiyans will eventually unlock the ability turn into a Super Saiyan. Doing so requires the player to stand still for a couple of seconds to initiate the transformation, but once completed the player’s speed will be increased and damage output is also better. It’s not a huge boost and it’s really the speed that matters here, a point driven home during the brief period in the game when the “Ascended” Super Saiyan power-up is unlocked via Trunks and Vegeta who suddenly move like tanks. Thankfully, that chapter is short-lived as it renders the transformation worthless. While transformed the player’s energy reserves constantly deplete and if you’re not finding replenishing items you will likely run out and revert back to your standard form. This is really only a concern in boss battles, but if you have a senzu bean or two you can mitigate that. As for the one non Saiyan, Piccolo gets his “Fuse with Kami” transformation which is treated just like a Super Saiyan transformation even though it makes no sense. Instead of getting a new hairstyle though, Piccolo removes his cap and cape.

The game is not terribly long and features a level cap of 50. It’s also not really well paced as there will be times when you need to grind away in order to gain levels and progress. There are even some areas locked behind a level gate (I think you have to get to level 40 to challenge Cell, for example) that are part of the story while others are extra areas. They’re key in unlocking Hercule as every character has a level 50 door only they can open, including Hercule himself. If you don’t enjoy playing as Hercule, I’ll save you the time and tell you his door is just an alternate ending that’s not particularly interesting. Just more of Hercule taking credit for killing Cell. He unlocks at level 40 so you have some grinding ahead if you want to access the final door. Playing as him is not as challenging as you may have expected for even though he’s incredibly weak, his lone special attack stuns every enemy on screen (he simply poses which I guess entrances all around him) and costs almost nothing to use.

Open all of the level 50 doors and beat the game and you get to play as this guy.

The game is an improvement over The Legacy of Goku in almost every way, but what it fails to do is create a compelling gameplay experience. Legacy of Goku II is still a pretty shallow experience, it’s just no longer broken. Most of your time is spent just mindlessly slaughtering woodland critters that will respawn the second you return to the same screen. There are a few special items to find throughout the game and non-player characters will make requests of the player, but it’s all very basic, easy, stuff. There’s one optional boss, Cooler, but little in the way of easter eggs. I would guess there was still a tight schedule with this one and just not enough time to insert more content into the package. Not that bonus fights against Broly or Super Android 13 would add much as the boss fights are truly lackluster. The only ones I found challenging are actually the earliest as Androids 19 and 20 are able to absorb energy attacks forcing you to take them on with just your fists. For many, you can often place some structure in between the enemy and player character and cheese them. Once you’re powered up, overwhelming bosses is also pretty easy and there aren’t many enemies in the game that will force you to change tactics. Just pound them and when their health is low bust out an energy attack. The only challenge with boss characters is that they have ranged attacks and melee ones. For most enemies, the tactic is to hit them with a ki attak and then charge the melee one as they approach. You can’t always do that against a boss, but there is a certain range that once you’re inside it they basically stop using ki attacks so it’s still pretty easy to do them in with charged melee strikes.

Later game bosses like Cell at least have some presence, but they behave more or less like every other garden variety enemy in the game.

The lack of spectacle with this game is a bummer. It’s also the little details which tend to bother me too. After Goku and Gohan emerge from the Room of Spirit and Time they’re in base form, not Super Saiyan. Gohan, for some reason, wears his Saiyan armor into the fight against Cell and not his typical gi and, post game, you can’t use Super Saiyan 2. There’s a lot of stuff that could have been playable, but isn’t. And when you do summon Shenron you don’t even get to see him! Just his tail dangles from the top of the screen. As a result, I hesitate to call The Legacy of Goku II a good game. It’s not bad. The first game was a broken mess (and the third seems to be as well) and was rightly slammed for it. I think with this one being at least a competent experience it caused some to overrate it when it came out. And when it came out in 2003 the pickings were still incredibly slim as Budokai had come out the previous December and was similar in that it was a pretty middling experience that Infogrames would need to improve upon with a sequel. The Legacy of Goku II was almost by default the best Dragon Ball Z game available, but that is no longer the case. I don’t think it’s even the best game for the franchise on the Game Boy Advance as I’d much rather play Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure. Still, I didn’t hate my time with this one and I’m glad I did finally play it. I’m just unlikely to ever return to it.

If you’re curious about some of the other Dragon Ball video games covered in this space then check these out:

Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure

In the West, it took awhile for Dragon Ball to make an imprint with US audiences. It was localized and brought over in the mid-90s in the hopes of making money in syndicated markets. There were over 200 episodes, so the reasoning was sound, but it just didn’t take off. It wasn’t until the property…

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by Joe

Dragon Ball Z – Budokai HD Collection

Oh, you thought we were done with DBZ?! Oh no, I have some more Dragon Ball related material to share with you and even though we’re done with the movies, I thought now was as good a time as any to talk about some video games. If you’re a usual reader, you may recall I…

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by Joe

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

I need a break from action figure reviews so why not turn to the world of video games? I don’t get to play many these days, but I did splurge on a PlayStation 5 not that long ago and was looking for something to play. And ideally, that something would be budget friendly. The good…

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by Joe

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April 22, 2020

The Game Boy Micro

By Joe

img_1501I guess this is a great time for me to dust off some of my less common pieces of video game paraphernalia. Yesterday I talked about Popful Mail which I played on a Sega CDX, and today it’s the Game Boy Micro. My timing is also pretty good as the original Game Boy just turned 31 on April 21, 2020 which is still hard to believe. I consider myself a collector of various things, but one thing I’m not really a collector of is video games. I’m certainly a compiler as after years of regrettable trade-ins at GameStop when I was a poor college student I’ve basically vowed to never part with a game again unless I know I’ll never come to regret it. As a result, I have a lot of games hanging around my house with the vast majority coming from the 2000s. I have some older, classics, but not a ton. And some games I have could be considered rare or hard to find, but I have them because I wanted them at the time. I’ve never really bought a video game for the purpose of collecting. The closest I suppose I came to that was buying the collector’s edition of Arkham Asylum which came in a gigantic bat-shaped box. That thing is so big that I don’t even know what to do with it. It just sits in a closet.

I purchased a Game Boy Micro over ten years ago and at the time I bought it simply because I wanted to play some Game Boy Advance software on-the-go. I had traded in my original Game Boy Advance for a Game Boy Advance SP, which I in turn traded in for a Nintendo DS, that was then traded in for a Nintend DSi. That last trade-in was important because I lost the ability to play GBA software. Years later, I wanted to come back and rediscover the GBA. That handheld mostly existed for me during my college years and I really didn’t devote much of my time to it. I mostly played home consoles instead or busied myself with other distractions. As a working man though I had ample time to play portables during my commute to and from work so the time was right.

The Game Boy Micro is Nintendo’s third take on the Game Boy Advance. The original version had a horizontal layout similar to Sega’s Game Gear, but it ran on double A batteries and lacked any sort of backlight. It was still a great little system, just a flawed one. The SP addressed both issues while also reverting back to the traditional, more vertical, layout of the Game Boy but with the addition of a hinge in the center so the screen could fold down onto the unit. It was great to have a front-light and a rechargeable battery, though the choice to return to the old format was odd as the system was quite cramped. The shoulder buttons were tiny, little, nubs and I could never play my SP for much longer than 45 minutes.

gbmicro_hand

Nintendo mandates that all reviews of the Micro include a shot of it sitting in the reviewer’s hand.

When Nintendo announced the Nintendo DS in 2005, it was insistent that it was not the end of the Game Boy and as proof it offered up the Game Boy Micro. The Micro, as the name implies, was the smallest Game Boy yet. It’s roughly 2″ x 4″ with a thickness of less than an inch. It featured a backlit screen and rechargeable battery. The horizontal layout also had the added perk of making the system resemble a classic Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom controller only with a screen in the center. The LCD screen is even tinier at roughly 1.69″ x 1.89″ making this perhaps the first Game Boy that truly could fit comfortably in your pocket. It’s so small that one has to wonder just how much smaller it could have been had it not needed to accommodate the comparably bulky GBA cartridges and instead had something similar to a DS or Switch card.

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Unfortunately, I do not have a Famicom controller for comparison so the classic NES controller will have to do.

When the Micro was first announced I though it looked kind of neat, but I wasn’t feeling compelled to ditch my SP for it. Plus if I was going to upgrade I would have just gone with a DS which was backwards compatible with the GBA. And since the Micro no longer supported legacy Game Boy software, it was placed in an odd spot where it basically only targeted those who had yet to get a GBA or Nintendo enthusiasts that would buy everything. The only other defining feature it had was the ability to swap out the faceplate for other ones. Perhaps Nintendo conceived of a vast third party network of custom faceplates in addition to its own, but from the start the Micro was never positioned very well.

It’s almost hard to believe a GBA cart can fit in there.
Cartridges are inserted from the bottom.

I basically decided to get a Micro over another model of the GBA for the novelty of it. I did like the idea of a truly portable gaming device, but I also thought the system was just plain cute. And when I settled on one to buy, I even spent a little extra to get the special Famicom edition (released in December 2005) which was colored to mimic a Famicom controller. It came in a box emblazoned with classic Super Mario pixel art and the only drawback to going this route (aside from the added cost, which at the time was actually somewhat minimal) was it didn’t come with a tool to remove the faceplate as Nintendo didn’t think anyone would want to remove the Famicom faceplate. In fact, the faceplate on this model is supposedly non-removable, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s not that hard to get off for someone who is determined to do so.

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The Micro in front of a 3DS which is in front of a Sony PSP.

When I received my Micro I did play it quite a bit. I picked up Metroid Fusion, a game I had overlooked when first released, and also grabbed the Super Mario Bros. 3 port to go along with the other GBA software I still had. Playing these games on the Micro, I was taken by how quickly I got used to the small screen. It’s a bit shocking when first powered up to see just how small it is, but once absorbed in gameplay it basically goes away. The screen is said to be much better than the previous GBA screens, though it’s still not as vibrant as modern handhelds. Helping it is the mostly sprite-based art of GBA games with the small screen size reducing noticeable pixilation. The light is strong and can be adjusted manually as well, and I found the battery would last around five hours which was basically enough to get me through a week of commuting.

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Here’s the Micro beside big brother, the 3DS.

Obviously, a system this small does have some drawbacks. The Micro is so small that it’s arguably too small. I mentioned earlier I found the SP to be a bit tight and this unit isn’t much better. I find the layout minimizes the cramping issue slightly, but it gets rough when playing games that rely on the shoulder buttons. Metroid Fusion became particularly challenging after a half hour as the shoulder buttons are used in that game to angle Samus’ blaster. It’s not as easy to play as it probably would be if it were on the Super Nintendo or being played via the Gamecube’s GBA Player, but it was still an enjoyable experience. I beat the game, and would go on to play Metroid:  Zero Mission as well so it’s not like the Micro prevented me from enjoying Metroid. The only other game I ever had issue with was Final Fantasy VI, specifically performing some of Sabin’s moves as the small d-pad and hand fatigue might dissuade you from unleashing the dreaded Bum Rush attack! Games like A Link to the Past or Super Mario Bros. are comparatively simple, though some hand fatigue will still set in after lengthy sessions. Super Mario Bros. even alleviates some hand-cramping by allowing the R button to function as a second B button which is nice for running, though it takes getting used to if you’ve been playing Mario since the 80s and are accustomed holding B all of the time.

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It’s tiny, but it plays just fine.

The system itself has a rather nice feel to it. The stereo speakers aren’t going to wow you, as they didn’t on any other version of the GBA, but the overall weight feels good. The system is quite glossy making it actually far more attractive looking than a plastic Famicom controller. The format does mean there’s no way to protect the screen, but the system did come with a simple cloth carrying case which has always done the job for me. I wouldn’t recommend tossing it into a kid’s backpack or something, but slip that thing on and drop it in a pocket and you should manage just fine. It has a standard headphone jack, and since it’s quite old at this point it obviously lacks any sort of wireless hookup, but considering the Switch shunned Blue Tooth it probably wouldn’t feature that even if it were re-released today.

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I bought this “new,” but as you can see the box had a rough time getting to me.

If I were to sum up the Game Boy Micro in one word it would be “cute.” It’s meant to be a physically appealing gaming device even more so than a functional one. It doesn’t punt on functionality though and it’s a totally viable way to experience the Game Boy Advance library.  When I bought mine roughly a decade ago it was comparable in price to the Game Boy Advance SP with maybe 20 dollars or so separating the two. Since then it’s become more expensive and standard versions of the unit in clearly used condition now command more money than I paid for my limited edition version. As a result, I wouldn’t really recommend anyone buy a Micro if they’re simply looking to experience the GBA library of games. The SP is much more reasonable, or even an older DS. If you don’t mind spending the money though and you think the Micro is charming in pictures then you’ll probably be happy with your purchase. It’s a fun little device that will probably start a conversation if you pull it out in public and as the last official Game Boy it certainly holds a special place in the hearts of many Nintendo fans.

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