Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot does a lot of things right. Fans have praised it for its attention to detail when recreating the familiar story of Dragon Ball Z, its engaging combat system, and its interesting original content, like Bonyu, which doesn't stick out from the rest. One particularly enjoyable part of the game, though, is its intermissions and end game. During these moments, players can play as any playable character they've unlocked so far that would realistically be there at the time, but two fan favorite characters in particular seem to have gotten the short end of the stick: Gotenks and Vegito.
For those unaware, upon beating Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, any of the previously playable characters (including even Future Trunks) can then be used to roam the world freely. For some reason, though, CyberConnect2 has opted to omit Gotenks and Vegito from the playable options. With Gotenks being a fusion of Kid Trunks and Goten, and Vegito being a fusion of Vegeta and Goku, it does make some sense that these characters would not be accessible in free play. Even still, this has disappointed some fans, especially when considering how little they were playable in the story mode of the game as well.
The most obvious reason for this would be the limitations incurred by fusion. For one, the fusion dance used by Goten and Trunks to become Gotenks has a time limit on it, so being able to roam indefinitely as this character would sort of break the rules of fusion in Dragon Ball Z. Conversely, Vegito's fusion via the Potara Earrings is said to be permanent, so switching freely between playing Vegito or Goku and Vegeta separately also wouldn't make much sense. That said, Dragon Ball Super retcons the Potara Earings, claiming they are only permanent for Kais, but since Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot doesn't feature Dragon Ball Super, this detail may or may not hold true for the game.
To further complicate the issue, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot allows the player to play Future Trunks during the post game as well. After beating the game, a sub-story involving Bulma can be found near Capsule Corp. Upon approaching Bulma, she explains that she has created her own time machine and used it to bring Future Trunks back to the present. This shows that the game is willing to break canon a bit and do its own thing in order to allow a playable character (who by all rights should not be there) to return. So why can't the same happen for Gotenks and Vegito?
There are a couple of ways this could have been accomplished. For Gotenks, no explanation is required, given that their fusion has a time limit rather than being permanent. Perhaps there could have been a fusion menu, allowing the player to fuse Goten and Trunks together, thereby negating their ability to be separate support characters, for a 30 minute period (the actual time limit on the fusion dance). How often the player does this could be limited by another real world timer, similar to the Dragon Balls being available only once every 20 minutes in real time.
Allowing the player to use Vegito in the end game would be slightly more complicated, but not impossible. One way would be for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot to explain the retcon from Dragon Ball Super in game. The game has not been shy with original content and has even changed other things, like how it retconned Piccolo destroying the moon. If a character explained this limit, then Vegito's fusion could be handled in the same way as Gotenks, taking place in a new fusion menu and lasting a total of one real time hour.
Another possibility which does not require Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot to use information from Dragon Ball Super would be to allow the player to fuse Goku and Vegeta, but keep it permanent. After the fusion, both Goku and Vegeta would no longer be playable or support characters, but Vegito would be. This fusion could then be undone by gathering the dragon balls and wishing for separation. Given the lackluster options available to players currently for wishes after gathering all seven dragon balls and the relative ease of the task, this would work very well.
Perhaps the worst thing about not being able to use these characters in the end game is how little they were available in the main story. Although not much else was expected given their actual appearances in the story of Dragon Ball Z, both characters only are playable for an incredibly short time period. After Gotenks faces off against Super Buu and Vegito does the same, these characters are never seen again except in one instance. They appear as enemies before unlocking Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's secret boss fight, but that is all.
At the very least, it seems like Gotenks and Vegito should have been available in the training room, but even that is not the case. Ultimately, despite these being two of the most beloved and powerful characters in Dragon Ball Z, they are snubbed and relegated to the sideline after their one moment of glory. Naturally, this has upset some fans, but all things considered it is a small drawback for an otherwise amazing game. Considering this would likely be very easy to patch in, it is possible that these characters may be added in the future in some capacity.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is full of great moments and engaging gameplay, and although it is a shame that players do not have the opportunity to play as two of Dragon Ball Z's most powerful and fun characters more than once, there is still plenty else to do. Vegito and Gotenks may yet make another appearance in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot through patches or DLC, but only time will tell if developers have such a treat in store. Until then, however, players should take extra measure to enjoy what little time they have with the fused warriors, Vegito and Gotenks, during the main story
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One
