Hey everyone, It’s me monster and I’m back with another review!! You know, there are so many Dragon ball Z games it makes my brain explode, Because of this. The great games based on the original dragon ball are overshadowed. 

Today I will be looking at one of those overshadowed original dragon ball games, With the name: Dragon ball advanced adventure.  Geez, how many Gameboy advanced games are there with the word advanced in it?

The game was released in 2006, the same year that Dragon ball z: Budokai tenkaichi 2 was released.

The game got overlooked, because it was released late in the GBA’s lifespan. And there was already a dragon ball game on the ds: Dragon ball z Supersonic warriors 2. Which also did not help with the sales of this one.

Was it good that this game got overlooked? Or is it a hidden gem. Let’s find out!

Graphics: 9/10

Starting off good for this game.  The graphics in this game are really good.  It looks like the anime (No manga designs manga fans) Everything is colourful and captures the feel of the show very well. The designs are well detailed and look really good.  Some enemies are even from the show.

The look of the stages themselves, Most of the time is creative and fun to look at.

I especially love the design of krillin and king piccolo. They look very much like they were ripped from the show.

The animation, It’s really good, Fantastic even.  The punches are fluent, Running feels very satisfying because of the animation.  It’s great, most of the times. Why? Well, when there is a lot of stuff happening on screen, there will be slowdown. It was not that bad, But still something worth to note.

Overall The graphics are great, The animation is great, Character design awesome And the stages look gorgeous  A 9/10

Sound 10/10

You probably don’t know this, But I reviewed this game earlier about a year ago now, That review was not really great. But I gave the same score for the sound.

The sound in this game is freaking great.

The sound effects are true to the anime, and the music, Is like muffins to my ears. And I love muffins.

You have awesome remixed and original songs from the anime, which already had amazing music.

The sound effects are also really awesome, Punches really sound like the punches from the show, and Goku/Krillin screaming Kamehameha Is also really cool.

Overall there is not really a lot to say, It has great sound effects and amazing music! 10/10

Addictiveness 7/10

This game is rather addicting. I found myself wanting to continue the game. The main story is not that big, But you can play the game again with krillin, Play mini games, do the one player mode which is the story mode, but without the cut scenes and extra items and moves to unlock, and even fight one one on matches.

Krillin actually has different moves, Which makes it more addicting.

The controls are very nice and responsive. And I felt that beating up enemies rarely got boring.

The music definitely adds to the addictiveness. The gameplay is actually rather cool, It mixes platforming and beat em up elements. And it even has simple yet extremely addicting one-on-one fights! It’s a really nice mix, There was a spiritual sequel to this game called ‘’Dragon ball GT: Transformation’’ However it removed a lot of platforming elements and deleted the one-on-one fights.

This game keeps you entertained the entire way through. Most of the times.

You see, there is this maze level which is arguably the most annoying stage in the entire game.  I said in my first review of this game that there is lots of backtracking. Most of that happens in this stage, It’s really annoying and I can see it taking a bit of the addictiveness out of the game for a lot of other people.

Overall This game is addicting, it is. And it will be more addicting if you actually watched the show, or have read the manga. ( I have done both ) Gameplay is great.. speaking of the gameplay.

Gameplay 9/10

I already touched on the gameplay a bit for the addictiveness section. But I wanted to go more in detail.

Is it a platformer? Is it a beat em’ up? It’s both! There are even fighting parts in it! And don’t think that the platforming bits are going to be a walk in the park, as they are really not.  The game is straight-forward for some levels, But some others are more like a maze, where backtracking is involved. The beat em up’ elements are also executed very well, and never got repetitive, because of the mix with platforming. And that’s where I’m going, the game never feels repetitive. First you’re moving from point a to point b, and then you have to memorize which door you need. It’s all a lot of fun.

Like I said, Krillin and goku have different movies. For example. Goku can swing his pole, and Krillin can use Solar Flare, a move that temporarily stuns opponents, and actually comes in handy.  Krillin can jump higher than goku when it comes to use in battle. However, there are red spots where you stand on, and push up and A, and Goku has his pole, which makes him go higher on these red spots. Resulting in the player (If you play as krillin) Having to find out other ways to get to the platform above.  If you didn’t know this game also has a wii counterpart, it’s a bit different but also very similar. I have it too. There are also one-on-one fighting parts there, and there are also one-on-one fighting parts on this game! Like I said, they are actually pretty fun and addicting. You start out on the ground, and you go in a punching exchange (Which is really addicting) and who gets the most punches and kicks has the advantage, and can choose to continue fighting on the ground, kicking low. Or go in to the air where you kick your opponent in the air, punch them a few times in the air, and then give them a devastating punch back to the ground, on to the hard ground. This goes on until the time ends up, and who has the most health at the end wins. Or you can choose to play without time and it will be decided like a normal fighting game, whose health-bar is completely down. Loses, You can unlock different stages if you play with krillin, or play the one-player mode where like I said you unlock different kinds of items and stuff like that.

Overall The gameplay is executed very, very well. The platforming and beat em’up goes together very well, like sugar with tea. A 9/10

Difficulty 8/10

Alrighty, this game is challenging. But it’s fair, when you die or get hit, you know that it’s your fault. And that is good game design, and you can’t say that for a lot of other games.  Luckily, if you find the hard, or even normal difficulties too hard, you can choose easy.  Which makes the game a lot easier, obviously. The game goes through the beginning of dragon ball up until the second-last saga, the Demon king piccolo saga. And the last fight with king piccolo is very difficult, and I had to try it a lot of times, and a after a lot of  ‘’Oh, my.. I’m never going to beat this guy’’ I managed it! Most of the boss fights are played in the one-on-one  fighting style, but some are not. Those are just  fights with the normal beat em’ up mechanics and moves and I found them to be easier. The controls are fluent, and respond well so you won’t get difficulty problems from that. The one-on-fights like I said can be very difficult, But again it’s fair. (Except that last fight with king piccolo, that’s just waay OP.) The platforming is also challenging. There are a lot of enemies with guns, So you have to time your jump correctly or otherwise you will be shot down in to a pit, don’t that it’s unfair as it’s really not. You always feel that it’s YOUR fault, and I can’t stress that enough.

The beat em’ up element is also challenging, There can be a lot of enemies you have to deal with, I have to admit playing as krillin is a lot easier, as you can just use solar flare. But there is a limit to how many times you can use solar flare, ‘’Ki’’ It’s basically energy, kamehameha’s are ki beams, which damage the enemies and even kill them in one hit. Think of the Kamehameha as a big laser beam if you have never seen dragon ball.  There is actually strategy involved, unlike a lot of beat em’ ups, where it’s just ‘’PRESS THE FREAKING PUNCH BUTTON AND PUNCH’’

Overall This game is challenging, but fair. It’s good difficulty.

Story 10/10

Biased? Maybe, I’m a die-hard fan of dragon ball, The story section was bound to be biased.

The story, is pretty awesome and so imaginative, I love the world the maker of dragon ball: Akira Toriyama created, this world actually got a bit lost in DBZ, which is a minus in DBZ, in my opinion.

Bulma, is a girl in search for the seven magical dragon balls, Meanwhile a small boy named goku (Who has a tail) lives in the woods, his grandpa had died and he lived all on his own, the only thing his grandpa had given him was.. A dragon ball! Goku, has no idea what a dragon ball is. But Bulma has a radar, a radar that can track dragon balls, she comes across goku while searching, and sees that he has a dragonball, Some funny things happen, which actually caught me off-guard when I first saw the English dub (Which censores most of the sexual things) But yeah, Goku at first of course does not want to give her the dragon ball, as it’s a memorial of his grandpa, but goku finally agrees, but only if he can come with them, What follows is a lot of funny, and even sad scenes. (The sad scenes should really be experienced by yourself, as it would be stupid if I spoiled them , When I saw these scenes in the, anime. I’m a guy.. But I kinda.. Cried a bit.

The characters are amazing, they really are. You have the perverted old martial arts master, Master roshi. The innocent little super-human boy Goku. And my favourite, The best faces of any dragon ball character, the friendly yet at first cheating Kid krillin! (Too bad he became an idiot when DBZ came around) And bulma, A 16 year old girl, who is a typical 16 year old, but at the same time, innocent.

Overall The story is amazing, and the characters are even more amazing. Awesome, great, and even awesome (Sorry Faded I had to loan that) a 10/10

Depth 6/10

This is, the worst part of the game, while there it’s not super incredibly offending short, like Muppets: License to croak, It could have been longer. And they could have included the piccolo jr. saga. Here are the sagas you can play through.

Emperor pilaf saga

First world tournament saga

Red ribbon army saga

Tien saga

King piccolo saga.

The levels are pretty long, but they could have included more. When you beat the game there is also the option to play as krillin, play as different characters in the one-on-one fighting mode in the game, and the one player mode. Which I already said is the same as story mode, only without the cutscenes and items to unlock. The game is a lot of fun, but at the end, I was actually wanting more, and the spiritual sequel, Dragon ball GT: Transformation just did not do it for me.

Overall The game is a bit short, but it’s not horribly short, and actually has some replay value.

OVERALL: 8.8/10

This game is really good. And seldom do I give a game such a high score. I really like the game, it has awesome sound, great graphics fantastic gameplay, and the incredible story and characters of dragon ball.  You don’t need to be a fan of dragon ball to like this game, and that’s really true, So even if you don’t like dragon ball, I say check this game out!

Memories: 8/10

Yes, I have a memories section in my reviews, Weird I know.

Of course I have some memories for this game if I made a review for it a year ago. That review is already dated, But I have fond memories of writing it, And I always played this game with my friend, who is actually on vizzed. Appelmoesftw, and we had a lot of fun together.