Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot initially only released on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, leaving Switch players out completely. Early on, questions about a potential Switch port were met with nothing but denial, as Bandai Namco made it clear that it had no plans for such a thing. The E3 reveal came as something of a surprise, although it was recently leaked that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot might be coming to Switch. As the initial excitement of the reveal fades away, fans are starting to realize that the Switch may have a bit of trouble with Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.
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Can the Switch Handle Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot?
The big question on everyone’s mind at this point is whether or not the Switch can handle Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. In its simplest form, the game isn’t too intensive, but there are some situations that can arise within the game that could end up being real problems. To be more specific, Goku’s Ultimate Spirit Bomb, one of his most powerful attacks, has been known to cause massive framerate drops and sometimes even crashes on the PS4 and Xbox One versions. These consoles are objectively more powerful than the Switch, so it begs the question of how well Nintendo’s portable console can deal with this.
Aside from spamming Ultimate Spirit Bombs and Super Big Bang Attacks, it’s also worth looking at the Horde Battles that were introduced in DLC 2. This game mode sees the player facing of against literal hordes of enemies all at once. Although there aren’t usually more than ten on the screen at once, it still makes a lot of work for the console as players mow through hundreds of enemies in a short period of time. In the case of the Ultimate Spirit Bomb, players can always opt to use less flashy moves, but there are certain rewards locked behind these Horde Battles.
Why Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is Perfect for Switch
On the other hand, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot seems like it was made for the Switch. Its stylistic graphics aren’t as intensive as some of the hyper realistic games that the Switch tends to struggle with, and the gameplay tends to be simple enough. Since most fans are already familiar with the story, it lends itself well to the pick up and put down style of the Switch.
The aforementioned concerns about whether or not the Switch can run Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot could also easily be countered with a look at the Switch version of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. That game runs well on the Switch, and it’s fairly common for there to be more going on there than in Kakarot. Until reviews for the Switch version start to release, there’s no way to tell for certain, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a wonderful retelling of the Dragon Ball Z story, and it would be a shame if this retelling were interrupted by laggy gameplay or anything of the sort.
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Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Switch - A New Power Awakens
One attractive feature of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot on the Nintendo Switch is that it comes with both of the “A New Power Awakens” DLC packs. Fans on PC, PS4, and Xbox One waited almost a full a year for this content, but Switch players will get to experience them immediately. While this seems like a good thing on the surface, these two DLC packs have the potential to negatively impact a new player’s experience with Kakarot. This is all due to one peculiar feature of these pseudo-Super DLC stories.
Despite taking place after the end of the Buu saga in the official continuity, players are able to access these two DLC packs as soon as they start up the game. All they need to do is beat the image battle with Piccolo at the very beginning and then they can ditch picking apples with little Gohan to go train on Beerus’ planet. Not only does this break the immersion of the story, but it also breaks the balance of the game. Players could easily reach level 300 in this manner before even fighting Raditz, at which point the Super Saiyan God and Blue transformations won’t even be needed to crush him.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot - New Switch Content
With every potential downside, there’s also a little ray of hope. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot players on Switch will be able to play as Gotenks and Vegito outside of the time machine, a feature that other console players have been desperate to see for a while. Bandai Namco also said that the difficulty of the Switch version can be adjusted. It’s not entirely clear what this means, but it could refer to a fix of the lack of level scaling in the game. If this were the case, then getting to level 300 early wouldn’t impact the balance of the game too terribly.
Once again, players won’t be able to know exactly what to expect until more information comes to light. Whether that info comes through Bandai Namco or from reviewers once the Switch version goes out for review, players will want to be in the know about it. This Switch port has the potential to fix a lot of problems that have been plaguing Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot since day one, but there are just as many potential pitfalls that CyberConnect2 and Bandai Namco Entertainment will need to avoid.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and releases on September 22nd for Switch.
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