Fans Inserts 'Dragon Ball' Into Your Favorite 'Pokemon' Games

An amateur game developer brought together two iconic properties when he created a version of an old Pokemon RPG with Dragon Ball Z characters.

The game is called Dragon Ball Z: Team Training. It is based on a hack of the Gameboy Advance remakes of the first generation Pokemon games -- Fire Red and Leaf Green. According to a report by Kotaku, the game was created by a Frenchman who works under the name Z-Mack. The developer is just 22 years old.

Essentially, the player "catches" wild fighters in the same way that they catch Pokemon in the original games. They can then face off in turn-based combat using the Pokemon system, with their individual fighters picking up experience points, gaining levels and learning new attacks.

The game even trades familiar Pokemon items for those in the Dragon Ball universe. For example, potions are swapped for Senzu beans and Onigiri. In the climactic moments when the Pokemon music would typically play, selections from the Dragon Ball Z soundtrack play instead.

The game's objectives are simple changes to the typical Pokemon format. As a fighter trainer, players must travel the land and collect eight Saiyanbadges, rather than Pokemon gym badges. After that, they can go to the Dragon League and battle against the four Kais. Rather than completing a Pokedex, they will have to fill their Scouter with all 165+ available fighters.

Last week, Z-Mack released the seventh update of Dragon Ball Z: Team Training. He added 15 new fighters to the game along with their respective transformations -- such as Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan Blue, and so on.

The hack is clearly a labor of love for Z-Mack. For the past several years, he has created various modifications, add-ons and extensions for the game, uploading them all for free online. He has even made a version where the player can fly around as Goku, or hop onto the Nimbus cloud and fly over buildings, trees, walls and other obstacles.

In addition, Z-Mack made a Super Mario version, where Mario captures and trains creatures like Goombas, and Yoshi replaces the bicycle. He posted this in a video on YouTube, specifying that it was just for show and not available for download.

The game can be played through a Game Boy Advance emulator by applying Z-Mack's patch. This is a relatively complicated process that might require a couple of applications to get going, but Z-Mack has kindly created an FAQ page so that users can figure out how to make it work. In addition, he keeps his fans updated through a Facebook page. By the looks of it, he has yet to run into trouble from the folks who own the rights to Pokemon or Dragon Ball Z.