| Dragon Ball | |
| Italic Title: | no |
| Developer: | Various |
| Publisher: | Bandai, Banpresto, Infogrames, Atari SA, Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| Platforms: | Super Cassette Vision, NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, Playdia, PC Engine, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, GameCube, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, PlayStation Vita, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, WonderSwan Color, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Portable, Mobile Phone, Android, iOS, iPadOS |
| First Release Version: | Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyō |
| First Release Date: | September 27, 1986 |
| Latest Release Version: | Dragon Ball: The Breakers |
| Latest Release Date: | October 13, 2022 |
| Parent: | Dragon Ball |
The Dragon Ball video games are based on the manga series of the same name created by Akira Toriyama. From 1990, these games were released under the Dragon Ball Z banner, after the second anime television series. The games are of various genres, most prominently fighting games, role-playing games, and platform games, all featuring a varying roster of characters as depicted in the original series. Toriyama himself personally designed some of the video game original characters, such as Android 21 for Dragon Ball FighterZ,[1] Mira and Towa for Dragon Ball Online,[2] and Bonyū for .[3]
Dragon Ball games have been primarily released in Japan since 1986, with the majority of them being produced by Bandai. Games from the 16-bit and 32-bit eras were localized and released in France, Spain, Portugal, and other European countries due to the strong following the series already had in those countries. Up until 1994, with the exception of Dragon Ball: Shenlong no Nazo (which was released as Dragon Power, and was graphically altered), no games were localized for the North American market.
In 2000, Infogrames acquired the license to produce and release Dragon Ball games for the North American and international market.[4] With the release of their first two titles in the franchise, 2002's and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, Infogrames more than doubled their sales.[5] In January 2004, Atari paid $10 million for the exclusive US rights until January 2010.[6] In 2008, Atari announced that over 12.7 million video game units based on the series had been sold since May 2002.[7] Dragon Ball was Atari's top-earning licensed property, earning $85 million in 2005 and accounting for over 49% of their annual revenue in 2008.[8] [9] However, with the expiration of the Atari deal in 2009, Namco Bandai Games assumed the North American and European distribution rights, starting with the 2009 releases of , , and .[10]
By December 2014, over 40 million video games based on the franchise had been sold worldwide.[11] The Dragon Ball Xenoverse series sold a further 14million units between 2015 and 2021,[12] [13] Dragon Ball FighterZ sold over 8million,[13] and sold over units,[14] bringing software sales to over million units sold. In addition, the mobile game has exceeded downloads[15] and grossed over .[16] __TOC__
