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Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Review — The One That Understood the Assignment

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has sold 10 million copies by treating the anime as a world to live in — fishing, eating, training — not just a set of fights.

By mitch·2 min read
A mighty hero of the earth stands amid a desolate waste, awaiting the onset of battle.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot does not ask whether you can beat Vegeta. It asks whether you will fish first.

CyberConnect2 built an action role-playing game around the whole of Dragon Ball Z, and Bandai Namco published it. Kakarot landed on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows in January 2020, then Nintendo Switch in September 2021, Stadia in October 2021, PlayStation 5 in January 2023 and Xbox Series X/S in February 2023. It has moved 10 million copies as of January 12, 2026.

Trailer, via PlayStation.

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Four Sagas, Seven Fighters

The plot runs the anime’s course: Saiyan Saga, Frieza Saga, Cell Saga, Buu Saga, anime-original storylines included. Seven characters are playable in the base game — Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Future Trunks, Gotenks and Vegito — with more unlocked as you go.

Bosses run from Raditz and Nappa through the Ginyu Force and Frieza, then Android 19 and 20, Cell, Majin Buu, Kid Buu, Beerus and Mira. Bonyū, an original character designed by Akira Toriyama for the game, appears as a boss.

Fishing Between Fights

Kakarot is an RPG with fighting game elements. You battle, and you also fish, collect Z orbs, eat, drive a hover car, train, and slot characters into soul emblems. Two supporting characters can be picked to aid in battle, drawn from the playable roster plus Krillin, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Android 18, Goten and Kid Trunks.

Beyond the epic battles, experience life in the Dragon Ball Z world as you fight, fish, eat, and train with Goku.

That is the pitch, and it is the honest one. The side activities are not garnish. They are the reason the game exists as something other than a fighting game with a story mode bolted on.

Where the Hover Car Matters

The mixed reviews Kakarot drew at launch make sense. The combat is competent rather than deep. The open zones are thin. But the game’s real offer is the quiet business between the big fights — the fishing, the eating, the training — and that is what CyberConnect2 got right.

DLC and the Long Tail

Bonus storylines cover Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Daima, the original Dragon Ball and two television specials. They cost extra. For a game built on reliving a story fans already know, that is a fair ask, though not a generous one.

10 Million Copies

Ten million copies is not a fluke. It is what happens when a game treats a beloved series as a place to live rather than a set of fights to clear.

Kakarot is not the best Dragon Ball game ever made. It is the one that understood the assignment: let players stay in the world a while. 7.8 of 10.

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