Dragon Ball: A Classic Video Game Revealed What Would Have Happened If Frieza WON

Dragon Ball Z has plenty of unique and powerful figures, many of them with more than enough strength to wipe out the galaxy if left unopposed. While the canon timeline sees the Z Warriors and their allies protect the universe with consistent victories, some video games have explored alternate realities -- and how one different battle could have changed the entire future.

In the Frieza scenario from the classic title Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors, Frieza actually achieves his ultimate goal after defeating Goku -- but goes on to do so much more.

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Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors was a fighting game for the Gameboy Advance. While the storylines for some playable characters followed along the usual beats from the canon storylines, the villains were given unique "what if" scenarios that dealt with them triumphing over the Z Warriors, similar to other games like Dragon Ball: Xenoverse. In one such timeline, Frieza was victorious over Goku in their final battle on the planet Namek. Killing Goku just before the planet exploded, Frieza avoided his canon fate. Escaping the exploding world with Captain Ginyu in tow, Frieza decides to eliminate Vegeta and Gohan before they can potentially achieve Super Saiyan forms and become greater threats.

Frieza takes on cybernetics much as he did in the canon universe -- but in this reality, it's not to survive his injuries from Namek but to enhance his already staggering power. This allows Frieza to overpower Vegeta when they next meet upon Frieza reaching Earth, despite the latter reaching Super Saiyan by the time Frieza arrives. The desperate Z Warriors assemble the Dragon Balls in a bid to revive Goku -- forcing Krillin to sacrifice himself distracting Frieza long enough for Bulma and Gohan to complete their mission. But, his efforts were worth it in the end, as it bought the heroes the necessary time to resurrect Goku.

However, this also alerts Frieza to the existence of Dragon Balls on Earth, giving him a new mission: after eliminating the Z-Warriors, Frieza and Ginyu will hunt down the Dragon Balls and help the villain finally achieve his long-desired immortality. Arriving at Capsule Corp, Frieza destroys the surrounding city -- killing countless humans (likely including Bulma) and enraging both Goku and Gohan. Freiza battles both of them, with Gohan even reaching Super Saiyan upon witnessing the death of his father. But it isn't long before Frieza overpowers Gohan and kills him as well -- leading to the eradication of the Saiyan race. Only Piccolo survives, retreating to the Lookout with Kame.

While Ginyu travels the world using the recovered Dragon Radar (from the ruins of Capsule Corp) to hunt down the Dragon Balls, Frieza finds himself battling the Androids. With Goku dead, Doctor Gero doesn't overzealously reveal himself to fight the Saiyans. Instead, he completes his work on Androids 16, 17 and 18  and uses them to scout out Frieza -- leading to their destruction at the hands of the alien conqueror. Fearing the result of Frieza gaining all seven Dragon Balls, Gero hunts down the Dragon Balls himself. He even lays a trap for Frieza, intending to steal energy from the alien conqueror. Impressed by Gero's efforts, Frieza gives Gero the chance to join him as his newest minion. But when Gero refuses, Frieza is forced to kill him.

With no one left remotely powerful enough to stop him, Frieza collects the Dragon Balls and wishes for immortality -- gaining the ultimate power boost and even allowing him to shed his cybernetic enhancements. Piccolo and Kami fuse in a bid to become strong enough to destroy Frieza -- rendering the Dragon Balls inert in the process. But even this isn't enough, and Piccolo is eventually felled by the villain. Frieza conquers Earth and rules over it for some decades before one final enemy presents himself: Cell. Given a longer gestation period as a final resort against Frieza by Gero, Cell awakens in his Perfect Form -- and with a drive to eliminate Frieza.

Despite his best efforts though, the immortal Frieza proves unstoppable. Eventually discovering that Cell can recover from any injury by regenerating from a cellular level, Frieza destroys the Earth just as he had with Namek -- wiping out the world and destroying Cell on every conceivable level. With his immortality sparing him, Frieza turns his attention to the greater galaxy and sets about conquering all of creation. It's a dark and gruesome reality, where the fighting spirit of the Saiyans dies an inglorious death and the human race quickly follows suit. It's also a reminder of just how dangerous Frieza really is.

hayao miyazaki