The Real-Life Tenkaichi Budokai Begins!

Dragon Ball FighterZ ("FighterZ" herein) has had two major world tournaments that stand out in its history as an esport.

There's of course the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world's largest fighting game tournament that's held in America each year, and there was also an official FighterZ tournament held by Bandai Namco Entertainment called the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour.

The World Tour was like a real-world Tenkaichi Budokai where the most powerful fighters from all over the world gathered to duke it out and determine the world's number one player. But it wasn't just a single tournament—it was a string of tournaments that took place from 2018 to 2019 and generated a ton of hype in the community thanks to its unique structure.

The winners of each of the seven "saga" tournaments that functioned as qualifiers earned their place at the grand final tournament along with a Dragon Ball that affected how they would be seeded in the roster.

And as an added bonus, if one player was to reign victorious over all seven saga tournaments and assemble the seven Dragon Balls, a special rule would be implemented for the grand final tournament. It was as though the players were being sent on their very own quest for the Dragon Balls in real life!

GO1 VS SonicFox – The Epic Rematch!

At the EVO 2019 FighterZ Grand Final in Las Vegas, fans got to see a familiar scene from the previous year's world tournament.

Japan's GO1 and the warrior who bested him in 2018, the reigning EVO champion from America, SonicFox, were set to clash once more.

During their previous tournament encounter at EVO 2018, GO1 looked to be on the path to victory and won three games in a row before having the tables turned on him by SonicFox, who scored three consecutive wins of his own to become champion. From that day onwards, GO1 played only FighterZ and relentlessly trained for a full year in preparation for his shot at redemption.

Then finally came EVO 2019, where the two faced off once again in the grand final match. Their very first battle of the set was so intense that it went down to the last 10 seconds on the game timer before a winner could be decided. SonicFox took the first two games, then GO1 struck back to take the second two. The Japanese warrior had well and truly hit his stride by that point and charged into their deciding match with blazing momentum.

It came right down to the line, but in the end, this time it was GO1 who seized victory, and along with it, his hard-fought redemption from 2018.

The Battlefield Goes Online

In 2020, as a countermeasure against the spread of the novel coronavirus, top players were invited to compete in an online World Tour.

In September of 2021, a new world tournament called the DRAGON BALL FighterZ World Championship ("DBFZ WC" herein) began preparations with preliminaries held online in various regions. From here on out, the premier global event for FighterZ esports will be the DBFZ WC.

Sadly, the DBFZ WC finals tournament planned for 2022 has been put on indefinite hiatus, but a special global tournament is going to be held at DRAGON BALL Games Battle Hour 2022 between border-crossing teams consisting of players from different regions fighting alongside each other! It'll be a rare chance to see the world's top players go head-to-head in heated battles, so be sure to check it out!

Check the links below for more information on the tournament being held at DRAGON BALL Games Battle Hour!