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Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku for Game Boy Advance
Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku for Game Boy Advance is an action RPG in which you guide Goku through the first major conflicts of Dragon Ball Z. The quest begins on Earth and eventually leads to Namek, where Frieza becomes your opponent. You view the areas from an angled overhead perspective, talk to residents and complete quests between battles. Goku remains the only playable hero; you meet other familiar faces along the way as part of the story.
At close range you use punches and kicks, while ki attacks hit enemies from a distance. Charging an energy shot for longer makes the attack stronger. Goku later also learns Solar Flare and the Kamehameha. Winning battles earns experience, increasing his strength and his health and energy reserves. Flying helps you cross water or other obstacles, but consumes flight charges. You therefore also need to check how much flying time you have left before starting a crossing.
This is a single-player adventure, without battles against a second player using a link cable. You save progress to the cartridge through the game menu and can resume later using Continue. No separate memory card is needed. Alongside the story, small quests and conversations give you reasons to search an area. The journey therefore involves not only the familiar confrontations, but also finding people, objects and the next route.
Region and language
Our Game Boy Advance games are European editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose cartridge for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
This copy of Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku is a North American release. The cartridge label states AGB-ALGE-USA. The game text is in English.
Manual
With Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku for Game Boy Advance, you receive a loose cartridge. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.
The history of Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku
Webfoot Technologies developed Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku, which Infogrames released for Game Boy Advance in 2002. Its American launch took place in May, at a time when the cartoon was attracting considerable attention on Cartoon Network. Infogrames supported the release with television advertising and retail promotions. Choosing a handheld role-playing game gave the television world more room than a series of separate arenas: you could also walk around and meet characters between battles.
The first game covers the events surrounding the Saiyans and the journey to Namek, with Frieza marking the endpoint of this instalment. Throughout it, the player follows Goku. Familiar training, encounters and energy techniques become part of a route through small areas. Experience points translate his increasing fighting power into game rules. Flying also receives its own supply of charges. A power that seems almost effortless in the cartoon therefore has to be weighed against the surroundings during play.
The sequel arrived in 2003 under the Atari brand, once again made by Webfoot. In an interview that year, the team explained that responses to the first game had helped shape the changes. More playable heroes, a larger world and a revised combat system became important elements of the second game. This first cartridge instead retains the more compact structure centred on one protagonist. It therefore shows the beginning of Webfoot’s approach to Dragon Ball Z as a handheld action RPG.
Similar games for Game Boy Advance
Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II on Game Boy Advance builds on the same combination of walking, talking and direct combat. The sequel adds several playable heroes and continues with the androids and Cell. In the first game, you follow only Goku to Namek. Saving also works differently: here you use the menu, whereas the second game uses fixed circles in the world for that purpose.
Sword of Mana on Game Boy Advance also combines exploration with battles taking place directly in the landscape. There you choose between two protagonists and switch weapons and magic through a ring menu. The Legacy of Goku centres on one hero using punches and ki techniques. Both interrupt the action for conversations, but Mana builds its adventure around the Mana Tree and its own fantasy world rather than television episodes.
Golden Sun on Game Boy Advance also gives you experience points, conversations and a story in which new powers play a part. Its battles are turn-based, with a party of heroes and elemental Djinn. In The Legacy of Goku, you control Goku yourself during combat and directly determine your distance from an opponent. The main difference therefore lies in planning by selecting commands versus moving, charging and attacking.
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap on Game Boy Advance shares the overhead view, conversations with residents and action along the way. Link uses items and shrinking to solve puzzles and dungeons. Goku grows mainly through combat experience and new ki attacks. Both encourage you to examine your surroundings, but Zelda more often makes the workings of a newly found tool the key to the next passage.
Metroid Fusion on Game Boy Advance also lets you gain new powers and open previously unreachable routes. Samus, however, moves through side-view corridors, jumps between platforms and uses her weapons against the X parasites. Goku travels through overhead-view areas and receives quests from other characters. In both, your freedom of movement changes during the adventure, but Fusion places more emphasis on aiming and jumping within an interconnected research station.
