Goku knows how to drive, and he does it like a professional. At least, in a video game. Maybe you have noticed or you may not have given it importance, but there is a common denominator in all the mangas drawn by Akira Toriyama: his legitimate fascination with motor vehicles. Motorcycling was one of his confessed passions, in the adventures of Son Goku we have seen replicas of real vehicles and completely original ships and he even made Sand Land because he wanted to draw a tank. That’s how he was. For this reason Dragon Ball Racing It was such a simple yet exceptional video game.
I can describe to you what it was like Dragon Ball Racing in a single sentence: Bandai Namco made its own Mario Kart with the powerful claim that the drivers were Goku himself and his friends. Its launch was in 2009, practically in the slipstream of the premiere of Dragon Ball Kai on Japanese television, and its playable premise barely has a twist. In fact, the initiative was part of an even larger project: the series Dragon Ball Mobilea label with which several small mobile games were released at the time. Little thing? As you will see, it didn’t look bad at all. Rather, it was quite attractive.
Vital Wave at full throttle!
From here the question arises by itself: what kind of Mario Kart Could it be achieved with the technology that 2009 mobile phones had? Although the first iPhone arrived a couple of years earlier, the truth is that there were years left for Smartphones to become standardized and the devices of that time were used mainly to call and send messages. There were no touch screens, but rather numerical keys and connecting to the internet was something rather punctual. And despite this, Dragon Ball Racing It was an unoriginal but terribly enjoyable kart racing video game.
Go ahead that Dragon Ball Racing embraced the simplicity of other kart games and even shied away from those competitive ideas of the SNES Super Mario Kart. Like so many games of its time, it used Java ME technology and accommodated the tiny color screens of mobile phones of the time using only four buttons on the keyboards: the direction uses the left and right directions, you brake by pressing down, you use the power or the item you carry with the up button and all the cars accelerate automatically, so you don’t have to hold down any key indefinitely. That simple, that fun.
Dragon Ball Racing It began to be played on Japanese mobile phones on June 1, 2009, offering fans of Toriyama’s work five pilots and various unlockable and secret content. Behind the wheel, no less They are Goku, Bulma, Krillin, Piccolo and Vegeta. It is possibly the only competitive game in the entire franchise in which the adventurous and brilliant scientist is in clear superiority over the rest, which is another uniqueness added to this proposal.
When it comes to modes, Bandai Namco opted for the classic but kept an ace up its sleeve:
- The mode Grand Prix It allows players to run freely on various circuits and the great attraction is to beat our own personal records while we obtain rewards.
- The mode Mission It is relatively similar although there are special conditions for success. In any case, its purpose is to obtain rewards in the form of zenny.
- The mode Great Martial Arts Tournament It is essentially a tournament mode that is held periodically within the game and in which we can test our improved runners.
The dynamics of the game involve obtaining zenny with which we improve the vehicle and experience points for our character. And both aspects are essential: as we mentioned, vehicles accelerate in an automated manner. However, this is Dragon Ball and that implies that, except flying, the characters can use their techniques such as Goku’s Kamehameha or Krillin’s Destroying Disc.
A great game? Well, the saga Asphalt It was already on mobile phones and it was not the only one that set the standards. Let’s say that Dragon Ball Racing It delivered exactly what was promised.
Try to tear it off Kakarot!
That said, just because the game was simple doesn’t mean it wasn’t a pleasant surprise. Its circuits were inspired by the world of Dragon Ball and its simple routes were perfect for up to four runners to compete, and we could level up and improve simply by playing. And be careful, the drivers and their cars (each character had their own personalized vehicle) were made in 2D, but the roads and the details of the backgrounds were three-dimensional models.
To be fair, the result didn’t play in the same league as the more modest racing games on the Nintendo DS or PSP, but for the tiny mobile screens it wasn’t bad. Not bad, actually. That said, even being a mobile game, we can consider that Dragon Ball Racing It was an exclusive title.
As a video game, Dragon Ball Racing It was officially compatible with FOMA 903i or later terminals, and if it doesn’t sound familiar to you, it’s absolutely normal: FOMA comes from Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access and, to put it simply, it is 3G from the Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo. It is said to be the first 3G service in the world and that made it gain enormous popularity in Japan.
However, content had to be created that would give an outlet to that technology and that is where the reason for this game and the many created for Dragon Ball Mobile comes in.
Dragon Ball Mobile Games
Dragon Ball Racing It was one of the most interesting games released within the i-mode initiative that encompassed the small but interesting catalog of Dragon Ball Mobile titles. Offering small themed RPGs, simple fighting games and different genres such as a Go game and even Pinball. Some of these simply relied on the characters and others were mobile-friendly conversions of experiences that had already worked wonderfully on consoles. Unfortunately we have not seen a kart game as such based on the characters from Toriyama’s Dragon World.
If we are fair, we can remember specific elements such as the vehicles from Dragon Ball Z Kakarot (including the driving school episode) and we even have to remember that the first video game in which Goku appeared was still a Martian killer in which he was riding its flying cloud. However, and as a final note, there is a game in which some of these premises are inherited.
In the absence of a Super Goku Kart, we will always have Sand Land
Not long after the announcement of Akira Toriyama’s death it went on sale Sand Land. A video game directly based on its manga and the animated series. Technically it is an open-world action RPG, but what makes it different is that, in addition to clearing dungeons of enemies, vehicles have a huge presence in the overall experience. Both when playing and when competing in races and challenges.
The fun of Sand Land is that, in addition to the vehicles in the series, it is possible to pilot aircraft, motorcycles, robots and all kinds of genius imagined by Toriyama himself. Do you remember Bulma’s motorcycle and Yamcha’s speeder? They both are. Even the robots from the Red Ribbon saga. And also other vehicles and wonders that we could already see in Dragon Ball, Dr. Slump o NekoMajin Z.
And the best of all is that he loved what he saw:
“I haven’t been able to see the entire game yet. In any case, it wonderfully expands the world of the manga with exciting new elements. It is a game of enormous quality and I assure you that it is a tremendously satisfying action RPG.
To begin with, because visually it has a great balance between the atmosphere of the manga and its drawing style. As depicted it looks great. I am convinced that it will offer an exciting experience with genuine designs and enormous attention to detail with tons of new vehicle models, many customization options and background designs.
I can only play casual games, but I closely follow the trends of the games played in my family and I think I know at least a little about them from the perspective of an older gentleman. Therefore, I highly recommend Sand Land.”
As we mentioned, Toriyama was fascinated by vehicles. They were, along with drawing and martial arts films, one of his greatest passions and he even designed a car himself, along with tons of models. Through video games, including Chrono Trigger, that passion continued to live on in the background for years, and unfortunately the only thing remotely similar we had was a simple – but successful – mobile game.
And although, perhaps we are left without a great “Super Goku Kart” capable of competing with so many karting games, but we will always have one Sand Land which fascinated Toriyama himself. And it is not little.
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