Japanese hardware sales, February 6 - 12: Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout edition [Joystiq

[DP ServBot]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2012/02/dragonballgtfinalbout.jpg (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/19/japanese-hardware-sales-february-6-12-dragon-ball-gt-final/)

Hearing about the greatest news ever (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/17/dragon-ball-z-kinect-rated-in-korea-start-practicing-your-fusio/) yesterday got us waxing nostalgic on the history of Dragon Ball games. Sure, they're a fairly common occurrence nowadays, what with the series being a household name for more than a decade and everything, but there was once a time in the mid 1990s where the western world was so ignorant of Goku and friends that his games didn't even get released.

Well, except for one: Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout was released for the PlayStation in 1997, a year after the series had debuted on American syndicated network television and a year before it would become the dominant force on Cartoon Network's Toonami programing block. Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout was so rare and so expensive that, at the time, it was cheaper to modify a PlayStation and import the Japanese version than to buy a second-hand North American copy. Unfortunately, as you can tell from the video above, it was one of the worst fighting games ever made.Continue reading Japanese hardware sales, February 6 - 12: Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout edition (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/19/japanese-hardware-sales-february-6-12-dragon-ball-gt-final/)
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif (http://www.joystiq.com)Japanese hardware sales, February 6 - 12: Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout edition (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/19/japanese-hardware-sales-february-6-12-dragon-ball-gt-final/) originally appeared on Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com) on Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).

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[heybtbm]

...and then it was re-released at every possible retail location in 2005 and ended up on clearance racks for $5.

[old_skoolin_jim]

I managed to find a used copy at Software Etc. for $40, in late '99, I think? It was just after that the price went WOOOOOOT-WOOT-WOOT-WOOT through the roof. I held onto mine for a few years and eventually sold it on eBay for $100, maybe a year or so before its re-release. It really was a clunky, campy fighter, but it was the only American DBZ/GT game until Budokai (and the US release of Ultimate Battle 22, which looked just as clunky and appeared to have extremely choppy 2d sprites).
Budokai 3 on PS2 rocked my world for the week I rented it, though.

[Blanka789]

Still not sure why they released a DBGT game before a DBZ one (considering that's what was airing at the time), but you gotta love that Final Bout soundtrack.

[Edmond Dantes]

(and the US release of Ultimate Battle 22, which looked just as clunky and appeared to have extremely choppy 2d sprites).

UB22 sucked, hard.

The Genki Dama has exactly the same animation as the Kamehameha, I shit you not. Also, its the most boring animation ever--Goku just throws what looks like a basketball.

I returned it the week I bought it, and henceforth stuck with the 16-bit fighters (I didn't like Budokai and its Tekken-esque control scheme).

[DDCecil]

My brother won that auction for it at CGE 2K2. I think he played it for literally 10 minutes, then resold it on eBay for $200.

[The 1 2 P]

Dragon Ball: GT Final Bout holds the double title for being one of the worst DBZ games and worst PS1 fighting games. It's a shame Dragon Ball Z: Legends never got localized. That was one of the best DBZ games ever made before they started making new ones for last gen systems.

[Rickstilwell1]

I liked UB22 a lot more than GT Final Bout. What I liked most about it was the build up mode. And the game being 2D rather than 3D made it a lot less choppier than Final Bout. I imported UB22 before Budokai came out because I wanted a DBZ game as soon as I knew one existed. I can't stand the 16 bit import DBZ games though. They just don't control as smoothly as UB22 does.