At this point we know who is playable in Panini America’s Dragon Ball Z. We’ve seen Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Vegeta, Frieza and Future Trunks already on this website, and promotional materials reveal the final Main Personality as Captain Ginyu. All in all, that’s the same number of playable Main Personality sets as was available in the original Saiyan Saga (with Nappa, Raditz and Saibaimen being axed this go around). Since this set covers a much wider arc of episodes, there are a whole mess of characters that got skipped over. Let’s take a look at some of the characters that got snubbed, and the case for their inclusion.
Raditz
The first villain of the series and pretty much the catalyst for everything else that happens in the show up through the Cell Games Saga. His battle with Goku helped convert Piccolo to a hero, first brought out Gohan’s true power, lured Vegeta to Earth and inspired Frieza’s campaign on Namek. Yet he is often a forgotten member of Goku’s family, never really shown prominently in any of the instances of villains being resurrected or mentioned in the Bardock stories (at least until this year’s Dragon Ball Minus, over 25 years after Raditz was first introduced). He never got any updates in the Score game after the Frieza Saga, being one of the most unfortunate aspects of the show accurately captured by the card game.
Nappa
Nappa has the dubious honor of being directly responsible for the deaths of three Z Fighters (even if he didn’t deliver the killing blow to Tien and Chiaotzu, and we’ll let the Saibaimen take credit for Yamcha though he could be an arguable fourth victim). That’s more than any non-alternate timeline villain (since most every character in an alternate timeline is expendable) until Majin Buu. Unlike Raditz, Nappa did get a legacy set out of the Dragon Ball GT CCG, but he seems to only have an ally personality in PanZ. As the second most effective villain in Dragon Ball Z, he should definitely get a play set.
Tien
A former world champion and arguably the strongest human(ish) character until the Androids Saga. His fight with Nappa gets pretty brutal, and he goes down swinging rather than allow Nappa to finish him off. He has such a great built in theme that the CCG never took advantage of with this character: using his life force to perform attacks. Already in PanZ there’s a Gohan personality that already kind of does that (although he backs off that theme from Lv. 2 onwards. He’s an accomplished warrior with a very definitive fighting style that can easily be translated into the game, he should be playable as a Main Personality.
Cui
Here’s a character who has never been represented in the game. He never even appeared on a card image in the Score game, something that PanZ has already shown they have done. Though he only appeared in a few episodes, he was a major antagonist of Vegeta and was personally sent by Frieza to assassinate Vegeta on Namek. There was definitely a history between Vegeta and Cui (who were of similar rank in Frieza’s forces), though he is often overshadowed by Frieza’s more popular henchmen Zarbon, Dodoria and the Ginyu Force. Defeating Cui was Vegeta’s first significant victory and act of defiance against Frieza. If not a Main Personality, I hope that we at least see this guy as an ally.
Nail
Nail is just a character I would like to see added to the game so that there is a little more variety for the Namekian Style. As it is, we won’t see another Namekian until the Cell Saga is covered or they add Kami or Dende to the line-up. While the Saiyans have a robust cast of characters, even the movies and specials are fairly scarce when it comes to adding more Namekians compared to the amount of Saiyans they add. Kinda funny when the Namekian race is still alive and well, while the Saiyans are practically extinct. Though you can say that technically Nail is playable on Piccolo’s Lv. 4 personality, it would be nice if the Namekian style wasn’t limited to just two characters.
Zarbon
Poor Zarbon didn’t get introduced until the original Score game was nearly over, and by then he was essentially reduced to a high-functioning gimmick character. He could’ve suffered a worse fate, like Dodoria and have been introduced in an earlier set where he was already way outclassed, but Zarbon deserves better. He should get a personality at a time where he would be playable, since he would’ve been more than a match for Gohan or Krillin (who more or less had to runaway from Frieza’s main henchmen every time they encountered them) and he even nearly killed a newly empowered Vegeta on Namek. Worthy of a shot at the big time.
Garlic Jr.
He had a piddling appearance in the original game where even his henchmen had more effective powers than him. He was basically a less useful and less effective Trunks by the time Garlic Jr. made his appearance. For a creature that has both his own movie and his own saga, he just didn’t go anywhere in the game. He needs to get his own PanZ treatment, he needs to work effectively with a style and he needs to have stronger named cards than what he received in the Score game. For a character who is immortal, he deserves a longer life of relevancy in the card game. Way more than his henchmen at the very least.
That’s it for today. Be sure to join in the discussion and give your feedback on the Retro Facebook page and discussion group.
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Later, BroZ
The lack of Nail and Tien saddens me. Tien is one of my most favorite original Dragon Ball characters second only to Piccolo Jr. I was depressed when he wasn’t a very effective MP choice at any point in the original game. Missing Nail defiantly peeves me.. It’s nice the the new Piccolo MP has great powers, and they managed to fix the Namekian style’s lack of ability to gain anger. I’m stoked for it in the new game!! However I think it’s shenanigans that I’m limited to just Piccolo. For Supreme Kai’s sake at least make it to where I can run Gohan with a mastery or some kind or something!!
Gohan can run Namekian in PaniniZ.
Im gonna hope they go back and do movie subsets or smaller expansions and nab these characters.
I would like everyone in the Ginyu Force to get ally personalities.
I still question Panini going with a Black-style Krillin–in my mind (and heart) Krillin is the quintessential Blue fighter. Oh, and I’m auctioning off all my old cards, from BK promos to Kid Buu, so if anyone’s looking for something in particular be sure to let me know. http://www.ebay.com/sch/spoobles123/m.html?item=231326563971&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
Your wish has been granted!! Tien, Nail, Raditz and Nappa re MPs!! Zarbon and Dodoria are allies! I hope Cui can make it into this game as an MP soon (same with Zarbon and Dodoria).