Dragon Ball FighterZ is a game that's popular in both the competitive esports scene as well as for casual play in the comfort of your own home. For those of you who may have heard of it but never played, or who are fans of the anime but not of fighting games, we've created this four-part spectator's guide to help you get in on the action and enjoy watching all the high-speed excitement of Dragon Ball FighterZ!

Now that we've reached the second half of this series, let's look to the past and revisit the history of Dragon Ball FighterZ as an esport. This time for part three, we'll be focusing on what occurred during the eventful year of the game's release, 2018.

Making Waves from the Get-Go in 2018!

Dragon Ball FighterZ ("FighterZ" herein) was released in January of 2018 (February in Japan) and began immediately drawing international attention in the esports scene.
There are many genres of games that comprise esports as a whole, but one large section of that is fighting games, and the fighting game tournament famed as being the largest in the world is America's Evolution Championship Series, or "EVO".

Several Japanese fighting games, such as Street Fighter and Tekken, are counted among EVO's lineup of world tournaments, and joining their ranks—on the main stage, no less—in its debut year of 2018 was FighterZ!

Not only is it rare to have a newcomer title's tournament featured on the main stage, but even more surprising was the astonishing number of entrants in the FighterZ tournament that made that possible.

The number of entrants in the EVO 2018 FighterZ tournament was 2,575.
Despite only having been released a mere few months beforehand, FighterZ was able to overtake popular returning titles at EVO and boast the highest entry count among all games at the event.

Why All the Hype?

Among the varying genres of esports games, fighting games are particularly easy for new fans to jump in and spectate.
The health bars at the top of the screen make it clear who's winning, and it's plain to see when someone's using a special move thanks to the animations.

In addition to these common elements of fighting games, FighterZ allows fans of Dragon Ball to watch thrilling battles between characters they know unfold before their very eyes.

For fans of the series, seeing Vegeta jump in and provide covering fire for Goku or a fierce bout between Bardock and Frieza is enough to get the blood pumping. You might even get to see your favorite character change their fate, such as if Yamcha overcame Nappa and the Saibamen instead of being defeated like in the original series.

The fact that both players and spectators are able to enjoy the world of Dragon Ball together makes FighterZ a great fit for a genre like esports where connection and engagement is key.

Two Top Players Whose Rivalry Mirrors Goku and Vegeta's!

Maybe it's the effect that Dragon Ball has on people, but fiery rivalries like that of Goku and Vegeta's exist among players of FighterZ too. One such duo is Japan's GO1 and America's SonicFox, who together stirred up a lot of excitement in the FighterZ scene during 2018.