I've played a ton of Dragon Ball Z games, but haven't been privy to a Dragon Ball game since the old-school Dragon Power back on the NES before I was even aware it was based on a manga/anime. I've watched all the Dragon Ball Z episodes, but only the first few arcs of Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo is a unique game for the series, as it's a side-scrolling adventure beat 'em up, which helps fill in some of the later arcs I haven't seen yet. It's not a great game, but it is pleasant enough.

Before Dragon Ball Z came around, the original Dragon Ball series had Piccolo as a bad guy, Yamcha could actually kick some butt, and Goku was nothing more than a little boy, riding around on his pet yellow cloud, and looking for dragon balls in order to get his wishes granted. It was an overall more lighthearted offering and one that many fans actually claim is better than any subsequent series that came later.

Furries!

Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo forgoes the opening arcs, instead starting with the arc involving the Red Ribbon Army and working its way towards the introduction of Piccolo. I'm not overtly familiar with any single plot point, but the game certainly feels as if it's following the storyline of the series pretty closely, though obviously leaving out some moments. The story is mainly told through static cutscenes, showing stills of the characters sliding into and out of frame as they deliver their dialogue. While static cutscenes are the bulk of the storytelling, there are in-game rendered scenes showing off some of the more spectacular moments, like Goku bringing down a giant monster.

Instead of going the usual route when it comes to Dragon Ball Z games, Revenge of King Piccolo breaks the norm for the franchise and instead delivers a side-scrolling beat 'em up platformer with elements of a fighter included. The game utilizes both the Wii remote and nunchuk, though you can use the classic controller or Gamecube controller if you wish. Given the options for other controllers, it should come as no surprise that waggling is very limited. Personally, I'm a fan of games not using waggle for the sake of waggle. There are a few times where you'll shake the remote, but those are only during interactive cutscenes for the most part.

The controls are very simple to grasp. The A-button attacks, B-button jumps, control stick moves you, directional pad performs special attack, Z-button performs lock-on and C-button blocks. These simple controls are combined to perform more advanced attacks and functions, such as using a block to start a counter attack, or using the lock-on function to zoom in for an attack or follow-up an air launched victim with a series of hits and ground pounds.

My biggest gripe about the game is that the combat is too simple and repetitive. You'll fight the same enemies and use the same techniques time and time again, which can often feel like nothing more than hammering the A-button over and over to perform a combo. You'll also be doing a lot of air launches, since those deliver the most damage. You'll need those combo hits too so that you can build your special attack meter, which lets Goku perform his famous Kamehameha wave. It can be quite difficult to perform the special attacks, however, because though the game is for the most part told in a semi-2D fashion, the planes themselves are 3D. So while it might look like you're looking directly at an enemy, you could actually be pointing in a slight angle into or out of the plane your enemy is on, and so your super powerful move gets wasted. It happens pretty frequently and soon becomes so annoying you will hardly use it all.

Revenge of King Piccolo isn't just a brawler, as there are plenty of platforming elements throughout the whole game. You'll jump on falling platforms, lock-on to moving robots, dodge environmental objects, and much more. Whereas the combat is ultimately too repetitious and monotonous, the platforming elements can be simply frustrating at times. There isn't much of a penalty for dying, but still, it's annoying to die time and time again, because Goku has such a poor vertical leap he can barely hurdle an enemy or make a jump unless timed absolutely perfect.

There also isn't a ton of variety when it comes to enemies, as you'll face a number of wolves, robots, ninjas, and animals that walk and talk like regular people. The bosses are pretty good, however, as they're old school in design since each one has an attack pattern to learn and exploit. The boss battles aren't strictly on one level either, as some fights take place in more arena like areas, where you can run around and into and out of the level to engage the fight.

You'll Do This A Lot

The arena portions are further explored in the game's World Tournament mode, which plays out like a regular fighting game (to a degree), but using the same moves available during the single-player adventure. It's fun to be able to pick from an assortment of characters as they become unlocked, but fights are extremely boring and make the mode seem tacked on more than anything else. For instance, after you attack with a combo and knock them down, they'll start flashing, showing they're immune to attacks for the time being. So in essence, what happens, is you'll attack, watch them become immune, then run away long enough for their defense to return to normal, and then perform the same routine over and over until the game is over. The fights aren't exciting and take no effort at all to win.

Graphically, Revenge of King Piccolo looks very nice for a Wii game, and the cel-shaded graphics do an excellent job at bringing to life the styling of the anime series; the in-game characters and enemies really look a lot like Akira Toriyama's artwork. The only downfall when it comes to the graphics is in the environments – they're just too sparse and textures and rooms in the same levels start to look alike. The game's voice work is as solid as ever given the talent behind the characters reprise their roles (at least it sounds like them), but the sound effects and music is just average, since a lot of it – like Goku's attacks – making the same sound every time.

Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo isn't a great game, but it is a quaint and easy to pick-up and play game, and I could see younger gamers enjoying the game even more than I did. It's not the best Dragon Ball franchise game I've played, but it's nice to see someone trying something new instead of rehashing the same stories from Dragon Ball Z and using the same fighting game mechanics.

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