After waiting just over two months since release, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's time machine is finally here. Naturally, there are a lot of questions about how the time machine works and what it is capable of, but all of those questions have finally been answered. The time machine will prove to be a useful tool to completionists, those looking to level up, and of course any who simply want to relive the greatest moments of Dragon Ball Z, but there are some important things players should know before jumping straight into the deep end of time travel with Bulma's time machine.
For those unaware, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot fans have been requesting a way to replay stories and catch timed sub-stories they may have missed since the game's launch in mid January. Now, two months later, their wishes have finally been granted. Although Bulma's time machine has been around since the game launched, it was previously only able to be used to bring Future Trunks back into the playable character roster for the end game intermission portion, but now its capabilities have expanded dramatically. There are some interesting things about the time machine that are well worth noting, however.
DBZ: Kakarot's Time Machine Lets Players Replay Any Story Battle, But Not Immediately
As expected, the time machine will allow the player to replay any story battle from the entirety of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, but fans can't always jump straight into the battle they want. Instead, the time machine breaks down each story arc into episodes which the player must play through as a whole. For example, if one were to try and replay Goku's final fight with Kid Buu before the spirit bomb takes him out, they'd first have to fight Kid Buu twice as Vegeta as those three fights are all part of the same chapter.
DBZ: Kakarot's Time Machine Allows Players To Play Intermissions
One of the really enjoyable parts of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot was its intermissions, the periods between sagas in which any character could be played and numerous sub-stories could be found. If the player scrolls to the bottom of each saga's episode list, they will find an option to go back to that saga's intermission. This of course excludes the Buu Saga, since no time travel is necessary to experience that intermission. This is a great way to play time locked variants of characters like Teen Gohan.
DBZ: Kakarot's Time Machine Tracks Sub-Story Completion
It was well advertised that the time machine would allow players to return to previous points in the story and complete any time-locked sub-stories they may have missed. This is great if players got too frustrated trying to find that darned energetic fish for Turtle, but what is even cooler is that the time machine tracks how many sub-stories the player has actually completed. This statistic can be found in the top right corner of the time machine menu, and while it was already possible to see what sub-stories players were missing in the story menu, this is a much easier way. Sub-stories in each episode are also tracked by the time machine for player convenience
DBZ: Kakarot's Time Machine Does Not Scale Player's Level
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the time machine is that it doesn't scale the player's level down to meet that of the enemy's. It doesn't even scale enemies up, but instead chooses to leave everything the same. This has benefits and drawbacks, of course, as it makes getting S Rank on missions that much easier, but makes most (if not all) the fights completely irrelevant. The level difference between players by the end of the game and Raditz is so impactful that Goku's brother will likely be one shot, which doesn't speak well for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's redemption of Raditz.
DBZ: Kakarot's Time Machine Locks Transformations
By contrast, the time machine does block access to certain transformations based on story progression. This means that, although players can fight Raditz with a level 250 Goku, they can't go Super Saiyan while doing so. That said, no other skills are blocked, so feel free to use Ultimate Spirit Bomb on him. This is an interesting choice since most fights are already relatively easy with the level gap, and players will have access to later fights which would normally be challenging without them. It does make sense for Gohan, though, whose appearance changes drastically throughout the story. Unfortunately there will be no Ultimate Kid Gohan with the time machine.
DBZ: Kakarot's Time Machine Lets Players Play As Gotenks And Vegito Again
One major complaint about Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is how Vegito and Gotenks are only playable in three fights total between the two of them. Gotenks fights Super Buu twice (once as a Super Saiyan and once at Super Saiyan 3) while Vegito fights Super Buu only once. All three of these fights can be replayed, offering limited playable character status to these fan favorite characters, but curiously their levels do not correlate to what level the player has Goku and Vegeta (or Goten and Trunks in Gotenks' case) at in the present time. This means these fights are still challenging, which is a breath of fresh air as it wouldn't be very fun if the only enemy players could face as Vegito and Gotenks was consistently one shot.
DBZ: Kakarot's Time Machine Won't Allow Players To Refight The Secret Boss
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's secret boss, Mira, was a great challenge and a nice secret for dedicated fans that took down all the villainous enemies in the game. Unfortunately, despite the ever respawning status of the villainous enemies in the world, Mira is only able to be fought once before he and his creator Towa disappear into another timeline. The fact that they went into another timeline gave some hope that the time machine may allow players to follow them and face Mira down again, but this did not end up being the case unfortunately. Whether the time machine opens up future DLC possibilities for following Mira and Towa is as of yet unknown.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.