Dragon Ball Super’s Toyotarou Draws Classic PlayStation Game Artwork

While Akira Toriyama is perhaps best known for his iconic Dragon Ball franchise, he also had a prolific career as a video game character designer. Recently, Dragon Ball Super artist Toyotarou paid tribute to a relatively obscure Toriyama-designed character from the ’90s gaming era.

Dragon Ball‘s official site recently published a new entry for Toyotarou’s “Tries to Draw” series. As shown below, Toyotarou’s latest sketch depicts Chuji Wu, who hails from a PlayStation game called Tobal No. 1. This game was published by Square, the early predecessor of famed gaming company Square Enix (Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy). Akira Toriyama was a key member of Tobal‘s design team, developing the game’s setting and world in addition to its characters. Chuji Wu is one of eight main characters that are playable at the start. In a brief statement released alongside the illustration, Toyotarou admits to playing Tobal No. 1 extensively back when it was first released, saying: “I have fond memories of playing this game to the break of dawn with my friends back in the day!”

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The Story of Classic PlayStation Game Tobal No. 1

Tobal No. 1‘s story is set in the year 2048 on a fictional planet called Tobal. The core of this planet contains large deposits of a mineral called Molmoran, which can be turned into a powerful energy source. Since many alien races covet this precious mineral, the planet’s inhabitants hold a large-scale fighting tournament to determine who can possess it. Like many of the tournaments featured in Dragon Ball, this competition consists of both human and alien participants. There’s even a secret unlockable character called Tori Robo (short for Toriyama Robo) that bears a strong resemblance to the masked avatar that Toriyama often used to portray himself in his works.

Tobal No. 1 includes two primary game modes — Quest and Tournament. The latter features a similar setup to Dragon Ball’s Budokai Tenkaichi game series, which has characters duke it out in a large ring with the freedom to run, jump, dash and deal damage using a variety of different fighting techniques. Prior to the release of Tobal No. 1, Toriyama also created designs for Enix’s role-playing game series, Dragon Quest. This franchise went on to become one of the company’s biggest hits, sparking the birth of a multimedia empire that includes anime and manga in addition to video games.

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Toyotarou’s Dragon Ball Super Is Confirmed to Be Returning to V-Jump

Toyotarou began collaborating with Toriyama on the Dragon Ball Super manga in 2015 — the same year the series made its debut in V-Jump magazine. While Toriyama no longer illustrated the series, he continued to produce the manga’s story and script, with the exception of a short prequel story starring Goten and Trunks. Consequently, Toriyama’s death has left many fans wondering how and when Goku’s story will come to a close. While Dragon Ball Super is currently on hiatus, official Dragon Ball staff have confirmed that new chapters will eventually be published in future issues of V-Jump.

The Dragon Ball manga series is available to read in English from VIZ Media. Toei Animation’s various anime adaptations, which include DragonBall, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super, are available to stream on Hulu and Crunchyroll. Toei Animation’s upcoming anime installment, Dragon Ball Daima, is slated to debut in Fall 2024.

Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball tells the tale of a young warrior by the name of Son Goku, a young peculiar boy with a tail who embarks on a quest to become stronger and learns of the Dragon Balls, when, once all 7 are gathered, grant any wish of choice.

Created by

Akira Toriyama

First Film

Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies

Latest Film

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

First TV Show

Dragon Ball (1986)

Upcoming TV Shows

Dragon Ball DAIMA

First Episode Air Date

April 26, 1989

Cast

Sean Schemmel , Laura Bailey , Brian Drummond , Christopher Sabat , Scott McNeil

Source: Dragon Ball official site