The FGC Goes In-Saiyan for Bardock and Broly in Dragon Ball FighterZ!

Once the initial roster was revealed for Dragon Ball FighterZ, fans of the series were clamoring for popular characters who didn’t make it into the first batch of characters. On Wednesday, March 28, fans of Bardock, Goku’s dad, and Broly, the Saiyan who wants to kill Goku, will rejoice and be able to get their hands on their favorite characters. We take a look at what the community has to say about the newest members of the DBFZ roster.

Wake Up and Face Reality!

Those unfamiliar with the Dragon Ball series might think Bardock is just Goku wearing a different uniform. While they’re close, they’re not quite on the mark. Bardock is Goku’s father, whose existence was fleshed out in two separate Dragon Ball movies: Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku and Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock, of which the latter was also released as a manga adaptation. One of the first people to break down Bardock’s reveal trailer was Maximilian Dood, who shared his excitement for the character.

Soon thereafter, players were able to finally get their hands on the first Super Saiyan and give him a shot. Of the two new characters, it’s been said that Bardock is the easier one to use, as his moves are easier to combo through the use of assists. The general consensus, like Max said in the above, to have great normal attacks, similar to Adult Gohan. Reddit user Swoleus goes on further, saying, “...his normals look really, really good, almost if not on Cell's level. His spin special looks to be a stupidly effective meaty with an assist covering it in the corner, all his supers and specials can be performed in the air…”

One of the best early impression guides comes courtesy of YouTuber PNDK&M, who had a substantial breakdown of the legendary Saiyan commander a full week before the character’s release.

With a fully invincible level one super attack, some strong normal and special attacks, and the ability to convert for major damage off of assists, Bardock looks to be a very strong point character.

My Power is Surging, Overflowing!

Now it’s time for the main event, the character that everyone collectively seems to be hyped for: Broly. The Legendary Super Saiyan is an impressive sight, with his trademark chartreuse hair obscuring view of the third health bar for each player. His feet make a unique stomping sound as he menacingly walks towards his unfortunate opponent. Oh, and he’s got some serious moves, too. Check out this quick peak of the character that Bandai Namco gave us, with prominent FGC and DBZ community members AfroSenju XL, Hellpockets and Rhymestyle hosted:

Like we mentioned above and Hellpockets reiterated, Broly will certainly be the more advanced of the two characters to learn. Despite the overwhelming power he displayed in the movies, games are a different beast entirely, and balance needs to be struck in some way. Like Reddit user says about Broly, “Broly is a character that I thought was gonna be terrifying, and it looks like the devs had the same feeling too, because while he does have a lot of armored moves, they tried to make sure he didn't become too powerful, but it looks like they tried too hard. There's still hope for him, but first impressions aren't looking great.”

Bandai Namco has a similar problem balancing Broly in the mobile game Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle. While the game isn’t a competitive fighter, it’s still a game where balance matters, especially when you’re talking about spending real currency to try and summon the Demon himself. Usually, Broly’s power comes at the price of lessening his defenses, meaning opposing characters do more damage to him. A similar concept could’ve been used here, but the developers of DBFZ instead seem to be weakening his overall damage in favor of having players be more creative with their offense, which seems to start with Broly’s command throw.

That being said, Broly is still plenty powerful. Watch here, as Broly is almost able to bring the opposing Bardock to death with four separate 3-hit combos:

The above video has a full 20 minutes of gameplay for both DLC characters, and is definitely worth checking out if you just can’t wait for the two Saiyan warriors to be ready for battle. 

Time will tell how both of these characters fair in the DBFZ meta, but one thing’s for certain - Arc System Works have proven that they were the right developers for this game because of their love and drive to maintain accuracy to the source material for both characters.

If the thought of characters like Krillin and Tien beating up Broly is driving you mad, then remember canon doesn’t mean a thing in this game. Get your head in the game and get over canon (and spamming) in this edition of Low-Tier Hero!