Namco Announces Dragonball: The Movie: The Game

As a critic you're not supposed to judge something before you actually get to experience it for yourself, but I'm completely comfortable saying that Dragonball: Evolution, the upcoming Hollywood live-action movie adaptation of Akira Toriyama's long-running and unreasonably popular manga and anime series, will be a complete goddamn train-wreck. Never mind the fact that it has run wildly over-budget, has had its release date pushed back several times, and was subjected to last-minute reshoots and a tacked-on subtitle. Even if they didn't make Piccolo look like some kind of albino flipper baby, the truth of the matter is that the source material is unfilmable. Dragon Ball Z is so ridiculous that it barely works as a cartoon. You try and make that with real actors, you're going to piss off fans and annoy everyone else.

To ensure that the legacy of Dragonball: Evolution is embarrassingly unforgettable, Namco Bandai has today announced that they're making a Dragonball: Evolution fighting game for the PSP. It looks like a pretty straight-up Budokai-style fighter, except that the characters look like polygonal versions of the actors who play the characters in the movie, making it highly reminiscent of Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game.

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I'm a reformed DBZ fan, though Vinny has been unable to kick the habit. His response to these screenshots? “Have fun at dinner.”