A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed.
Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine a series of games based off one of the biggest anime franchises ever, “Dragon Ball Z”.
Don’t Accept Limitations
For kids of the 1990s, Saturday mornings were the closest thing to a holy time as one could get in terms of entertainment. The 1990s introduced kids to a plethora of shows be it cartoons both new and old, live-action showcases like “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers”, and even an hour of WWF wrestling to cap it all off before college football & basketball games started airing. During the middle of the decade something unexpected happened as Japanese animated programming started finding its way across the Pacific full of terrible English dubbing and obvious poor editing to censor some of a show’s more gratuitously violent moments.
Anime (or the terribly dubbed “Japanimation” as it was originally called by the woefully unaware) found a footing in west thanks to distribution companies choosing & working with the best of the best shows Japan had to offer (or least the most easily marketable to kids of both genders). While girls (and even quite a few boys including yours truly) embraced the early weekday morning action of “Sailor Moon”, Saturday mornings were for the rowdiest of boys looking to rock the dragon courtesy of “Dragon Ball Z” – the story of a simple family man who just so happened to be an alien purged from a planet full of great, globe-conquering warriors.
As the story of “DBZ” progressed and was retold through various mediums including several video games across multiple consoles like the “Budokai” series on the Playstation 2 and the eighth generation’s tour de force “Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot” so did its greatest lesson: Never limit yourself. “DBZ” protagonist Goku (or Kakarot), being trained in the Turtle Hermit style of martial arts under the watchful eye of Master Roshi, would spend countless hours honing his skills; pushing himself physically more than anyone could imagine and tackling foes both far & near looking to destroy his home & the people Goku cared for the most.
Though incredibly strong, Goku never lost the plot and realized that there was always a way to get stronger, better, faster, more efficient in not only his martial arts training, but also when trying to keep his family happy. Goku would take odd jobs here & there like being a farmer to support his wife and son (and eventual other son) without much knowledge how to grow plants. Goku worked hard to learn and go beyond his mental limitations of gardening just like he would when faced with a skilled opponent such as his fellow Saiyan warrior Vegeta.
Prince Vegeta too learned the lesson that limitations are not to be accepted throughout the “DBZ” series and beyond after encountering Goku. Once believed to be the epitome of Saiyan fighting prowess, Vegeta played second fiddle to Goku and even Goku’s eldest son Gohan in regards to becoming the strongest fighter in the universe (or multiverse). Painfully inspired by someone surpassing him, Vegeta worked harder than he ever imagined in hopes of ruining the perception of him being weaker than Kakarot. Even Goku’s friends and rivals embraced the idea of not being held back by limitations. Monstrous villains like Frieza and Cell continuously strengthened themselves in an effort to complete their goals even if the outcome didn’t seem to be in their benefit no matter what they did.
While everyone should understand & know their limits, limitations are only meant to be temporary like any obstacle. Push through as best you can and, who knows, maybe you too can reach your most super level.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing the multiple “Dragon Ball Z” games or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
