DBZ: Legends

System: Sega Saturn
Release Date: May, 1996

Dragon Ball Z Legends reinacts the great battles of the Dragon Ball Z story, including the battle against Nappa, Vegita, the Ginew Force, Freeza, Androids No. 19 and No. 20, Androids No. 16, No. 17, and No. 18, Cell, Darbura, Buu, Super Buu, and Kid Buu. It's all here. The story unfolds in cinematic sequences between battles. Try to follow as closely to the real story as you can, or pick any 3 of the characters you've beaten so far and fight against your friend and his 3 favorites.

Although this is almost identical to it's PlayStation counterpart, Legends for the Saturn does have a few differences. First of all, it seems a little more difficult, in that a bit more strategy is required to defeat the enemies. There are more items in the scenery such as trees rocks, and shrubs. These can actually be knocked down or destroyed by attacks during the fight.

Some of the characters have different attacks from the PlayStation version. This is both good and bad. Some characters have more moves, some have less moves, and some are just different. More on this later when I start complaining.

A neat thing that happens in this version that doesn't happen on the Playstation is that occasionally an enemy will hit you and knock you flying VERY far across the ground, through any trees and mountains that might be in the way.

The action is quicker than on the PlayStation as well. As far as gameplay is concerned, I would have to say this one is the best of the two.

Now for the negative differences. The glowing effects around the characters are two-dimensional color fields in front of the character, not 3D shells of energy like on the PlayStation. Also, some of the changed moves are just plain stupid looking. For example, Kuririn's attack is just two Kienzan (Destructo Discs if you watch the American show) that knock the oponent down. On the Playstation, Vegita does the Big Bang Attack and Final Flash, which are both spectacular. What does he do on the Saturn? One cheesy move where he starts building up power, says "Shi ne!" (DIE!), and fires some weird green blast upward into the opponent. This is affectionately known as "The Green Weenie" by friends of mine. I can only assume that it is supposed to be the move Vegita uses to dispose of Nappa in the TV show. Ironically, Nappa is the only character he doesn't fight in the game.

Legends is a good game, no matter which version you have. If you're a big fan or a completist, by all means, get them both, as they were produced in massive quantities. However, there don't appear to be enough differences to warrant favoring one over the other.

FAQs and Codes from Gamefaqs.com

satlegend1.rm (940 KB file): A 41.1 second RealMedia clip of Goku hitting Vegita with the Genki Dama (Spirit Bomb).

satlegend2.rm (1001 KB file): A 44 second RealMedia clip of Vegita hitting Gourd with the infamous "Green Weenie".

satlegend3.rm (559 KB file): A 22.9 second RealMedia clip of Freeza hitting SSJ Goku with a barrage of laser blasts from his finger. Notice the lightning flashes in the background.

satlegend4.rm (491 KB file): A 20.1 second RealMedia clip of SSJ Goku hitting Freeza with his KameHameHa.