The Dragon Ball series has had countless video games over the past few decades, ever since the series hit overwhelming popularity in the 80s and 90s. Since then players have controlled Goku in everything from 16-bit RPGs to motion-controlled Kinect games. Yet, through all these years there's a surprising lack of original story content, with Dragon Ball games usually content to rehash the same iconic plotlines.

The most recent release, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, highlights this issue better than ever. While Kakarot does have some, very small, new story content, the main story is still made up of those same plotlines from the original show.

Related: Dragon Ball Could Continue After The Tournament Of Power: Here's How

Anime games, in general, have a problem with re-using content, and Dragon Ball is at the forefront of that. For the franchise to move forward in video games, it needs to create original story content that fans haven't seen anywhere else before.

Dragon Ball Games Need to Stop Telling the Same Old Story

Dragon Ball Z Kakarot Vegeta and Nappa

Even Dragon Ball games that try to have original story content, still have an over-reliance on the original plotlines. Take for example, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, one of the more original games in the series. In Xenoverse players travel through time, trying to repair the fractured timeline of the series, and right the wrongs in it. While it's technically a new story, Xenoverse still doesn't want to venture too far out of the series' history.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot suffers from this same problem, as it introduces substories separate from the main story. These substories bring back minor characters, like Launch or Eighter, who may not have appeared in the Dragon Ball Z anime. While it's great to see these characters again, the tiny stories they add on don't feel substantial, and they aren't backed up by interesting gameplay. What Dragon Ball needs is an ambitious new experience that creates an original villain, a new area of the universe, and dares to step outside the comfort of the series.

Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, designed two new villains for the 2019 game Jump Force, who unfortunately weren't put to great use in its lackluster story. Still, the characters, Kane and Galena, at least sport the unique look and feel of Toriyama's design, and they'd honestly feel right at home in a Dragon Ball game. Past that, Toriyama also created Android 21 for Dragon Ball FighterZFighterZ does feature a new story as well, but again it's grounded in those franchise traditions, and the best thing the game does is give new interactions for characters that wouldn't have met before, like Cell and Adult Gohan. The heart of the problem is that these are all small steps, and Dragon Ball needs to take that big step. There are even a few other games it can look to as inspiration.

Related: What Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's DLC Needs to Improve

Dragon Ball Can Take Inspiration From One-Piece: World Seeker

One Piece World Seeker

The best example of an anime game telling an entirely original story is One Piece: World Seeker, which has a narrative crafted by Eichiro Oda himself, with new characters designed by him to boot. World Seeker has its share of gameplay issues, but it can't be faulted for story ambition, with a story that practically feels like its own unique arc from the anime.

Similarly, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise takes the characters and ideas of the anime and applies them into the Yakuza game series' format, with a new story and location. There are similarities to the original story, but Lost Paradise puts familiar characters into new roles and sends Kenshiro on a new adventure.

Dragon Ball has a greater legacy than any anime franchise out there and more widespread popularity. Fans will show up for Dragon Ball based on name alone, just look at the success of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, or the huge box office of Dragon Ball Super Broly.

If any series can get away with taking a big risk at an entirely original game, it's Dragon Ball. Super has shown the franchise still has a lot of life left in it, and it's ripe for Toriyama and some talented game developers to flex their creative muscles.

Next: Dragon Ball Super Finally Reunites The Z Warriors... Even Yamcha