10:21 😇😇😇

Man. This one is going to hurt hard to watch. Definitely my favorite to watch competitively in all my time in the FGC until Labcoat, and COVID really.

It didn't fall, it's just that it's finished, like any other fighting game, some may pass the tourch to a sequel and some not, DBFZ had a great run, that is it

DBFZ taught me a lot…mastering my first fighting game taught me about life. Just like a souls game there is carry over. Practice hard, remove negative emotions, study, improve. There is a deterministic feedback loop and it revealed that to me in all areas of life. DBFZ was the main thing I was into/watched during covid outside of lifting & work. I watched every tourney and played daily. When the game came out I lived close to the NYC fighting game scene and I couldn’t believe how good other players were. Watching the tourneys made me want to master the combos and it lead me into the FGC where I went on to master other fighting games at the same time. It will forever hold a special place in my heart & I do pray for a DBFZ 2 one day so we can all re-live the magic in a sense. Thanks for being a part of all of it Tyrant. You/damascus/yipes/BUM “made” the experience for people like me…always had me so hyped every time there was an event. 🙏

This game brought me not only into the world of fighting games, but I met one of my best friends of over 10 years online in person who lives in Vegas and we went to EVO 2022 together and got to be apart of that Cell Yell. That is the power of what this game and Toriyama art has brought to this world and will always hold a special place in my heart.

Great video Tyrant! Appreciate the shoutout! Learned a lot about the early world tour days, it's interesting seeing how things were competitively speaking for the world tour compared to what it was when I joined.

This was my first fighting game i tried to learn and improve. I love this game so much and have enjoyed all the ups and downs. RIP DBFZ, you are loved, and will be missed. Tyrant, great video! your hard work and care are appreciated!

Just restarted playing the game ONCE again. I’m nowhere near a pro, cant TOD, don’t have crazy combos but the game is still crazy fun to me. Hopefully this game never dies. Lowkey I’ve been lurking your streams at work and you’re part of the reason why I wanted to get back to it. My vegito aint nowhere near yours but I’ll work on it 🫡 Great video, amazingly well put together

42 minutes of greatness. I hope to see more long form content like this in the future! Brief commentary: in all honesty, as I think about it, and seeing it outlined here, this feels less like a study of the rise and fall of a game, so much as it an observation on what can happen to a game when it gets poor support by it's publisher and the publisher doesn't communicate. Not "doesn't effectively communicate" - for all practical purposes, they do not communicate at all.

It was an insane journey, I’ve been following the game since it’s inception, and to have experienced everything mentioned in the video to a degree, I can’t help but look back and be thankful for it. Beautifully put together video, it managed to grasp my inherent low attention for the entire 40 minutes.

This is a perfect example of the publisher dropping the ball completely and not the developer

this video had me in my feels. i remember thinking to myself back in the day when i used to play mvc2, ``wow, this would be amazing if they did this for DBZ`` and 15+ years later, we finally got it. personally, this will go down as the best fighting game of all time. shoutout to you and damascus for always holding it down for the online community!! for the dragonball shows, the nationals, and covering all of the character releases! i honestly forget 2020 was such a crazy time! feels like forever ago. but honestly, you guys were a voice for a generation and i really felt like i grew up with yall. big shoutout for the fighterz community! thanks for making my favorite game as fun as possible!

Great video Tyrant. For a while now I've been waiting for someone to make this exact documentary, and I'm glad it was you. You've been a core part of this community, and I've always enjoyed both your content and personality.

DBFZ is one of my favorite games of all time. It was my gateway into the FGC, is my most played game ever. And I still play it to this day. You had to be there during there during the early days to remember how genuinely monumental it was. Even if the game has had some rough points and very low moments. I think it's still one of the best video games ever made Rip the legend Toriyama

The fact that we never got the universe battle arena still baffles me, they event had to add jiren's dramatic finish on to a random stage

I'll always appreciate how much love and passion you and everyone else brought to this amazing game. If we don't get a sequel after the legacy this game has left on the FGC, the kind of numbers it has pulled, then clearly somebody hasn't been paying attention

Great video, it’s been such a ride to be able to follow FighterZ, now my favorite game ever made, through its whole history! And you yourself have played a wonderfully integral part!

amazing video! the amount of respect and detail you put into this is insane. As expected from someone who was such an important pillar of the community. love ya tyrant!

Great vid man, hopefully it can rise back up again

amazing video, super well made and really nostalgic to watch as someone that really got into the fgc with this game. i do wish you had spent a bit more time explaining how the meta of the game shifted, and also why many of the top players quit over the years, but that would prob make the video twice as long lol.

35:34 Oh sh*t it's me lol! Anyways, great documentary! DBFZ released at the perfect time for me to be around in the FGC and made me encounter great people I've never thought I'd meet. I remember each event you put in this video and it made me nostalgic of a simpler and great time. Right now, I have this unreal wish of wanting more content for DBFZ after the fixing patch of the rollback release. The most realistic wish is to get ready for the next licensed anime FG from ArcSys but I feel it is impossible to get more traction than DB license... DB is truly one of a kind...

I really hope they have something in the works for a sequel. This game for me was so much fun and was filled with potential.

Honestly amazing video man thank you for making this masterpiece 🙏

This game actually got me to watch DBZ and I could not be happier. It is too bad it really fell off because this was probably my favorite Arc Sys game.

I remember the last time I played dbfz at my locals. From what I've heard from Cientifikof, the game did not get any better. Crazy to think how this one game molded my life for the last 5 years into the FGC. I have so many friends from back then that I miss.

Excellent video, brought back some memories for sure; used to love watching this game.

Loved watching your commentary during tournaments 💜

What an absolute banger of a video. Great timeline of how DBFZ evolved over the past years. This game means so much to me and has changed my life for the better. Now we pray for DBFZ 2 😤😤😤😤

Love the video bro keep up the great work, you gained a sub today!

Too bad we never had a last season. A dlc with Majin Vegeta, Omega Shenron, Uub, Paikuhan, Dabla .... would have sold well

This was so good Tyrant, you have a really good style of delivery for this type of content. One kinda sad thing that jumps out from seeing it all laid out this way - the clearly decreasing budget for each of Hiroki's announcements (from in person, to a nice looking room, to maybe just standing in front of a blank wall with a cellphone camera??). I will say though, you've inspired me to get back into it. I just played all the single player side originally, and then bounced straight off the online cos of the netcode. Thanks for the video!

Great video Tyrant. Gotta say, I'm really impressed. This video is very well done, I knew you were a good commentator, but you're also a good content creator. You got my sub 😌👏🏿

Amazing video . Loved it all. You put a lot of work into this one. I hope bandai realizes how much we love this game and want more for it .

Can't believe people were arguing in favor of Labcoat 21

this game may have a lot of issues in many places, but it might actually be my favorite oat. i cant stop coming back to it despite the current state of things.

Great video Tyrant, being at the centre of the community for all these years, I can't think of many others more qualified to make this video than you. It's a shame that we've ended up with this version of the game after all the support we've shown and all the effort from guys like You, Damascus, Bum, Reza, Spooky, and many others, but I'm sure if the day comes where this game can be properly salvaged, everyone will return whether it's as a player or a spectator- even commentators. Thanks for this video, this game really changed the fighting game landscape and many lives in tow!

Was great watching the premiere live ... project was full of passion 🎉 awesome job

Best part of the game was watching majors and seeing everyone power up when cells intro was on screen. Take me back

Amazing video tyrant. Hurts to see that dbfz isn't near the state it was years ago. This game has and always will have a very special place in my heart. Go1 vs sonicfox era was my first close experience with a competitive fighting game cenario and it was absolutely incredible. I will never forget the moments and friends this game brought to me.

DBFZ was my first foray into the FGC, and even though I never really got a chance to “get good” at the game, the pre-pandemic era of the game still holds a special place in my heart. The game feels unrecognizable now, but its story should be a quintessential case of how a dedicated playerbase is the true heart that keeps a fighting game going.

I actually started playing DBFZ during COVID so it’s interesting to see how hype the game was before that period. Amazing vid Ty!

DBFZ was the game that literally brought me back to fgs as a whole since my childhood. I don't think I would have explored this community at all if it wasn't for DBFZ. I will forever cherish this game and the memories I have with it

Hey Tyrant, love the vid, love the game, love you and Damascus and the rest of the community. As a lifelong DB fan, it was my first FGC experience. Even though it wasn’t perfect, it was still hype as hell.

Great video thanks:)

Great video, fitting of a great game

I'm crestfallen as I've just gotten into this game in the switch. I had it on PC but was burned out on DBZ games since the PS2 era and couldn't get into anything post raging blast 2/Dragon Ball Origins 2, but playing on the treadmill while running has been a blast with the amazing combat, graphics, and charm with it's story.

This was a fun retrospective. I enjoyed some fighting games in my time (mainly Marvel 2 and 3) but FighterZ was the one that made me take playing more seriously. Sadly I never had an opportunity to compete in any Tourneys, but I spectated as much as possible when this game was at its peak and still do from time to time now. Sad tomsee FighterZ go out like this, but to quote Kai's theme song "Nothing ever dies...we will rise again".

Man to me, the online tournament pandemic era was when I truly got into the game. It was so exciting and I saw some of the craziest matches out there (when they didn't have UI and Kid Buu). It also made the return to local tournaments, especially when Wawa showed up to the HoC, something next level

Really great dive into the history of the game. I joined DBFZ pretty late back in 2021, but I think you hit the nail on the head when you highlighted the poor communication efforts, or just the outright lack of it, and I actually didn't know and was surprised at how engaged they used to be with the community, which unfortunately makes it sadder to see what's happened to it. I do agree with what you mentioned at 38:36 and I can't not be grateful they still pushed through with giving us rollback _for free_ , but I don't think it'd be unreasonable to wish they handled it better. Hiroki's acknowledgement of it shows they're aware of how the community's efforts keep the game alive, promoting it and building up hype, so being more open with us and giving us even some kind of idea of when to expect the rollback update instead of just cryptic radio silence in rapid succession shouldn't be too demanding. I get it, it must've been hell retro-fitting a game from 2018 with rollback, and I also agree that I'd rather they take their time to perfect it than rush the end product, but they could at least be keep us up to speed with development progress (they don't have to tell us the technical details, just something like a roadmap to give us a rough timeline of when to expect it), or even open an alpha test in addition to the beta test, just _any_ kind of hint that it's real and it's coming. The fact they also had no solid announcement during the 2024 Battle Hour then immediately proceed to announce at the end of February "oh yeah rollback tomorrow btw" annoys me to no end; why couldn't they just give us the date, or if they didn't know exactly when yet, give us a rough estimate like "in 1-2 months" or "within the quarter" instead of "sooner than you think"? They really could've left the beta up the whole time as well to be honest. As for the actual release, you pretty much said all there is. In all the online discussions I've seen regarding the long wait for it like on Reddit, I advocated patience in allowing them to polish the end product to perfection rather than give us something half-baked that risks killing the game. And now, I look like a fool in hindsight since we waited so long only for it to still be riddled with issues. Granted, the gameplay itself is smooth and amazing, as was hinted by the beta, and despite isolating the old-gen console player base, I'm finding so many more matches now which makes the game feel alive with new players again (either that or they're all migrants from PS4), but I can't help but feel bad for tournament organizers like you and Damascus since you were more looking forward to hosting events with the game, assembling amazing players, new and old, to bring us the best showings the game has to offer. Again, it's ironic how they took note to show their gratitude to all the people who continued hosting tournaments despite all the struggles it comes with, but completely botch it with the update that was supposed to solve said issues. I still do love the game and will continue to play it, but it's just sad to think about how it's undoubtedly dwindled in reception and how it could've been so much better. I really do hold the game in high regard personally, but I also can't help but agree when I hear/see people criticize the poor handling of the game because I also agree with them, and can't find it in me to confidently defend it.

I played marvel 3 and and 3rd strike as a kid and had a blast but DBFZ was the first fighting game that made me realize how much I love fighting games and the FGC, I trained this game like crazy and I will always be eternally grateful to it and I still hope for its comeback

Fantastic video, thanks for that

I started to watch the tournaments because I wanted to get demon rank. Seeing the pros helped a lot!

Good break out video man hope u every success

This is the pinnacle of DBFZ documentaries. If anyone tries to make one of this caliber in the future (maybe once Bandai fixes the game and they're done with it for good), it'll be an EXTREMELY difficult and time-consuming project, on top of the fact that very few people can match the INCREDIBLE amount of passion you have for DBFZ. Stellar video, Ty; excellent work. May DBFZ and Toriyama's work live through the fans forever.

Felt like one thing that was worth mentioning was the games omission from EVO Japan as a main tournament from 2019, not having a proper premier showcase hosted in one of the strongest regions for the game felt like such a missed opportunity to capitalise on the hype from EVO 2018 as well as other years. Also there were those allegations about Toei asking TO's for royalties from events which resulted in some events removing DBFZ from their games although I'm not sure if that was actually the case.

Why do “Mechanics” always have to be the reason for a game to “falloff”. Let’s be real; the minute they stopped adding new and substantial characters/content to the game; we slowly stopped caring and started playing other things. We’ve grown up in these past 6 years. FighterZ brought us a hype game like no other; but that was a different time and it’s time for us to evolve as well, not be stuck in the past.

Great video man, hope to see more long form content as well. Thanks!

Great video essay on Dragon-Ball FighterZ. Super in depth. It was also good going down memory lane with the first couple of years of the world tour. The games fall was very disheartening to see. Such a shame.

What was your favorite era of DBFZ and why?

Thank you for making this

Passion project and so much love and fun. We thank you for your support Tyrant

Xv2 was my favourite but fighterz has a special place in my heart, i couldnt get into sf or tekken etc but i could get the hang of fighterz. Most fluid fighting game ive played in a while when it comes to the chess like combos, trades and defending

Good video man! DBFZ is my favorite fighting game of all time and I been playing since Day 1. NGL I’m in the minority where I loved LC21 where she was and what she could do because she’s my favorite character and like why not. However I understand the frustration over her and why they nerfed her for competitive reasons.

I remember being at UFA last year around where the SF6 setups were and just seeing the rollback beta announcement for DBZF, and was like "wait what, really?"

Great video Tyrant

Wow this was such an interesting recap i remenber i used to watch all these FGC tournaments and really look forward to them. Completely forgot about them recently and didnt even realise the impact of covid. Need to get back, they were fun times

The fact that Bandi will more than likely let the game die without fixing the crashing AFTER the patch on Xbox is mind boggling lol. The rollback patch has broken the game for a significant portion of the dead playerbase and they literally refuse to acknowledge it. Who would have ever known the one thing we took 2 years praying for would be our biggest downfall. Now I would do anything to go back in time and stay on delay based when I could actually play the game.

I Still love playing this "dead game" I love dbz and toriyama

Imagine watching the fights of the best players with VR like you're sitting next to the arena

One of the best fighting games i ever played and im so thankful for dbfz and for the community for being alive for so long. Since s1 to now I loved this game and it will forever hold a special place in my heart for dbz games

It was a hell of a ride, fellas.

These tournaments were my lifeline. Its such a shame ill never feel the same level of hype again :(

You were Magnificent DBFZ I shall never forget you as long as a I Live!

you've just got to keep the numbers up so they don't shut down the servers.

One of the fighting games ever made and my absolute favorite but the people responsible for it really let it go down the drain

Great video, though sad to watch in a way. The way they mishandled the rollback was tragic, but the DBFZ gave the FGC so many moments to cherish over the years. Who knows, if they ever manage to iron out the glut of bugs, I wouldn't be surprised if we see DBFZ have a resurgence. There really isn't another Dragonball game quite like it.

24:36 I was genuinely excited for 21 cause visually speaking I prefer her Human Form to Majin, though I'd have been perfectly content with just the good version of Majin 21 from the story mode, even if she was just a sort of costume like Videl's pigtails.

Gives me the vibes of the history of dbfz meta game vod

im still mad about that one showcase for roshi where they got a random girl whos never played a fighting game do roshis moves, and we just didnt get to see his level 2 cause she didnt know what she was doing

First game I actually went to tournaments since SFIV, it hurt too see it die like it did bro.

What is the music playing around 31:00? I get Snail’s House Vibes but now Im getting antsy about it, like I’ve heard it somewhere in my childhood. Please.

Android 21 drop was fun I didn't think the game would get more busted after her 💀

Labcoat really killed the hype of DBFZ for me, stopped watching tournaments and stopped playing the game

Amazing vid

It's like if Itchy and Scratchy got to the fireworks factory, but it's burned down. And Poochie's waiting for them.

There literally was no fall.

33:53 that’s me😎 Fall? Never, DBFZ forever up🤞🏼💯

32:11 Song name isn't in the description it seems. Can someone help me out here? Aside from that, great vid. Enjoyed memory lane... also.. I liked Season 2.... dont at me

If bandai cared about the game it would still be alive.

Great video but 1 small aspect i feel could have used more focus is the online meta that players experienced rather than almost only looking at the competitive scene, Gogeta SSJ4 might not have dominated the competitive scene but it was a horrific nightmare to play against with even 3 frame delay, UI Goku for a moment but not nearly as long as Gogeta dominated online play.

This was more of its glorious history. One of the most amazing fighting games ever created.

Say what you want about the current state of the game. But I’m forever grateful for this wonderful community. Most wholesome and nice people in the fgc I interacted with.

Amazing video. It really captured the fans perspective throughout the lifetime of this game. It hurts to see the game that introduced me to the FGC be in this state.

I’m so glad I’ve never been an online player and just played these fighting games with my friends via multiplayer

I knew this day would come.... I didn't want it to

I've always wanted to get the platinum for this game. Ive been a dragonball fan since the 90s but it would just be so so hard to get a bp high enough especially snice everyone is so good this late in the game. It breaks my heart i have most other trophies too. This is my first real fighter and im basically terrible besides one basic combo string.

Evo 2018 DBZ was most hype evo I ever seen

I hope they make a sequel because this is too good of an idea to pass up.

Fighterz was and still is an AMAZING game that unfortunately ended on a whimper than a high. We NEED a Fighterz 2 ASAP!!!! but sadly due to Sparking Zero I doubt it.

This probably just me but I genuinely believe Bamco decided to abandon this game the moment sparking zero was a thing they decided on or atleast when they finalised internally when it will be released on. Xenoverse 2 still gets support because its far easier (aka more profitable) to churn out content for it as opposed to DBFZ whose dlc characters need a lot of work to create. Cant just ctrl c + ctrl v with some cosmetic changes on a proper fighting game character unfortunately. And lets be honest, as beloved as the budokai tenkaichi series is, it ain't all that when it comes to depth or complexity so making content for it long term will be far easier and cheaper compared to DBFZ. DBFZ sold like crazy and made great money, but to BAMCO in terms of sales, it will be replaced by Sparking Zero with far greater sales (due to nostalgia) and player retention (because fighting games even simpler ones are hard to stay invested for casual audience). In their eyes there is no point in supporting a game that needs so much work to maintain when games like Xenoverse and Sparking will be far more popular and easier to maintain. I also genuinely believe they might never give us a sequel to this game. Why else would they implement Rollback so late in the lifespan of a dying game? Wouldn't it make more sense to make that a priority for the sequel rather than put in a so much time to implement it in NOW? Idk could just me be dooming unnecessarily but man it sucks seeing my favorite game get abandoned like this 😢