Dragon Ball FighterZ gets a surprise addition in Android 21 (Lab Coat)

Over the weekend was the Top 8 for the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour in Japan. Throughout the year, different regions competed to represent their country in the World Championship. There were four players from the USA, Europe, and Japan, with one player each from the Middle East, South America, and Australia. Fenrich was able to take it for Japan, beating the young up-and-comer Oblivion, resetting the bracket and winning 3-0. Then, after the award ceremony, we got a surprise as it was revealed that a new character would be joining the game: Android 21 (Lab Coat).

It was pretty much assumed that SSJ4 Gogeta would be the last character added to the game. He takes up the center slot on the character select screen, after all. This very short trailer, as is sadly the standard for Arc System Works games, gives no gameplay details or release date. However, it was said that we will see more soon, most likely at the next Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour, which was also announced after Japan’s Top 8.

Th Battle Hour will also feature the aforementioned World Championship, so it would make sense to see some gameplay of Android 21 (Lab Coat) there.  It was also confirmed by the game’s producer, Tomoko Hiroki, that this non-Majin version of Android 21 is a completely separate character and not a costume. This isn’t something Arc System Works games usually do, considering how involved the animation process is. It is far more difficult to give a character a costume in something like Guilty Gear Strive than it is in something like Street Fighter V.

Does that lab coat have rollback in it?

Android 21 is one of the most powerful characters currently in the game, as evidenced by the fact that both finalists in this very tournament both had her on their team. She is also one of the most unique, using her Kirby-like powers to absorb the moves of her opponents. Majin 21 also uses her tail in a lot of her attacks, so not having access to that will also make it interesting to see how Android 21 (Lab Coat) is designed. Many DLC characters for Dragon Ball FighterZ also feature some sort of gimmick — like SS4 Gogeta stealing Dragon Balls and Baby reviving dead characters from the opponent’s team as extra assists.

She definitely has big heels to fill, and seeing how she is my favorite fighting game character, I am excited to see how she turns out. Dragon Ball FighterZ is available now on Steam.