There has been much debate as to how and when Goku actually unlocked Super Saiyan 4 Dragon Ball DAIMA. At face value, it appears that Neva pulled the SSJ4 out of Goku, but dialogue later in the series suggests that he actually already had access to the Super Saiayn 4 all along, and just couldn't transform himself into his mini body. Things got even muddier when Dragon Ball Z: Kakarots DAIMA DLC was released with a brand new ending that was added on top of the anime's lore.
Adding more fuel to the fire is the inclusion of Super Saiyan 4 Goku Dragon Ball FighterZ. Arc System Works has gone out of their way to include a line of dialogue between Goku and Kid Buu that directly contradicts it Kakarots ending sequence. Even more important, however, is Dragon Ball FighterZ is strongly based on Dragon Ball DAIMA anime, using evidence from the series to confirm once and for all how Goku unlocked Super Saiyan 4 — and it turns out he didn't need Neva's help after all.
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Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot implies that Goku never used Super Saiyan 4 before fighting Gomah
IN Dragon Ball Z: Kakarots DAIMA DLC, Goku tells Panzy in the game's final cutscene, “This might sound crazy, but I JUST got used to being small. I mean, I made it to Super Saiyan 4 and all…”. The wording of his comment strongly suggests that he hadn't used Super Saiyan 4 until he was in his miniature body. Then Kakarot contains lore based on Akira Toriyama's notes for the series, taking Goku at face value wouldn't be out of the question. At the same time, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot uses this bit of dialogue to introduce the Mini Bugs, allowing Goku to temporarily become a child again.
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In retrospect and in the light of new evidence from Dragon Ball FighterZthis scene's purpose is clearly to justify the game letting players still control Mini Goku after the final battle, as opposed to hard and fast confirmation that he only unlocked SSJ4 through Neva's help. The only gray area is the fact that Goku went Super Saiyan 4 at all. That said, since the DAIMA DLC's post-game doesn't let players use Adult Goku, this goes back around to simply being a bridge to help the game make sense.
Goku Unlocking Super Saiyan 4 By Himself is backed by Dragon Ball DAIMA Anime
While fighting Kid Buu Dragon Ball FighterZ reveal trailer for Super Saiyan 4 Goku, Goku tells Buu, “Thanks for pushing me to my limit. I trained harder for you.” This is a direct reference to Goku and Vegeta's conversation in Dragon Ball DAIMA Episode 20. Vegeta accuses Goku of keeping a transformation a secret from him, to which Goku replies, “You mean Super Saiyan 4? Buu was really strong, so I trained a lot after fighting him.” This bit of dialogue essentially confirms that Goku unlocked Super Saiyan 4 not via magic, but through intense training after his fight with Kid Buu.
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The main evidence against Goku unlocking Super Saiyan 4 himself is that he says he wasn't sure if the form would work, but he could be referring to SSJ4 in reference to his mini body. There's also the fact that Goku wouldn't have been able to use Super Saiyan 4 in a real fight up until that point. Dragon Ball DAIMAs producers confirmed that Akira Toriyama personally wrote all the dialogue in the anime. Arc System Works has also made a name for itself by trying to be just as thorough Dragon Ball manga and anime as possible with Dragon Ball FighterZright down to how characters move and talk to each other.
When it comes down to it, Kakarots implication that Goku unlocked Super Saiyan 4 because of Neva only exists as an in-game explanation, whereas Dragon Ball FighterZs dialogue between Goku and Kid Buu is rooted in the Dragon Ball DAIMA anime. All these signs confirm that Goku unlocked Super Saiyan 4 after the battle with Kid Buu and only needed Neva's help because he was in a smaller body and couldn't use his full Ki.
- Release date
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2024 – 2025
- Network
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Fuji TV, Kansai TV, Tokai TV Broadcasting, Fukui TV, Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting, Iwate Menkoi Television, Sendai Television, SAGA TV, TNC, OHK, Ishikawa TV, Kochi Sun Sun Broadcasting, TV Shizuoka, UMK TV Miyazaki, Television ShinSThim, TV, NBS ShinSThim, TV Ehime Broadcasting, KTS, NIB, KKT, Fukushima TV, TOS, AKT, Toyama Television, Okinawa Television Broadcasting
- Directors
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Kazuya Karasawa, Ryuta Kawahara
- Author
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Akira Toriyama
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Masako Nozawa
Son Goku (mini) (voice)
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Koki Uchiyama
Glorio (voice)
