Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22

Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 is a 2D fighting game that incorporates three-dimensional camera work into its combat presentation. All matches begin on the ground but can shift to an aerial perspective when both players choose to rise and levitate. In the air, the camera transitions to a dynamic overhead angle, and characters struck by heavy attacks while airborne plummet downward and receive additional damage, mirroring the physics of anime combat sequences. Close combat moves, a range of Ki Blast attacks, and character-specific hypermoves triggered by directional inputs form the core offensive toolkit.

Each character maintains both a health bar and a strength meter. Special attacks draw from the strength meter, and if it empties completely the character becomes temporarily exhausted and unable to act. Strength recharges by holding the assigned buttons and performing the signature aura charge pose. Players can also generate a brief energy shield that blocks energy-based attacks entirely, though it offers no protection against melee strikes. The game's notable visual distinction is its use of actual cel drawings from the animation staff as character sprites, a novelty at the time of its original Japanese release in 1995.

The game ships with twenty-two selectable fighters drawn from across Dragon Ball Z, covering characters from the Saiyan Saga villains through the Buu Saga roster. Five additional characters are accessible via cheat codes printed in the manual, expanding the total to twenty-seven and triggering a change in the title screen text from "Ultimate Battle 22" to "Ultimate Battle 27." The five hidden fighters are Kid Goku, Master Roshi, Mr. Satan, Super Saiyan 3 Goku, and Gogeta, with Gogeta mistakenly labeled as Vegito in the North American release published by Atari in 2003.

Pre-battle cutscenes featuring cel-animated sequences appeared in the original Japanese version but were removed for both the European and North American releases, reducing the presentation value for Western audiences. The North American release also arrived without an English dub track, meaning all voice lines remained in Japanese eight years after the game's original launch. Battle arenas include locations such as Namek, the Cell Games Arena, Kami's Lookout, the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and the World Martial Arts Tournament stage.

Ultimate Battle 22 was released for the PlayStation in Japan in 1995 and in Europe in 1996, with a North American Atari-published release following in 2003. The game shares substantial elements with Dragon Ball Z: Shin Butoden, a Sega Saturn exclusive released in Japan shortly after Ultimate Battle 22, including an identical character selection, reused sprite artwork, and largely shared music. Both games are considered part of the same era of Bandai Dragon Ball Z fighting games built on the Butoden series framework.

The use of hand-drawn animation cel artwork as character sprites was a technically distinctive choice that gave the game a visual authenticity rare among fighting games at the time. Despite this, the North American release was widely criticized for its delayed arrival and the removal of localization features present in other regional releases. The title occupies a historically notable position in the franchise as one of the earliest Dragon Ball Z games to field a roster of this size on home console hardware.