It is a crime that we haven't seen a sequel. Seriously. Most Dragon Ball games today are either hyper-fast arena fighters like Sparking! Zero or mobile gacha sinks designed to drain your wallet. But back in 2009, Monolith Soft—the geniuses who would eventually give us the Xenoblade Chronicles series—decided to take a crack at the franchise. The result was Dragon Ball Z Attack of the Saiyans, a Nintendo DS masterpiece that basically proved you could make a "real" RPG out of Akira Toriyama's world without just relying on button mashing.
It’s weirdly overlooked. People talk about Legacy of Goku II or Buu’s Fury with this thick layer of nostalgia, but they often forget the DS title that actually had a deep combat system.
Dragon Ball Z Attack of the Saiyans covers the start of the Z era. Raditz arrives, Nappa and Vegeta show up, and everything goes to hell. Simple, right? Except it isn't. Monolith Soft didn't just rush to the big fights. They padded the story with actual world-building. You spend time in the interim years, exploring areas like the Muscle Tower or the Devil's Toilet, places that felt like leftovers from the original Dragon Ball run. It felt like a love letter to the whole series, not just the "screaming and glowing hair" parts.
The Monolith Soft Touch: Why the Gameplay Works
You can tell this wasn't a rush job. If you’ve played Baten Kaitos or Xenoblade, you’ll recognize the DNA here. The turn-based combat isn't just "pick an attack and wait." It’s built on the Active Guard system. You have to press buttons at the exact moment an enemy strikes to mitigate damage. It keeps you engaged. You aren't just a spectator; you're the defense coach.
The "Sparking" meter is where things get truly wild.
Once that bar fills up, your characters can unleash massive combos. If you pair the right characters—like Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien—you can trigger S-Combos that do ridiculous damage. It actually makes the "Earthling" characters feel viable. In the show, Yamcha is basically a walking meme by the time the Saiyans land. In Dragon Ball Z Attack of the Saiyans, he’s a tactical asset. You’re actually incentivized to use the whole roster rather than just waiting for Goku to show up and save the day.
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The customization is surprisingly deep for a handheld game from 15 years ago. You get AP (Ability Points) to dump into specific stats or move upgrades. Want a Gohan that hits like a truck but moves like a glacier? You can do that. Want a Piccolo focused entirely on Ki regeneration? Go for it. This level of agency is something modern DBZ games often trade away for flashy cinematics. Honestly, I miss the math. I miss the crunch.
Exploring a World That Actually Feels Big
Most DBZ games treat the world like a series of menus. You select "Wasteland" and you fight. Here, you actually walk. You explore.
There are hidden bosses, like the Broly fight that was tucked away as an endgame secret. Finding him felt like a genuine discovery back in the day before every single secret was plastered across social media within three minutes of a game’s launch. The maps are dense with treasure chests and puzzles that require specific character abilities to solve. It turned the Dragon World into a place you lived in, not just a backdrop for a fight.
The visuals still hold up, too. Pixel art is timeless. While the 3D models in some of the older PS2 games look like jagged clay these days, the sprites in Dragon Ball Z Attack of the Saiyans are expressive and vibrant. The animations for the ultimate attacks—like the Special Beam Cannon—have a weight to them that 3D often fails to capture.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Difficulty
There’s this persistent myth that DBZ RPGs are easy. That’s probably because Legacy of Goku 1 was a bit of a mess. But Attack of the Saiyans? It will punish you. If you don't master the timing of the Active Guard, the boss fight against Vegeta will absolutely wreck your team. He’s not a "hit him until he dies" boss. He’s a "manage your Ki, time your guards, and pray your Senzu beans hold out" boss.
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The level scaling is fair, but the game expects you to engage with its systems. You can't just grind your way out of bad strategy. You have to understand turn order. You have to know when to swap characters out to the back row to let them recover. It's a "thinking person's" Dragon Ball game, which is a sentence I don't get to say very often.
It’s also surprisingly long. For a game that only covers one saga—the Saiyan Saga—it manages to pack in about 20 to 30 hours of content. That’s because it treats the journey as the point, not just the destination. You aren't just rushing to the fight with Nappa; you're dealing with the fallout of Raditz's arrival, training in the afterlife, and gathering the Dragon Balls to fix the mess.
Why a Sequel Never Happened (and Why That Sucks)
It’s one of those industry mysteries. The game ended on a massive cliffhanger. After the credits roll, you see a shot of Frieza’s ship heading toward Namek. The stage was set. Monolith Soft was ready. But then... nothing.
Maybe it was the transition from the DS to the 3DS. Maybe it was licensing shifts. Or maybe Namco Bandai decided that 3D brawlers were a safer bet for the "average" fan. Whatever the reason, we lost out on what could have been the definitive RPG trilogy of the franchise. Imagine Namek with this combat system. Imagine the Android Saga with Monolith Soft's penchant for complex narratives. It's a genuine tragedy of the gaming world.
Even without a sequel, the game stands alone as a testament to what happens when you give a legendary IP to a studio that actually cares about RPG mechanics. It wasn't just a licensed cash grab. It was a Monolith Soft game that happened to have Goku in it.
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The Legacy of the Capsule System
One of the coolest features was the Capsule system. It allowed for a level of utility that we rarely see. You could equip different capsules to provide passive buffs or active items in battle. It made the inventory management feel integrated into the lore of the world. Bulma’s tech actually mattered.
If you're looking to play it now, you're going to have to hunt down a physical copy or look into "other" methods of preservation. Prices for DS cartridges have been climbing, especially for niche gems like this. But it’s worth it. Even in 2026, the game doesn't feel dated. It feels deliberate.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Playthrough
If you’re picking this up for the first time, or dusting off an old cart, don't play it like a standard brawler. Here is how to actually enjoy the depth of the game without hitting a wall:
- Prioritize the "Guard" stat early. It sounds boring, but being able to survive a Galick Gun is better than being able to punch slightly harder.
- Invest in Yamcha. Seriously. His Wolf Fang Fist and his ability to hit multiple times make him a king of the Sparking meter. Don't let the memes fool you; he's a beast in this game.
- Don't skip the side quests. The game is full of character interactions that you won't see in the anime. It fleshes out the relationships between the Z-Fighters in a way that makes the final stand against Nappa feel much more personal.
- Master the S-Combos. Experiment with different team compositions. The game doesn't tell you every combination; you have to find them. The "Earthling Strike" is a literal lifesaver in the mid-game.
- Save your AP. Don't just spend it the second you get it. Sometimes it's better to wait until you unlock a higher-tier move and dump your points there.
Dragon Ball Z Attack of the Saiyans is a reminder that the best way to honor a franchise isn't just to replicate its look, but to translate its spirit into a different genre. The desperation of the Saiyan invasion, the tactical nature of the Z-Fighters' teamwork, and the sheer scale of the world are all present here. It’s a dense, challenging, and beautiful RPG that deserves more than being a footnote in a Wikipedia list.
Go find a copy. Bring some Senzu beans. You're going to need them.
To truly master the experience, focus on unlocking the secret boss fights post-game by collecting all the Dragon Balls and completing the character-specific side stories. This will grant you the ultimate equipment needed to tackle the true final challenges in the game's secret dungeons. Once you've cleared the Broly encounter, experiment with "Low Level" runs to see how much the Active Guard system can actually carry you through the game's most difficult hurdles.