Dragon Ball FighterZ: Dramatic Finishers (& How to Activate Them)

When future fans of the genre discuss some of the most influential fighting game entries of all time, Dragon Ball FighterZ will be at the forefront of the discussion. Through the genius of the development team at Arc System Works, FighterZ provides one of the most accessible fighting games ever created. Its visual style is nothing less than gorgeous, being the closest Dragon Ball Z game to recreate the visual design of its characters. Coupled with its obvious attention and love for the source material, FighterZ is a must for fans of the anime and die-hard fighting game players alike. Even if a potential player is not familiar with the fighting game genre, FighterZ provides substantial effort to make the game approachable, while not sacrificing depth. FighterZ can be argued to be the single best fighting game available now, for these and a list of other reasons.

As mentioned, the title provides a close eye to the details and memorable moments of its source material. From attacks ripped straight out of the Anime and Manga, to key locations vital to the story’s narrative. One of the most impressive feats accomplished by the game in its list of beautifully choreographed Dramatic Finishes. Dramatic Finishes are special cutscenes played at the end of a given match. There are two main types of Dramatic Finishes, the first being special animations played when a match is concluded with either a particular normal attack or a super attack and the other being, character, and stage-specific. The latter being considerably difficult to pull off, but rewards players for meeting strict conditions with a beautifully designed and visually appealing cut-scene that provides a small scene from the anime or a clever “what if?” scenario for players to enjoy.

How to Trigger Destructive Finishes in Dragon Ball FighterZ

Triggering these destructive finishes is rather easy, but it is character dependent. For, a character such as Frieza who has an exploding Level 1 Super, can trigger an explosive destructive finish, while Trunk’s Level 1 Super cannot perform this explosive finisher. There are three different destructive finishers, the first is an environmental destructive finish where a character will be launched into the background, the explosive finisher and a Kamehameha finisher. The first category is not character specific, while the other two are dependent upon character selection.

To trigger an environmental finisher, a player simply needs to perform an action that would “launch” an enemy horizontally.  Examples are the powerful Vanish attack, a standing Heavy attack, or any super/special move that launches an enemy. The enemy needs to be standing in the corner of a stage to initiate this finish, so keep that in mind.

Explosive and Kamehameha finishers are dependent on character. Simply put, if a player finishes a round with a particular type of super move, then one of these two cutscenes will begin to play. Characters who have Kamehameha-style super attacks such as Goku, both Gohans, and Vegeta can perform these destructive finishes. While characters with exploding-style attacks can perform the explosive destructive finish. Characters who can do these finishes are Frieza, Broly, Majin Buu, and Trunks.

How to Trigger Dramatic Finishes in Dragon Ball FighterZ

Initiating a Dramatic Finisher is not an easy task. As mentioned, they are limited by a player’s character choice, stage choice, and are limited by what attack a player uses to finish an enemy.

To trigger a Dramatic Finisher, players need to meet the character and stage restriction. After these conditions are met to actually initiate the finish, a player needs to make sure they do not defeat the enemy’s character that has the Dramatic Finish done on them. When that character is the last character on your enemy’s team, simply hit them with either, a standing Heavy attack or a Vanish attack with the character needed to complete the Dramatic Finish.

Once this character is hit with the described conditions, a player will be rewarded with an expertly crafted cut scene.

All the Available Dramatic Finishes in Dragon Ball FigherZ

Now that you know how to trigger these Finishes, it is important to know which finishers are at your disposal. There are plenty to choose from and players may want to develop teams in order to meet the conditions of these stylish finishers.

The first finisher is Trunks vs Frieza at Rocky Field (Noon). Once you have isolated a player’s Frieza simply try and finish the villain with either a Standing Heavy or vanish to trigger the iconic scene from the anime.

Next is Teen Gohan vs Cell at Cell Games arena. Once all the requirements are met players will experience the emotional conclusion of the Cell Saga through the game’s visual style.

There are two different Goku vs Frieza Dramatic finishes, the first being the conclusion of the Frieza sage which will be performed on Planet Namek after it’s been destroyed.

The second will be done with Base Goku vs Frieza rather than Super Saiyan Goku and can be done on Planet Namek before destruction. This will show Goku hitting Frieza with the powerful Spirit Bomb attack,

Beerus vs Goku at the Space stage will trigger the closing scenes of the Wrath of God’s movie.

Nappa vs Yamcha at Rocky Field (Noon) will trigger the infamous Yamcha death scene.

And Yamcha vs Nappa at Rocky Field (Noon) will perform a hypothetical “what-if” Yamcha had survived the attack from Nappa’s Saibaman.

Goku vs Kid Buu at the Land of the Kai’s will initiate the finale of the Buu saga and the conclusion of the Dragon Ball Z storyline.

Frieza vs Bardock at the Space stage will trigger the infamous Bardock death scene.

While Bardock vs Frieza at the Space stage will trigger a hypothetical scenario of Bardock surviving the attack and defeating Frieza.

Goku vs Original Broly at the Space stage will initiate the Broly’s defeat in the original film.

Adult Gohan vs Original Broly at the Wasteland stage will perform Broly’s defeat in his second film.

Vegito vs Zamasu at West City (Destroyed) will initiate a comical defeat over the Kai in which Vegito will interrupt Zamasu’s overdramatic monologue with a punch to the face.

Trunks vs Zamasu at West City (Destroyed) will display Zamasu’s defeat during the Goku Black arc.

Base Goku vs Base Vegeta at Rocky Field(Noon) will perform the famous beam struggle between the two during the Saiyan saga.

Gogeta vs Janemba at the Land of the Kai’s will trigger the conclusion to the Janemba movie.

Gogeta vs Dragon Ball Super Broly at Planet Namek (Destroyed) will trigger the conclusion to the most recent Broly movie.

Goku and Frieza vs Jiren at the Space stage will trigger the final scene of the tournament of power saga.

Dragon Ball FighterZ is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.