Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission

Overall, I’d say I like World Mission as a fun game to pick up once in a while, watch DB characters beat each other up, and enjoy a Japanese arcade experience on the go. For longer play sessions, the game can sometimes dip into monotony, but as far as fanservice-powered Dragon Ball spin-offs go, you could do a lot worse.

This is a card game aimed at Dragon Ball diehards, with enough depth, creativity and fan service to keep the fans entertained. It does suffer visually, and those not into the series may want to give this one a miss.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission is the best version of the long-running card-battling series yet, boasting a raft of new adjustments, extra cards and fresh missions to keep you coming back for more. It’s packed to the rafters with content, from a heavy-duty story mode to local and online battles, so if you’re a fan of the series you’re going to lap up this entry now it’s finally arrived in the West. While it lacks the deeper tactical nuance of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Champions, it’s still a fun and unapologetically Japanese arcade experience right there on your Switch.

World Mission is not a particularly deep game and is also technically obsolete. But it is also true that it offers a wealth of content that can make the experience as fun and long-lived as required, combining the whole with a huge amount of fanservice for all Dragon Ball lovers.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission does an admirable job at replicating the original Japanese arcade game on the Nintendo Switch.

Visuals are rough, interface is clunky and the game is not really updated to the latest expansion pack, however there is a lot to love if you are a fan of the franchise and the tactical gameplay is surprisingly deep.

In Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World mission there a great amount of cards and collectibles. There's a simple story with a good and deep structure due to the stratified gameplay mechanics. Not only fan service.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission is a truly Japanese Arcade gameplay experience that works pretty well on the Switch. Quite different from what Western Dragon Ball fans are used to playing and full of content and fan service, Bandai Namco Entertainment's game is one fans of Goku and friends should give a chance.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes is pure fan-service and a great adaptation of the original arcade game. Nevertheless, its visuals are out-dated and its core gameplay is soon redundant. Tolerant fans might enjoy it.

If you crave 100-hour, card- based strategy games, hold onto your combat gi! [Issue #40 – July/August 2019, p. 70]

Not being a fan of card games myself, I approached this game with low expectations. I found myself pleasantly surprised by the game’s addicting nature, compounded by the robust content and fan service. I spent many hours trying to unlock more character cards and scenarios. Super Saiyan 3 Vegito. Various non-canon transformations of Broly. I even got a character card of Bulma, which I immediately added to my main deck. Despite the immense fun factor and extra features, the card game itself isn’t compelling enough to entice those who are unfamiliar with the anime series. However, devout fans of the Dragon Ball series should find plenty of content to feast on here.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission is a card collector's dream thanks to the astounding volume of cards and characters in the game. Unfortunately, bringing those cards into battle isn't nearly as satisfying as collecting them, as long-winded duels and shoddy enemy AI ruin the simple to learn yet hard to master nature of the card game. Fans of Dragon Ball will still have a good time here, as long as they're willing to put up with a lot of waiting and repetition.

As someone who only recently came to the Dragon Ball franchise, the various storylines and characters felt a little overwhelming at first, but it was great to learn about each of them through the eyes of the central character, who, in essence, is a fan. Everything is larger than life and for those who want to delve into all the tiny intricacies of the battles on top of absorbing the lore, they’ll be in their element. Those of us on the fringes will find a relatively fun game that throws a bit too much at the wall hoping for it to stick.

It's difficult to be positive about Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission because you have to give it the benefit of the doubt and be a big Dragon Ball fan to enjoy it. The core game is pretty fun in a simple time-wasting way, and the "What If?" scenarios are significantly more engaging than the ones in Xenoverse. Unfortunately, to reach all of that, you have to deal with awkward UI, convoluted explanations, and just about the worst graphics you'll see in a $60 game. Fans who have the patience to deal with a lot of caveats can enjoy World Mission. Casual Dragon Ball players will want to go for the Xenoverse games for an overall higher-quality experience.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with World Mission even as a casual Dragonball fan, though the gameplay did leave me wanting. Super Dragonball Heroes: World Mission is worth the price of admission, just come to it for the fanservice and not for the deckbuilding.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes is an overwhelmingly mediocre game from a gameplay or narrative perspective. It’s not bad, but it’s quite boring and shallow. There’s probably more here for avid fans of the series than there is for someone looking for an interesting game or a challenging strategy experience.