New Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Gameplay Shows Off a Familiar Fight

Bandai Namco shared some more gameplay from Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot on Tuesday with the focus placed on a memorable bout between Goku and his estranged elder brother, Raditz. The fight between the two is the pinnacle of the first part of the Saiyan Sagas in Dragon Ball Z, and players will be able to relive it once again in Kakarot. Highlighted in the video are gameplay mechanics one would expect a Dragon Ball game to boast including evasive maneuvers and hard-hitting chain attacks.

Fighting in mid-air while playing as Goku, the demo shows the Saiyan protagonist with several different command options on the side. These include basic inputs like stepping forward and guarding along with some familiar Dragon Ball terms like a Super Boost and charging up Ki. A separate menu beneath those commands has options for Super Attacks and Support options, though we don’t get to see any of those used in the video.

The characters supporting Goku also weren’t seen in this preview, though it’s assumed that these commands shown in the bottom menu pertain to those who would be able to support Goku in his fights. Support characters were first revealed to be part of the game just over a week ago before that revelation was confirmed by Bandai Namco alongside a bunch of new screenshots and other details.

Piccolo does make an appearance in the video, though if you’ve been following along with the news about the support characters and other parts of the game, you’ll know that the Namekian fighter is actually a playable character. We saw some gameplay recently that showed a bit of Piccolo in action, though it’s unclear at the moment how much of the game will be playable as Piccolo aside from the moments those familiar with the anime and manga will anticipate. The training between Piccolo and Gohan after Raditz is defeated will likely provide opportunities to play as both of them, for example, since Gohan is also a playable character.

Finding and fighting Raditz is just part of what Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will consist of, so there’s plenty more to see. Nothing game-changing is made evident in this preview that’ll sway anyone who’s on the fence about the game, but for those who are already sold, hearing that classic music and seeing the two fight once again is a nice build-up to seeing more on Kakarot.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is scheduled to release for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC platform in early 2020.