Was anyone else’s favourite time of day when you’d get to run home from school, strong arm your parental unit or sibling away from the remote, and hog the screen for a glorious half an hour while Dragon Ball ran? Starting as a manga in 1984 and then moving into an anime adaptation in 1986, Dragon Ball has been a staple story in households across the world for decades.
Dragon Ball has always wowed its impressionable audience with intense, martial arts-accurate battles designed to take the breath away. But which of these battles are the tip-top tantalizers? Which ones have stayed in fans’ minds and made Dragon Ball into the near cult-like movement it is today? Below, you’ll find the top 10 best battles in Dragon Ball History, but do you agree?
10 Best Battles in Dragon Ball History
#1: Goku vs. Piccolo
You cannot talk about Dragon Ball fights without coming in hard with the finale of the original Dragon Ball. The personal vendetta between Goku and Piccolo has been building sparks between them for a large chunk of the series by the time they finally face off and you can feel it in the tension between them as they exchange super aggressive blows.
The fight shows off how much they’ve both learned from watching the exchanges before them. Both are strategic and incredibly well matched right through to when things get properly brutal at the end of the match. From the technical standpoint and how early it was in the anime, the fight is included in the list of 10 Best Battles in Dragon Ball History.
#2: Mirai Trunks vs. Freiza
Nothing says, “hey, I wasn’t expecting that” like watching a lavender-haired punk decimate Freiza’s entourage of lackeys and then Freiza himself after our beloved protagonist, Goku, had such a hard time of it in the last arc. This fight is a no-holds-barred domination on Mirai Trunks’s part, but it makes the top 10 best battles because it boasts one of the best character introductions not only in Dragon Ball but in animation history.
Trunks has a whole new style, a whole new set of quips, and a whole new way of fighting as Freiza tries to pull his usual natural 20 on intimidate and then ends up imitating a guppy when that falls down faster than Recoome on Namek after taking one of Goku’s patented gut punches.
#3: Bruce Lee vs. Goku
Dragon Ball has this wicked tendency to effortlessly blend serious, grip-the-edge-of-your-seat tension with eye-watering humour. During the early stages of his training, Goku encounters a few opponents like this rendition of Bruce Lee, but this altercation sticks out for the moment that Goku punches out a wall in front of a crowd and then walks away from it all happily holding the zeni he needs.
The encounter is brief, differentiates Goku from those around him, and shows how underestimating a child can lead to shocking consequences.
#4: Piccolo and Goku vs. Raditz
The beginning of Dragon Ball Z hits us with a brutal dose of “what the heck” when Goku’s Saiyan heritage is revealed and his son is kidnapped. Considering the last time we saw Goku and Piccolo together, Piccolo was blowing a hole through Goku’s chest, there is a sense of the unconventional watching these two team up against Raditz. The pair work surprisingly well together, and the battle is fraught with twists and turns designed to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Therefore, makes its way to the 10 best battles in Dragon Ball History.
#5: Vegeta, Gohan and Krillin vs. Freiza
Bet you were wondering when our much-loved Saiyan prince was going to make an entrance. Most of the Namekian fights are top tier. They boast the most narratively relevant stakes of the series, always with a strong impact and always leaving the audience desperate to get to the next episode to find out who lives and who dies. Just for Vegeta’s will to save someone, this fight deserves a place in the 10 best battles in Dragon Ball history list.
This particular battle gives good and equal spotlight to all three of our “good” guys against a villain that has been expertly hyped up. Giving Vegeta the spot of de facto leader in Goku’s absence here, though, provides a powerful gateway for his later redemption, and let’s be honest, we are all here for it.
#6: Tien vs. Goku
This is one of those fights that is criminally underrated. While not carrying the weight of the standoff between Goku and Piccolo that later plays out in the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, this is an excellent example of a highly technical fight between two skilled opponents. It shows off how much Dragon Ball really encompasses the passion of martial arts. Sensible Saiyan, over on YouTube, has done an immaculate study of this fight that breaks down each maneuver and really highlights how incredible Dragon Ball really is for understanding and utilising its source materials.
#7: Chi Chi vs. Goku
Okay, we can all admit it, seeing Goku on the back foot in a situation like this is kind of hilarious. It’s nice to see a strong protagonist like Goku having to take up the defensive, not because of the martial challenge, but because of his sheer confusion over the situation, making his opponent so heavily aggressive.
It’s easy to forget, in Dragon Ball Z, that Chi Chi is a strong fighter taught in a similar style to the Turtle School of Master Roshi. This fight is a nice refresher course to remind viewers that there are other people to pay attention to outside of our Saiyan berserker. For the ‘outer perspective,’ this fight is included in the 10 Best Battles in Dragon Ball History.
#8: Goku vs. Freiza
It was promised for months on end. We watched Goku train at 100 times Earth’s gravity, face off against the Ginyu Force, and spend a sizeable chunk of the first part of the encounter with Freiza in a healing pod. When it was finally time to release the beast and send in the hard hitter, this battle did not disappoint. Giving Goku and Freiza room to test each other, it did a wonderful job of painting Freiza as the stronger of the two by a small margin until that heart-stopping moment when the lightning flashes, the Bruce Faulkner soundtrack swells, and Goku’s hair flames up gold into the first insane Super Saiyan transformation.
#9: Gohan vs. Cell
This has got to be the most emotionally heavy fight in the entirety of Dragon Ball. Gohan is arguably one of the most interesting characters due to the dichotomy of his passive nature and the rage that builds within him as the series progresses through Saiyan instincts and a need to protect his loved ones. He is literally the embodiment of: “never anger a quiet man”.
The fight is a marvellous closure to the arc that has been building since Piccolo took Gohan to train at the beginning of Dragon Ball Z and showcases how even the mighty Goku can make mistakes, which gives him a wonderfully human aspect that he has lacked since Freiza. This definitely should make way in everyone’s list of the 10 Best Battles in Dragon Ball History.
#10: Vegeta vs. Goku
It’s like Piccolo vs. Goku on steroids, and as the first major finale in Dragon Ball Z, it commands respect, attention, and so much hype. The show just does everything right for this altercation. We’ve seen snippets of Goku’s training at King Kai’, but have yet to see him in action with all his new moves mastered, and Vegeta has been painted as one of the most merciless and intelligent villains that Goku has ever faced. The prince of all Saiyans provides a new level of invigoration to the fight that Goku shares, and of course, there’s the inclusion of the first ki blast clash that sets the benchmark for the rest of the series.
A hallmark fight and fully deserving of being part of the 10 Best Battles in Dragon Ball History.
More Where That Came From
Dragon Ball is the series that practically wrote the book for all Shonen anime that came after it. There are so many more noteworthy battles to consider, including Goku vs. Cell, Vegeta vs. Freiza, and Goku vs. Ginyu, but in terms of narrative significance, purely showcasing technical prowess in both animation and martial arts, and good old-fashioned humour, the 10 listed are the ones that really stand out. Feel free, if you disagree, to point out why you think different battles should be featured here, but fair warning, your power level must be over 9’000 for you to win that particular fight.
