Dragon Ball Z is arguably the most iconic manga and anime franchise of all time. With its cast of unforgettable characters and non-stop action, it also lends itself exceptionally well to video game adaptation. As such, Dragon Ball Z has spawned well over a hundred titles since the first game, Dragon Ball Z: Assault! Saiyans was released for the Super Famicom in Japan back in 1990.

While the franchise has settled most naturally into fighting games, Dragon Ball Z has been reimagined through a myriad of different genres, appearing in RPG form, as a digital collectible card game, and even as a typical rail shooter. With the upcoming next-gen release of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot the franchise is once again leaning on its tried-and-true formula, but with Dragon Ball: The Breakers set to drop later this month, fans can dip their toe into a more atypical release.

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S-Tier

Majin Vegeta fighting Goku in Budokai Tenkaichi 3
  • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3: While it could be argued that Tenkaichi 3 bit off more than it could chew, the title deserves enormous respect for its ambition alone. It packed in a massive roster of even the most underrated Dragon Ball Z characters and implemented free-roaming mechanics which made battles feel more like an actual episode of Dragon Ball Z than anything before or since.
  • Dragon Ball FighterZ: Since the franchise's first foray into video games, it has always translated best into 2D fighting games, and Dragon Ball FighterZ combines the best parts of all of its spiritual predecessors. Even ignoring the stunning visuals, FighterZ is a top-tier title purely for its gameplay which is the smoothest and most polished the franchise has ever been.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension: The undisputed champion of the SNES-era of Dragon Ball Z. A strategic fighting experience with absurdly detailed sprite animations that stood far above its contemporaries and still stands out as one of the best games the franchise has ever produced.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3: It's impossible to put Tenkaichi 3 in S-tier without including Budokai 3 as well. While it lacks the free-roaming mechanic that made Tenkaichi 3 so popular, Budokai 3 was a better title for competitive fighting. It boasts the same beautiful cel-shading and a respectable roster of its own.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury: The Legacy of Goku series steadily got better after a rather disastrous start. The series culminated in Buu's Fury, which improved upon an already excellent game in The Legacy of Goku 2 by adding new features and tightening up the gameplay ever so slightly.

A-Tier

Vegeta going Super Saiyan Goku's Legacy 2
  • Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku 2: The Legacy of Goku 2 answered fans' criticism of the original game by adding a newfound depth to the series. It sits at the very top of the A-tier, separated from Buu's Fury and the S-tier by a razor-thin margin.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2: There isn't a lot separating Tenkaichi 2 and Tenkaichi 3, but the sequel improved just enough to earn the top spot and bump Tenkaichi 2 down to A-tier. Still, Tenkaichi 2 is an absolute masterpiece in its own right. For what it's worth, the cover art of Tenkaichi 2 featuring Trunks holding his sword with Goku and other characters hidden in its reflection is the best of the franchise by a country mile.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot: In a sense, Kakarot is the ultimate way to experience the Dragon Ball Z franchise. It takes players from Raditz all the way to Kid Buu—and further with the DLCs. While Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has everything a fan could want including an awesome cast of playable Dragon Ball characters, it's an experience that has been done to death. As a first Dragon Ball Z game, it's hard to top, but longtime fans might not find much new to sink their teeth into.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Xenoverse 1 and 2: The Xenoverse series allowed fans to drop into the universe, pick from one of Dragon Ball Z's playable races, and forge their own story. With a bit more fleshing out of the other races beyond Saiyans, and a tweak to the polarizing graphics, a third Xenoverse game could crack into the S-tier.

B-Tier

Dragon Ball Z Raging Blast 2 Hatchiyack
  • Dragon Ball Z: Raging Blast 1 and 2: Beyond the fact that they're a bit too easy, there's nothing particularly wrong with the Raging Blast series, but it once again suffers from its lack of innovation. It feels like a retread of the Budokai Tenkaichi series which was already near-perfect.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors: An underappreciated Dragon Ball Z game if ever there was one, Legendary Super Warriors was a turn-based strategy game that can deliver a pang of nostalgia as well as any title out there. Its main drawback was that the game oscillated between exceedingly difficult and ridiculously easy once players figured out the enemies' patterns.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors: While Supersonic Warriors get a lot of credit from fans for its enjoyable gameplay, the title still stands out mostly for its story, which broke off from the canon plot and tried to answer a ton of what-if questions.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans: A forgotten Nintendo DS game that was surprisingly solid, it invited the sidekicks like Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien into the limelight and allowed them to shine. Looking back at the successes in Attack of the Saiyans, it's a shame that the blueprint wasn't expanded upon further in a sequel.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2: Unfortunately, Budokai 2 will always live in the shadow of the sequel, but it's not without its own merit. Like Supersonic Warriors, Budokai 2's story explored a few hypothetical storylines, which was entertaining, but the sequel improved on the gameplay aspects far too much for them to rank near each other.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai: It deserves every ounce of respect it gets for kicking off an amazing series, but its successors continued to make improvements that put them far above the original.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden: It's not easy being compared to Street Fighter 2, but Super Butoden was a solid SNES fighting game that was many fans' first introduction to Dragon Ball Z games. Its divided screen was a bit jarring at times, but it paved the way for many titles to come.

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C-Tier

Dragon Ball Z Infinite World Super Saiyan Goku
  • Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World: It was released a year after Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and even used the same engine, but was a major step down in terms of quality. Unlike Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Infinite World is unlikely to appear on any list of the best Dragon Ball Z games, as it is another classic example of a redundant, repetitive title. It's not a terrible title, but its lack of imagination relegates it to the C-tier.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit: As another title that unfortunately had to contend with the Tenkaichi series, it's a forgettable experience with a tiny roster and a short storyline that takes fans just up to the end of the Cell Saga.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi: Nostalgia may demand that the original Tenkaichi lands in S-tier rather than down in C-tier, but sadly the lack of in-fight transformations, janky mechanics, and lack of depth make it in no way comparable to the subsequent games.

D-Tier

Vegito vs Goku Dragonball GT Final Bout
  • Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout: The actual gameplay of Final Bout was a clunky mess, but it introduced characters that North American fans had never seen before. Though it offered a sort of sneak peek into the exciting yet polarizing world of Dragon Ball GT, it was borderline unplayable as an actual game.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Sagas: A best-forgotten PlayStation 2 beat-em-up, Dragon Ball Z: Sagas touted an intriguing concept and new direction from most Dragon Ball Z titles. Unfortunately, the execution left a lot to be desired.
  • Dragon Ball Z: For Kinect: The number of successes contributed to the Xbox 360's Kinect is extremely limited, and Dragon Ball Z: For Kinect is not one of them. It's another promising concept that simply did not meet expectations.

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