News: Chou DBZ & Druaga Online's loketest

October 25, 2005, 06:04 AM

by chazumaru, via Banpresto/Namco -
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Toriyama's Dragon Ball Z gained a second youth with the success of the license in the US, which in turn drove japanese and european audiences to reconsider an old series often seen as dull and passé by today's standards. The revival worked well enough for a new wave of games to be produced, judging by Bandai/Atari's successful sales and the recent Dragon Ball Z Sparking! from Spike topping the charts in Japan. Whereas the much awaited Hokutou no Ken (by Arc Systems Works for Sega) will soon arrive in arcades, Banpresto has held last friday a location test of their new arcade fighting game Chou Dragon Ball Z, which rises on the rebounding popularity of the license. Aries no Kobayan has a little report on the test, revealing that an IC card will be used for the game (costing 500 yen) and that two extra characters (cyborgs N°16 and N°18) have joined the roster. There are nice scans of the flyer and a picture of the IC card on Kobayan as well (scroll down a little). Another interesting aspect of this game, for people who don't really care about the series, is that the producer behind it is none other that Noritaka Funamizu, of Street Fighter II fame, who recently left Capcom. Aries no Kobayan also has a bunch of impressions on the Druaga Online location test. All in japanese, obviously, but featuring a bunch of interesting scans and photos as well. Both games will be released in arcades by the end of the year.