If you walked into a FuncoLand in 1997, you probably didn't see it. Dragon Ball GT Final Bout for the PlayStation 1 was a ghost. It arrived in North America when anime was still a "nerdy" niche, long before Toonami turned Goku into a household name. Bandai only shipped 10,000 copies of that initial US run. Ten thousand. That’s it. Because of that microscopic distribution, this clunky, slow-motion 3D fighter became the stuff of playground legends.
I remember seeing it in the back of Electronic Gaming Monthly. The screenshots looked incredible for the time—actual 3D models of characters we only knew from blurry fan sites like Daizenshuu EX. But then you actually played it.
Honestly? It was kind of a mess.
The clunky reality of Dragon Ball GT Final Bout
Let's be real for a second. By the standards of 1997, Tekken 2 and Virtua Fighter were already light-years ahead in terms of fluidity. Dragon Ball GT Final Bout felt like the characters were fighting underwater. You’d press a button for a kick, and Pan or Trunks would take what felt like a full second to actually swing their leg. It was stiff. It was frustrating.
Yet, we couldn't stop playing it.
The game was the first time Western fans got a taste of the "GT" era. We had SSJ4 Goku on the cover, a transformation most of us hadn't even seen in the show yet. The roster was a bizarre mix of Dragon Ball Z icons and GT newcomers. You had the classics like Goku (in his child form), Piccolo, and Vegeta, but you also got Cell, Frieza, and Kid Buu. Then there were the "hidden" characters. Remember the button code to unlock the Super Saiyan forms? It was basically a rite of passage. If you didn't know Right, Left, Down, Up repeated five times at the title screen, you weren't really in the loop.
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The combat system tried something ambitious called the "Build Up" mode. It was basically an RPG-lite system where you could level up your character's stats by fighting. It sounds standard now, but back then, the idea of "training" your digital fighter to make their Kamehameha stronger felt very "Dragon Ball."
Why the North American release was such a big deal
The story of the US release is actually more interesting than the game itself. Bandai took a massive gamble. They didn't even have a dub for the GT anime yet, so they slapped together a voice cast that sounds... well, unique. This wasn't the Sean Schemmel or Christopher Sabat era. This was the "Green Water" era of voice acting. It’s janky. It’s weird. It’s nostalgic in the way a dusty old VHS tape is.
Because that initial 1997 print run was so small, prices skyrocketed. Before the 2004 reissue by Atari, people were paying $200, $300, even $400 for a black-label copy. It became a status symbol for collectors. If you had that silver-and-blue disc, you were the king of the block.
The gameplay mechanics (or lack thereof)
Most fighting games are about frame data and precision. Dragon Ball GT Final Bout was about the spectacle. The "Meteor" combos were the highlight. You’d knock an opponent into the air and then chase them with a sequence of hits that looked like the anime—sorta.
Then there were the beam struggles. If two players fired a Ki blast at the same time, the screen would split, and you’d have to mash buttons like your life depended on it to push the energy back. It was tactile. It was loud. It usually ended with someone's thumb hurting and a massive explosion on the CRT TV.
But the balance? Non-existent.
If you picked Super Saiyan 4 Goku, you were basically a god. If you picked Pan, well, good luck. The hitboxes were erratic, and the "flying" mechanic was more of a "hover awkwardly while the camera loses its mind" mechanic. Despite the flaws, it captured the vibe of the show better than the 2D "Butoden" games had managed for a casual Western audience. It felt cinematic, even if the frame rate dipped into the single digits.
The 2004 Rebirth
Fast forward to 2004. Dragon Ball Z is now the biggest thing on TV. Atari realizes they’re sitting on a goldmine and re-releases the game. The "Atari version" has a different cover and basically tanked the resale value of the original for a while, but it allowed a whole new generation to see what the fuss was about.
Comparing the 1997 Bandai release to the 2004 Atari reissue is a hobby in itself for hardcore collectors. The 1997 version features the "GT" logo with a specific font and the Bandai logo on the front. The 2004 version is much cleaner but lacks that "forbidden import" feel that made the original so special.
Sound and Fury: The Music
If there is one thing that everyone agrees on, it’s that the soundtrack absolutely slaps. Composed by Kenji Yamamoto (before the later plagiarism controversies that saw his work removed from Dragon Ball Kai), the music in Dragon Ball GT Final Bout is high-energy, synth-heavy, and perfectly captures that late-90s experimental anime sound. Tracks like "Hikari no Will Power" (Trunks' theme) are genuinely good pieces of music that deserved a better game attached to them.
Legacy and the "So Bad It's Good" Factor
Why do we still talk about it? Why is it featured in every "History of Dragon Ball Games" video?
It's because it represents a specific moment in time. It was the bridge between the 16-bit era and the massive success of the Budokai series on the PS2. Without the (admittedly rocky) foundation of Final Bout, we might not have gotten the refined 3D movement of Budokai Tenkaichi. It was an experiment. A flawed, expensive, beautiful experiment.
There’s also the "opening cinematic" factor. The intro animation for this game is legendary. It’s a high-quality (for the time) hand-drawn sequence featuring the GT cast that looked better than some episodes of the actual show. For many US fans, that intro was the first time we ever saw Goku turn into a giant Golden Great Ape or witnessed the fusion of Gogeta. It was our "leak" before the internet had high-speed video.
How to experience Dragon Ball GT Final Bout today
If you're looking to dive back into this piece of history, you've got a few options, but be warned—it’s an acquired taste.
- Hunting for the Disc: If you want the 1997 "Black Label" Bandai original, prepare to spend. Check the inner ring of the disc for the "IFPI" codes to ensure it isn't a high-quality bootleg.
- The Atari Version: This is the affordable route. You can usually find the 2004 reissue for a fraction of the price. It plays identically.
- The Secret Characters: Don't forget the code. At the title screen, press: Right, Left, Down, Up, Right, Left, Down, Up. You'll hear a sound if you did it right. To unlock the "ultimate" secret (SSJ4 Goku), you then have to press Triangle 5 times and X 9 times after the first code. It's ridiculous, but it works.
- Emulation Tweaks: If you're playing via emulation, use a "fast forward" toggle during the menus. The loading times on an original PS1 are brutal, and the menu transitions take forever.
The game isn't a masterpiece of mechanics. It's a masterpiece of nostalgia. It reminds us of a time when Dragon Ball was a secret language, and finding a copy of Dragon Ball GT Final Bout felt like finding a dragon ball itself. It's clunky, it's slow, and the voice acting is hilarious, but it's an essential piece of the franchise's history that every fan should try at least once—if only to appreciate how far we've come with games like Sparking! Zero.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check your attic: Look for the Bandai logo on your old PS1 cases. If you find a 1997 North American copy with the "GT" logo in the bottom right, you're sitting on a collector's item worth significant money.
- Verify the version: If the disc art features a close-up of Goku's face, it's the 2004 Atari version. If it shows the full-body "GT" cast, it's the original or an import.
- Learn the Meteor combos: If you do play it, look up a move list. The game doesn't explain how to do the "chase" attacks, and without them, the combat feels even slower than it actually is.
- Listen to the OST: Even if you hate the gameplay, find the soundtrack on YouTube. It is arguably the best part of the entire package and holds up remarkably well as a piece of 90s electronic-rock fusion.