Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku is a top-down adventure game from Webfoot Technologies and Infogrames. It is the first DBZ game to ever be devoloped in North America, for North American audiences. Many games based on the popular manga and anime series were released in Japan years ago, for the NES right up through PlayStation. However, none of these games were ever localized for non-Japanese audiences, mainly because the fairly old DBZ anime has just recently been translated into English for North American audiences.

Legacy of Goku parallels its anime source material in many ways. The adventure-style gameplay combines action-oriented combat with experience points and leveling up, elements that are commonly referred to in the show. The game's story spans the first season of Dragon Ball Z, and players will see places and experience events lifted directly from the series. There are also many NPCs (such as Krillin, Bulma, and Chi Chi) that will give Goku advice, ask him for a favor, or just give some encouragement.

The controls are as follows:

A: Punch

B: Ki attack

R: Fly/Land

L: Cycle through Ki abilities

Start: Pause/Sub-screen

Select: Show remaining flight power

Flying uses up one point of flight power for every second that you push a direction; thus, you can fly in one place indefinitely. Power-ups scattered throughout the environments replenish Goku's flight power and regenerate from time to time.

Ki abilities include the famous "Kame Hame Ha" and other powerful attacks. Each one uses up some of your Ki meter, which automatically fills back up over time. In addition, you can charge up any Ki ability by holding B; doing so will use up more of the meter, but the attack will be proportionately more powerful when you release the button. Sometimes the ability will also look different if charged up. A fully charged Kame Hame Ha is quite large, and Goku will note its power with a voice sample.

Enemies range from mere forest animals to bank robbers to Frieza's henchmen. Boss battles are against the major villains of the first season...Raditz, Nappa, Vegeta, etc.

The gameplay revolves around a combination of combat and mini-quest completion. For instance, you may have to roam all over a forest to find a mother pterodactyl's lost egg, or to gather flowers for a little boy who wants to impress his female friend. On top of that, the main story is always progressing, and Goku will fight the occasional boss battle when the plot demands.

Every defeated enemy will earn you experience points, and you can also get EXP from completing mini-quests or even just talking to certain supporting characters. Leveling up will increase your maximum health and Ki, add to your offensive and defensive power, increase your max flight power by one, and occasionally increase your walking speed. New Ki abilities are obtained through the story and not from leveling up.

Goku's inventory includes herbs, which are easily found and restore 25% of his health, senzu beans, which are quite rare but restore health completely, and various quest-specific items that are automatically used at the appropriate time and place. Goku can carry a maximum of six herbs and three senzu beans.

Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku is set to be released in North America in spring or early summer 2002. Note: it appears that the multiplayer aspect originally announced with the game has been canceled. We'll update this preview when we find out more.