The game is a typical fighting game. punches, kicks, jumps, and various combination moves can be done by holding the various controller buttons together. The button is used to switch between staying on land and flying in the sky.
An unique feature in this game is that both characters will always be on-screen simultaneously — leading to the game doing vertical split-screen with scrolling, rotating split screen, and various other neat tricks the Mega Drive was not known for doing (accomplished using various tricks with VDP layer management). This feature is in fact required by some of the strongest moves (which require both players to be far away from each other).
Playable characters
Goku
Vegeta
18
Rekum
Gohan
Trunks
Kurilin
Ginyu
Piccolo
Cell
Freeza
History
This game was released exclusively in Japan — and also France and Spain, due to the great popularity of the Dragon Ball Z anime in these European countries. The French/Spanish version was renamed Dragon Ball Z: L'Appel du Destin and has the game translated to French language and the instruction booklet in French and Spanish languages.
The game was also distributed in Portugal, during this time, where it is simply called Dragon Ball Z. The first version of the game sold in the region was the Japanese version, released with a Mega Key 2 and the Spanish instructions of the Dragon Ball Z: L'Appel du Destin FR/ES version, copied and printed on both sides of an A4 paper sheet, included as a manual (and the original Japanese manual). Later, in 1996, for the second version, the distributor Ecofilmes, would take Japanese copies of the game, replace the cover by one from a Dragon Ball Z VHS cassette[1][2] directed by Japanese scriptwriter and series director Kazuhisa Takenouchi[3][4] (竹之内 和久) sold by Prisvideo-Edições Videográficas, Lda (Prisvideo signed a contract in 1996 with, London based
Manga Entertainment, a producer, licensee, and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States and United Kingdom, to release their anime films[5] in Portugal) a sister company of Ecofilmes during the same period in the region and the manual with Portuguese translated equivalents (but keep the Japanese cart), and sell the game as is, promising a free converter cart (Mega Key III) as the Japanese cartridges cannot fit into European Mega Drives.
A 500$00 Escudos discount coupon (2.50€) was offered with the game for the aforementioned VHS cassette. Some time after, they released a third version and switched to use the French version cartridge. The three versions are now very rare.