Becoming a Super Saiyan is something that I would wish for if I had access to a set of Dragon Balls, but that’s never going to happen. Luckily for me and many other Dragon Ball fans Xenoverse 2 is finally available on the Nintendo Switch, and this time around you can bring Goku and the rest of the gang with you anywhere you go. Xenoverse 2 is an action/fighting game that is set in the world of the popular anime series Dragon Ball. The first game Dragon Ball: Xenoverse was released for various systems in 2015 but never made it to a Nintendo console. It was worth the wait though, because the sequel improves upon quite a few things that I didn’t care for in the first installment. Plus, the Nintendo Switch version of Xenoverse 2 features exclusive motion controls that will let you perform attacks straight out of the anime with your very own hands. It’s pretty awesome.

The first thing you’ll be doing is your character creation, which is one of my favorite features in the game. You can choose from five different races including Earthling, Saiyan, Namekian, Frieza and Majin. You can be male or female, choose a name, pick a voice and decide how you want them to look. You can also change the color of their eyes, clothing, and skin tone to pretty much any color you like. Clothing color doesn’t really matter though because you can change your outfit around as you progress in the game. I enjoy any kind of character customization so it was really fun creating my very own Saiyan. As far as other characters go, you can play with a ton of familiar faces from the anime in multiplayer, or during parallel time quests (including movie-only characters like Turles, Broly, and Janemba). The Switch version also let’s you have some free DLC that will unlock every playable character from the start — which was great because it can take a while to unlock all of them. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to play with characters like Frieza and Lord Beerus; it’s a good way to check out the different fighting styles and see what best suits you.  

When playing the main game you will go through various timelines from the story of Dragon Ball. Apparently a new, mysterious enemy has warped the flow of time and is causing some chaos to occur in the past. As one of Conton City’s top Time Patrollers, it’s your job to set things right. Travel through time and fight alongside Goku and friends in epic battles of strength and agility. You might even find yourself up against a great Saiyan Ape at one point, but who knows? On top of that, all of the original main story missions from the first Xenoverse game are included as well. Since I was never able to complete the original game that addition was quite a treat for me. If you get tired of the main story you can wander around Conton City and complete some side quests, or go shopping for some new clothes or items. One of my favorite things about Xenoverse 2 is that you’re able to fly. For some reason in the first game you could only use your boring ole’ feet to get around. Flying creates access to hard to reach areas and makes traveling much faster while in the city.

Winning a match or completing a mission will gain you experience points. As you level up you can also boost your stats however you prefer and really customize your fighter with different abilities and moves. Aside from the main storyline there is a slew of side quests to complete along with some random minigames. You can even find one of your favorite fighters from the show and have them as your mentor throughout the game. I chose Vegeta, because I feel like he’s a good motivator, but you can pick from Frieza, Krillin, Yamcha (yeah right!), Piccolo and many more.

Xenoverse 2 does a lot of things differently than your normal fighting game. Instead of a regular 1 on 1 match, your character will be fighting numerous enemies in battle and you will almost always have a couple allies to help you out. You’ll want to focus on one enemy at a time and try not to get too distracted by everything else going on around you. You can perform far away and close ranged attacks, as well as special moves that can do a lot of damage if executed properly. As I mentioned before you can also activate those special attacks by moving the Joy-Con controllers in tandem with the on-screen icons to perform the Kamehameha and all sorts of other classic Dragon Ball moves (which would be pretty entertaining with a group of friends). If you’re not a fan of motion controls don’t worry, you also attack manually using the buttons or a pro-controller.

As far as graphics go, Xenoverse 2 looks awesome when the Switch is docked. The cutscenes are beautiful and the colors really pop. There’s a slight cel-shaded look to everything but it’s very “un-cartoony,” and I really like the way it looks. The one complaint I have is that when the Switch is in handheld mode the game runs a bit slower. It’s not enough to affect the gameplay but enough to where you’ll notice the frame rate drop. Otherwise, it was really cool being able to play in the car and at work. Xenoverse 2 is a fun game to be able to take with you and play anywhere.

You can also get online and play multiplayer with friends or people from across the world. You can team up and do quests online as well as partake in special events that randomly occur from time to time like world tournaments. There are a lot of things to keep you busy and plenty of replayability if you want to try out all of the different fighting styles. So, if you haven’t had the chance to play Xenoverse 2 I highly recommend checking it out on the Switch, even if you’re not a fan of the series. It looks great, controls are easy to figure out, there’s a good amount of content, it’s action packed, and fun to play.