Man… Final Bout was a real trip. No big advertising push, just kinda tossed out the door by Bandai in 1997(!), and featuring a voice cast that was very much not the voice cast of the time (It was the Ocean Group then, I do believe), on top of leaving in a lot of the JP voices and lines for the attacks (and even the victory quotes sometimes), it just felt janky and bootleg-y as heck.
On the other hand, this is the only time we got to hear Steve Blum as Goku.
Gosh though, can you imagine how confused people who picked this game up were? So many spoilers, no context for almost any of them… like imagine picking this up in 1997 and seeing Buu, Cell, freakin’ Baby and SSJ4…. and all you’d seen by this point was the Saiyan arc and maybe part of the very beginning of Namek.
Here’s more of the glorious voice work, if you’re interested, as well as gameplay. (Spoiler: It’s not great.)
Just… imagine this being your introduction to Dragon Ball games in North America. How the times have changed.
Also a friendly reminder that Krillin’s always struggled with a lack of self-worth and extreme survivor’s guilt.
Also a reminder that it’s at least partially rooted in the fact that his early years were spent being raised in a highly abusive environment in which his “lack of worth” was literally beaten into him.
Adding on to the original point:
Dang near heartbreaking.
Goku was exactly the kind of friend Krillin needed in his life.
