For a long time in the Dragon Ball Super canon, Super Saiyan Blue represents the pinnacle of power that a Saiyan can reach. Eventually, the form is dethroned by the likes of Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken, Super Saiyan Blue Evolution, and Ultra Instinct, but Goku and Vegeta rely on Super Saiyan Blue heavily throughout the entirety of Dragon Ball Super. Now that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is adding the form, fans can't help but wonder how it will be represented in the game. In terms of power, it is leagues above that of Super Saiyan and even Super Saiyan 3, but will this be represented accurately in the gameplay?
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has not shied away from including the many forms that Dragon Ball Z is famous for, and as of this newest DLC, Goku will have access to six separate transformations. Each of these grows steadily more powerful than the last, and though that may not be entirely accurate to the official description of these transformations, it does reflect well in gameplay. Super Saiyan Blue is likely to follow the same pattern as those transformations that came before it, but there could be some changes that would set it apart.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot - Goku's Forms
As the character with the most transformations, Goku is the best to look at when predicting how Super Saiyan Blue will work. Essentially, each transformation has three levels of power that can be obtained by upgrading the skill in the skill tree. Typically speaking, level one of a transformation will be the same power as level three of the previous form. In other words, level one Super Saiyan 2 is equal in strength to level three Super Saiyan. So far, this pattern holds true for all transformations with the exception of Super Saiyan and Kaioken which both start and end at the same strength.
At max level, Kaioken and Super Saiyan both provide the player a 50% boost to all stats at the cost of health or ki respectively. From there, each subsequent transformation increases the stat boost by another 50% when fully leveled, meaning Super Saiyan 2 boosts stats by 100% and Super Saiyan 3 provides a 150% bonus. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 1 introduced Super Saiyan God, which also followed this pattern and eventually provides players with a 200% boost to all stats. With this in mind, the most likely effect of Super Saiyan Blue is a 200% boost at level one increasing to 225% at level two and capping out at a huge 250% boost when fully leveled.
Super Saiyan Blue Drawbacks
Like all the other forms, Super Saiyan Blue is probably going to drain ki while active. In the lore, Super Saiyan Blue is much more taxing to use than Super Saiyan God, hence why Goku and Vegeta frequently switch in and out of it during the Tournament of Power, so it would be interesting to see this reflected by an incredibly quick Ki drain at first. That said, there is a workaround to this that will make the form that much better.
Early on in the game, players can unlock Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's training room to gain access to powerful know-how skills that alter how the game is played. One of these skills is Auto Kaioken, which is eventually upgraded to Auto Super Saiyan and beyond. In the base game, players could attain Auto Super Saiyan 3, allowing them to start every fight in that form and use it without draining ki, but DLC 1 continued the skill progression by adding Auto Super Saiyan God once that form was unlocked. Auto Super Saiyan Blue should do the same thing, allowing players to enter the form automatically and without the drawbacks of ki drain.
Super Saiyan Blue VS Super Saiyan God Differences
For the most part, Goku and Vegeta's fighting style stays the same regardless of what transformation they are in, but DLC 1 changed that. Both Saiyans get powerful new combos when entering Super Saiyan God form, and this begs the question of whether or not those combos will be expanded on by Super Saiyan Blue or replaced for something completely different. Truthfully, CyberConnect2 could go in either direction, but it seems more likely that it would continue developing Goku and Vegeta's new godly combos.
It could be that more Combo Level +1 skills will become available in the skill tree to further extend the Super Saiyan God combos, or that their finishers will be modified in some way to become more powerful. Either way, fans can expect to absolutely dominate with the newfound power granted to them by Super Saiyan Blue, whether they are fighting random enemies, replaying stories in the time machine, challenging Beerus again, or facing off against DLC 2's antagonist, Golden Frieza.
What Super Saiyan Blue Means For Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
There's a lot to consider now that Super Saiyan Blue is going to be added to Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. For starters, it seems that random encounters and even time machine missions will be further trivialized by the power of the new transformation. Already with Super Saiyan God, players are one-shotting most enemies aside from Beerus, so unless a change is made, then Super Saiyan Blue will likely provide the same experience. Likewise, it will be interesting to see if Beerus receives a power upgrade to match the player's new ability. One DBZ: Kakarot player beat Beerus blindfolded, so it seems he could use a bit of an update.
In terms of story, the addition of Super Saiyan Blue to the game also opens up a lot of doors for the future. As mentioned previously, Super Saiyan Blue is used in every story arc of Dragon Ball Super after it is introduced, so it is almost a requirement for those sagas to be adapted. The Universe 6 Saga, Future Trunks Saga, and Tournament of Power are all options for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 3 now, so Bandai Namco has a lot of options in terms of where it will go next.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
