Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22

Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 is a case of style over substance. It has twenty seven playable fighters, all done with sprites resembling real cels taken right from the Dragon Ball Z art team. That, plus fully-voiced pre- and post-battle cutscenes (only in the Japanese version) with the main cast to boot! Sadly, the attempt to speed up the Super Butoden formula did not go as well as hoped, with many lambasting its poor gameplay and ill-fitting 2D Sprites-on-3D backgrounds art style. Well that and all the beams just becoming wussy little fireballs didn't help.

But it was the game debut of Gogeta! Who was mistakenly treated as if he was Vegito for a number of reasons.

While the game eventually received a wider release in the 2000s, by that point it looked unimpressive compared to the then-new PlayStation 2 title Dragon Ball Z: Budokai.

Unused Graphics#

Cutscenes#

Majin Vegeta#

Two frames of one of Majin Vegeta's introduction cutscene went unused. After speaking, he's supposed to turn his head around. But in the final game, it just freezes the same frame after speaking.

Android 16#

For Son Gohan vs. Cell's introduction cutscene, located between the scene where Cell talks to Android 16's head and the scene where Cell kicks it, is a close-up of Android 16's head. This would've been used as a close-up before Cell steps on his head. In the final game, it just uses the same scene as the first one.

Gogeta#

A mouth frame of animation for one of Gogeta's cutscenes. While there are other mouth animations used for it, this one is not, and does not match the other animations' surroundings and base graphic, in which this would overlay on top of. Likely a leftover from an earlier version of this cutscene where the graphics were completely different, and used an extra frame of animation.

Cell Games Background#

Originally, instead of a gradient, the backgrounds would've been textured. A textured background is seen at the EGM July 1995 preview for the game, but this is all that is left of a textured background.

Cheat Codes#

Unlocking Secret Characters#

Though the game is called Ultimate Battle 22 on account of its roster, there are five more hidden characters (Kid Goku, Roshi, Mr. Satan, Super Saiyan 3 Goku and Gogeta) that can be unlocked via a code. Press Up, Triangle, Down, X, Left, L1, Right, R1 on the title screen. A sound cue will play to confirm correct entry and a new intro showcasing the hidden characters will play as well. The game's title screen will also update the 22 to 27.

Regional Differences#

To do: more comparisons with the Japanese original, like the title screens.

French Version#

General Differences#

The first PAL release of the game was the French one, in 1996, and would serve as the basis for every subsequent release of the game.

All pre-battle and post-battle cutscenes have been omitted (except for the Tenkaichi Budokai / Championship mode cutscenes), which would apply to all other localizations of the game. Despite this, all files for the cutscenes are still left in the game. A reason for this is due to by default, cutscenes being disabled like you would disable them in the Japanese settings menu. However, the "Animation" setting has been omitted entirely to prevent the player from enabling the cutscenes.

Japan	France

To compensate for the game running slower due to it being in 50hz PAL mode, the CPU difficulty has been made more difficult and more reactive. This change would apply to all other localizations of the game, even the NTSC-U version, which runs at 60hz and at normal speed.

"Player Select" in the 1P vs 2P or 1P vs COM modes have been simplified to "Choix", all other localizations would directly translate from it (with things like "Choose", or just "Select").

Character Names#

Listed from top left to bottom right in the character select screen.

MEGA SANGOKU	C16	DABURA	PERFECT CELL	GOGETA	PETIT COEUR	LIKUM	SANGOKU
FREEZER	BOUBOU	SUPER SANGOKU	GRAND TRUNKS	ZARBON	SUPER BOU	TEN CHIN HAN
C18	SANGOHAN	KRILIN	SANGOTEN	GOTRUNKS	PETIT TRUNKS	KAIOHSHIN	GREAT SAIYAMAN
TORTUE GENIALE	HERCULE	GENIOUS	VEGETA

Title Screen#

Updated copyright and holders.

HUD#

France	Japan

HUD was faithfully adapted, maintaining the stylized font, but with a new Dragon Ball sprite in the back, of which every other localization would use.

Full European Release#

General Differences#

Released in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Spain in 2002 with specialized versions translated to their respective languages. All the changes of the French version have stayed.

The Character Select Screen song no longer loops properly, and has more reverb.

Character Names#

Listed from top left to bottom right in the character select screen. Names have been changed again, but some have remained from the French version, or are translated from it. In the Spanish version, "LITTLE TRUNKS" was changed to "JOVEN TRUNKS".

MEGA GOKU	C16	DABURA	CELL	GOGETA	PICCOLO	LIKUM	GOKU
FRIEZA	MAJIN BOO	SUPER GOKU	SUPER TRUNKS	ZARBON	SUPER BOU	TEN CHIN HAN
C18	GOHAN	KRILIN	GOTEN	GOTRUNKS	LITTLE TRUNKS	KAIOHSHIN	GREAT SAIYAMAN
GENIUS TURTLE	MR SATAN	GENIOUS	VEGETA

HUD#

United Kingdom	Germany	Spain	Italy

Other than the Italian HUD, the font was changed to a simpler one, and all have something to do with "Health Points", in the Italian, English, and German versions, they are abbreviated.

American & Australian Release#

General Differences#

Published by Infogrames in 2003 instead of Bandai (and curiously not Atari). It is practically the same as the 2002 European release, but now running in 60hz.

The company logos were updated, and are now just static images instead of a FMV.

Every version has kept the same fonts used in the Japanese version, but in the American version, the fonts have been replaced for character names not only in the character select screen, but also in-game.

Character Names#

Listed from top left to bottom right in the character select screen. Names have been changed to better match the Funimation dub's names. Though curiously, Gogeta has been mistakenly renamed to Vegeto (sic, one should note that the character's name in the dub is actually Vegito), possibly due to the Fusion Reborn movie not yet being released in America at that point (it released 3 years after this version of UB22, in 2006), leaving the assumption of a fused Goku and Vegeta being Vegetto. Another curiosity is in the characters' unlock FMV, Goku and Vegeta fuse through earrings in said FMV, hinting that Vegetto may have been intended to be in the game instead of Gogeta. And despite Mr. Satan usually being named "Hercule" in officially licensed English merchandise and video games back in the day, he is still called Mr. Satan in this version.

Super Saiyan III Goku®	Android 16™	Dabura™	Cell™	Vegeto™	Piccolo™	Recoome™	Kid Goku®
Frieza®	Majin Buu™	Goku®	Trunks®	Zarbon™	Super Buu™	Tien™
Android 18™	Gohan®	Krillin®	Goten™	Gotenks™	Kid Trunks®	Supreme Kai™	Great Saiyaman™
Master Roshi®	Mr.Satan™	Captain Ginyu™	Vegeta®

Title Screen#

Updated copyright and holders, but now with a rocky backdrop.