Building on the success of its Dragon Ball Z portfolio, Atari, Inc. today announced the first DBZ fighting game for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu. Developed by WebFoot Technologies, the group that made the smash hit Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku game, Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu is currently slated for release in Europe in March 2004.

"Building on the success of our current portfolio of DBZ titles, Taiketsu is the first DBZ fighting game for the GBA", said Martin Spiess, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Atari Europe. "DBZ is a powerful franchise, enjoying a huge fan base around the world, who will all be excited to hear that this fast, fun new game be available in Europe in March."

Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu challenges players to fight in one of several animated environments such as Master Roshi's Island or Orange Star City, and choose from a long list of their favourite characters featured in all sagas of the DBZ story, including Goku, Buu, Gohan, Cell, Piccolo, Frieza, Trunks and Vegeta. Use single-player mode to compete in world tournaments or test your strength in an endurance challenge. Up to four DBZ fighters (up to two human players and two AI opponents) can battle on screen at once using the multiplayer mode.

With a sell-through of more than four million units worldwide, the Dragon Ball Z video game franchise has quickly mirrored the success the Dragon Ball Z animated series. Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku, released in May 2002, quickly became the year's top-selling role playing game for the Game Boy Advance. Additionally, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system became the best-selling fighting game of 2002.

For more information on Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Z titles, visit www.dbz-videogames.com.