Dragon Ball FighterZ is the game the whole franchise's reputation rests on, and the one people mean when they search for Dragon Ball fighting games.
The game was announced in June 2017 under the working title Dragon Ball Fighters - which is why so many searches and videos use that phrase - and released on January 26, 2018 in the West and February 1, 2018 in Japan for PS4, Xbox One and PC. Nintendo Switch followed on September 28, 2018. A PS5 and Xbox Series X|S version arrived on February 29, 2024 with rollback netcode, which was the single most requested feature in the game's history. It is built on Unreal Engine 4 and developed by Arc System Works together with Bandai Namco Studios, published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.
Producer Tomoko Hiroki explained at announcement that the shift from a fully 3D plan to 2.5D was made specifically so the game could carry more unique mechanics per character. It is the reason FighterZ feels nothing like the 3D arena games it sits alongside. Camera control is deliberate - you can push the camera to alter spacing - and the whole system is built around reads, punishes and the timing of assists rather than around juggle chains.
Fights are three-on-three, with one active character per side and the other two held in reserve. Tags are free while you have Ki and cost Ki when you do not, which means aggressive tagging is a resource decision rather than a free swap. Your three fighters do not have to be a thematic team - the best players run deliberately unbalanced trios that cover each other's weaknesses, and the optimal team for a given matchup changes constantly with the patch.
Collect seven Shenron orbs during a match and you can grant a wish: a Senzu Bean, an extra fighter, a costume or a colour change. It is the mechanic that makes the back half of a match tense even when the health bars look stable, and it is one of the reasons FighterZ matches run long by arcade standards and short by fighting game standards.
The base game launched with 21 fighters plus three unlockables, and DLC brought the roster to roughly 44-45. Android 21 was designed by the late Akira Toriyama. The most recent addition, in April 2026, is Goku (Super Saiyan 4, DAIMA) with a new Wild Dash technique. The 2024 console refresh also brought rollback netcode and the DLC bundle to current platforms, which has made FighterZ considerably more popular with new players than it was for its first three years.
FighterZ holds a Metascore of 87 - still the highest rating any Dragon Ball game has received - and passed 10 million copies sold by May 2023. It is routinely cited as one of the best fighting games of the eighth console generation, and it won Best Fighting Game at The Game Awards 2018. If you only ever play one Dragon Ball fighter, this is the one with the strongest case behind it.