Dragon Ball FighterZ (pronounced "fighters") is a 3v3 tag fighting game made by Arc System Works, the studio behind Guilty Gear, and published by Bandai Namco. It launched on January 26, 2018 for PS4, Xbox One and PC, hit Switch in September 2018 and arrived on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2024. For many fans and most critics, it is the best pure fighting game the franchise has ever had.
What it is and how it plays
FighterZ is a side-on fighter built with 3D models that look hand-drawn: animation, camera work and poses are tuned frame by frame to mimic the anime. Each player picks three characters. One fights while the other two can tag in at any moment or jump in for a quick support attack (an assist). Knock out the whole enemy team and you win.
The structure owes a lot to Marvel vs. Capcom, but the controls are built to be approachable. Auto-combos let newcomers pull off flashy strings, while serious players lean on a toolkit of universal moves:
- Vanish: spend ki to teleport behind your opponent;
- Dragon Rush: a guard break that leads into an air combo or forces the opponent to switch characters;
- Super Dash: a homing dash that plows through weaker ki blasts;
- Sparking Blast: a temporary power-up that can swing a losing round.
There is even a Shenron system: collect all seven Dragon Balls during a match and you can summon the dragon for a wish, such as reviving a fallen teammate. Dramatic Moments round it out, special cutscenes triggered by specific character and stage matchups that recreate famous scenes from the series.
Story and roster
Story mode is set during the Dragon Ball Super era and centers on Android 21, a Red Ribbon Army android created for the game under Akira Toriyama's supervision. You play a "soul" linked to the fighters, guiding them across three arcs: a hero arc led by Goku, a villain arc starring Frieza and an android arc following Android 18. Thanks to the original voice cast and plenty of banter, the story landed far better than anyone expects from a fighting game.
The base roster has 24 characters, three of them unlockable. Three paid FighterZ Passes added 21 more, including Dragon Ball Super: Broly's Broly, Ultra Instinct Goku, Jiren, Kefla and Master Roshi. Outside the passes came Android 21 (Lab Coat) in February 2022 and, on April 22, 2026, Super Saiyan 4 Goku in his Daima version, alongside a balance update first announced at EVO France 2025.
Reception and esports
Critics loved it: visuals, combat system, roster, soundtrack and story mode all earned praise, while the online netcode was the one weakness almost every review called out. It won Best Fighting Game at The Game Awards 2018.
FighterZ became a tournament staple right away. EVO 2018 drew 2,530 entrants, and the grand final between SonicFox and GO1 peaked at around 258,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. Bandai Namco then ran an official circuit, the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour, for years. According to the publisher, the game passed 10 million copies sold in 2023.
Did you know? The 3v3 format came from a canon problem: producer Tomoko Hiroki explained it would feel odd to watch Goku lose to Krillin in a one-on-one fight, while teams make matches between characters of very different strength believable.
Platforms and versions
- PS4, Xbox One and PC: January 26, 2018 in the West, February 1 in Japan.
- Nintendo Switch: September 2018, with a simplified control option for single Joy-Con play.
- PS5 and Xbox Series X/S: February 29, 2024, together with rollback netcode, which also came to PC. PS4 and Xbox One owners got the upgrade for free.
Who it is for
This is the Dragon Ball game for people who love traditional fighters: timing, combos, reading your opponent. The simplified inputs also make it a great first step into the genre. If you would rather fly freely around 3D arenas with a roster in the hundreds, Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero will scratch that itch better.
Our take
FighterZ proves a licensed game can simply be a great game. Arc System Works understood that spectacle is everything in Dragon Ball and built a system where every Kamehameha, every teleport and every dramatic finish looks lifted from an episode, without giving up depth. The 2024 rollback update fixed its biggest flaw, the online play. The roster shows its age now, but it still sits near the top of our ranking of the best Dragon Ball games.