Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic | Tagged: bandai, dragon ball, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Z, Niantic

Dragon Ball Super Is The Perfect IP For A Mobile AR Game

Niantic Labs, the mobile developer behind Pokémon GO, has been pushing further into the AR mobile game space with new IP in 2022. The company has announced augmented reality games based on the NBA with NBA All-World, the super-hero game MARVEL World of Heroes, the breakfast-based Lucky Charms: Journey to the Gems, and the upcoming brand-new IP, Peridot. These games merge real-world imagery with mobile gaming graphics as Niantic stakes its claim for a piece of the metaverse. So what titles deserve a mobile game that merges with reality the way that these titles and Pokémon GO has? I think Dragon Ball Super is begging for an AR game.

Dragon Ball Super, the current iteration of Akira Toriyama's ongoing Dragon Ball, features a cast of super-powered characters who fight to save the world, journey to gather the Dragon Balls, and seek to power themselves up with intense training. The franchise has spawned many games, but it was the game DBZ: Kakarot that made me think how fun it would be to see Toriyama's world merge with our own.

Kakarot was mostly open-world with some narrative elements, but that exploration was what really made the game memorable to me. I loved how the power levels of the characters were truly customizable as a result of how much training you put in.

I could see a mobile game where you can assemble your own Z-Warriors. Much like you could level Pokémon up in Pokémon GO, powering characters up through battles and training could unlock new peaks of power, including transformations like Super Saiyan. Much like Niantic does events in their other games, they could use a similar mechanic to raids to have villains like Frieza, Cell, Buu, Zamasu, and more appear to be battled in the real world.

PVP is also a major part of these AR games, just like martial arts tournaments are a big part of Dragon Ball. Every element of these games, from collection-based hunting to real-world exploration, lends itself to this legacy story.

What would you like to see from an AR-style Dragon Ball Super game?

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