GameSpy Review of Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure

Here's a game that's been a long time coming. Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure originally came out in Japan back in 2004, and about a year ago, it was released in Europe. Why Atari waited so long to bring it out in the States is beyond me, but it's about frickin' time. This 2D platformer lets you relive Goku's earliest adventures as he sets out on his first quest to retrieve the seven magical Dragon Balls.

If your knowledge of Dragon Ball begins with Goku and Piccolo's confrontation with Raditz, the game's story might confuse you at first. This game isn't based on Dragon Ball Z, but Z's noticeably-less-popular-in-the-U.S. predecessor, Dragon Ball. Here, Goku is still a naive youngster, we don't know that he's an alien, and there's not all the "This is the most powerful enemy I've ever faced -- his power level is off the charts!" jazz that you see in DBZ. Dragon Ball is a far more light-hearted and humorous series, and this game, a colorful side-scroller, reflects that.

As the game begins, Goku meets Bulma for the first time and learns the secret of the Dragon Balls. From there, he sets out to help her to collect them all by fighting past hordes of creatures, including wild animals and heavily-armed pig men. Along the way, he encounters new friends like Yamcha, Krillin, and Tien Shinhan. Of course, this being Dragon Ball, you typically have to challenge these newcomers before you get all buddy-buddy with 'em.


A Little Dimps'll Do Ya

You'd be forgiven for not expecting a whole lot from Advanced Adventure's gameplay. After all, anime-based games have a nasty tendency to not be very good, and the GBA is a haven for terrible licensed games. DBAA, however, is the exception rather than the rule. You'll understand why this is when you realize that it was developed by Dimps, the creators of the rather solid Sonic Advance games and One Piece for GBA. The company is also behind the pretty-darn-good Dragon Ball Z: Budokai titles. Given Dimps' experience with portable platformers and Dragon Ball games, it's not much of a surprise to find out that Advanced Adventure is good.

The stages are relatively straightforward, but there are a few different paths that you can occasionally break off and explore. Doing so will reward you with power-ups and hidden items. Despite the lack of buttons on the GBA, the game packs in a pretty decent amount of moves. Punching combos, various flying kicks, and attacks with Goku's magic Power Pole (including a spinning shield that reflects bullets) are easily pulled off with just the two face buttons and the d-pad. As you progress through the game, you learn a couple of new moves that are assigned to the shoulder buttons: a more powerful staff attack and Goku's powerful Kamehameha blast. Round One -- Fight!

In addition to the standard platforming/beat-'em-up action, there are occasional martial arts tournaments where you engage in one-on-one battles. These parts play out a bit like a fighting game crossed with a platformer. Although these fights provide a little variety, they feel somewhat limited since you don't have any extra techniques at your disposal. The fights typically become a matter of blocking, following up with a punching combo, and repeating.

For a two-year-old game, DBAA still looks fantastic. The character sprites are highly detailed and the animation is top-notch. Not many portable games look as refined as this one does. The music isn't anything that you'll remember for too long, but it does a pretty good job of complementing the action. One thing I noticed that Atari changed from the Japanese version is the music that plays over the title screen. In the original version, it plays the anime's theme song. The U.S. version has a completely different tune, which strikes me as odd considering that on the Dragon Ball DVDs, there are Japanese and English versions of the same theme. It's a fairly minor complaint, I know, but the original theme song (that's Makafushigi Adventure! for those keeping score at home) is so darn good.


If you have two copies of the game, you can link two GBAs together and play the one-on-on battles with a friend. As I mentioned above, these fights aren't nearly as deep as a full-on fighting game, so the multiplayer fights won't keep you entertained for too long. Luckily, there is a good amount of secrets to unlock, so the game's replay value is extended that way.

Despite the somewhat limited multiplayer mode, Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure is still top notch. The Dragon Ball fans will love it, of course, but even if you're not into the series, it's definitely worth checking out. I may not convince you to start cosplaying as Goku anytime soon, but it's a good game, dang it. Considering how few quality games are coming to GBA nowadays, this might be one of the last few titles that you'll want to play on the system.

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