10 Dragon Ball Z Moments that Made It the Defining Anime of the 1990s

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Published Jun 28, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT

Adam Braunstein is a Contributor at DualShockers who has been covering games professionally since 2019. He primarily writes lists and features, with a focus on RPGs, JRPGs, action-adventure games, VR, long-running franchises, nostalgia, and the broader state of the gaming industry.

Before joining DualShockers, Adam contributed to gaming outlets including Venture 4th, GameSkinny, The Nerd Stash, Attack of the Fanboy, and Daily Gamer. He has also interviewed developers, written occasional guides and news articles, and reviewed games for previous publications. Adam holds a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing.

Dragon Ball Z is maybe the most popular anime of all time, and it grew to that level of prominence in the 1990s. Once the anime headed to the West, it exploded with popularity that hadn't been seen by any other show in the genre. The mix of battles, colorful and engaging characters, and the winding story that continually would surprise you created entire legions of fans.

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While there were plenty of other anime to come out in the '90s, none had the "it" factor that DBZ did. There are a ton of reasons for that too, and those are why the anime continues to come out with new additions to the show over 30 years later. It is one of the anime that will stand the test of time and will never be forgotten.

Let's take a look at what moments made Dragon Ball Z a phenomenon in the 1990s.

10 The Death of Goku

Killing the Main Character

Dragon Ball Z starts with quite the story arc, with Goku's brother Raditz landing on Earth and immediately causing all kinds of havoc. Goku, being the hero he is, who at this point had a lifetime of battles from his adventures in Dragon Ball, decides to team up with his arch-nemesis Piccolo to stop the threat.

While you might imagine how this fight would go from reading comics and other anime throughout the years, Dragon Ball Z subverts those expectations – Goku performs the ultimate sacrifice to save the planet here and dies. Just a couple of episodes into the first season, the main character is dead. It was unheard of, and when you see what happens following his death, it expands the world of Dragon Ball Z beyond just life or death, and his journey to get back to the world of the living in time to meet the soon-to-arrive Saiyans is one of the training montages for the ages.

9 The Supporting Cast Shines

Icons Everywhere You Look

TV shows in general are only as good as the supporting cast, and DBZ had the best supporting cast of all time. Yamcha, Krillin, Gohan, Bulma, Chi Chi, and Piccolo are among the most iconic characters in the history of anime, each with an exact role and unique personality. They all fit to create an incredibly likable cast that had their share of highlight moments to make their marks on the franchise. For example, Yamcha's death, which is meme'd to this very day, Piccolo's sacrifice to save Gohan, and Tien's epic struggle against Cell.

There's a reason these DBZ games still sell so well decades later: everyone has their favorite characters they love to play as, and it's because the anime establishes them so well early on that even when the power levels get out of control, they still have their roles to play and have that emotional tether to the watchers that make them valuable throughout the show.

8 The Villains Making Their Mark

They Steal the Show

When it comes to the rogues gallery that DBZ has, I can't really think of a TV show, anime, or movie series that matches it. Seriously, from the opening moments with the arrival of Raditz to the end of the series with the little ball of hate known as Majin Buu, the cast of villains here is utterly compelling. They all have similar goals, but how they go about them is completely different. While Frieza is basically space fascist on a mission to become immortal and impose his will on the entire galaxy with impunity, Cell is on a mission to destroy the world, but due to his love of fighting, he holds a tournament to see who can stop him.

Each saga has a myriad of enemies for the Z fighters to deal with, and even the smaller-scale threats, like, say, Android 17 and 18, have iconic moments that make them mainstay characters all these years later. I can't think of another series where a character that is killed off midway through season one, like Nappa, has such a lasting impact all these years later. They were amazingly well-designed and have distinct personas that put them right alongside the iconic heroes themselves.

7 The Music

The Fuel of the Show

This might be sacrilegious to some, but the music that came once the show went west is what stands out to me the most. I know the original soundtrack is also really good, but once they brought Bruce Falconer into the fold, the mood of the show changed. These incredible tracks would set the mood for the epic showdowns that fans of the show can recite scene for scene. For me, it's that ambient music that would fill the empty air during the epic staredowns before fights kicked off or when both fighters were too gassed to continue.

I still regularly throw on Vegeta's theme when I'm at the gym, because it's just one of the most badass musical compositions I've ever heard. The mix of synthesizers, bells, guitars, and bass put together a mood that connected with Western sensibilities and took this show to a whole other level. There is a reason that now, when any DBZ game releases on PC, one of the first things you hear is "where is the Falconer mod?". The music was that good, and DBZ fans simply can't comprehend playing a game without it. And I agree, Dragon Ball Super was missing his magical touch.

6 Powering Up

Up Those Power Levels

Dragon Ball Z has some of the most iconic voice acting of any show I can think of. The core cast of the English version of the show has become a mainstay in the anime industry, and 30 years later, some of the longest lines at any comic con event are held by people like Sean Schemmel and Christopher Sabat, who provide the voices of Goku, Vegeta, and Picollo. These performances had kids in their living rooms powering up when nobody was looking. The screams and the passionate speeches; they are absolutely one of a kind in the anime genre.

The writing was already amazing, but some of it took on a Shakespearean quality when translated, and the amount of gravitas that went into speeches like Vegeta's farewell or Gohan to Cell was something that you could feel. I can still recite Vegeta's speech to Goku in the Buu Saga word for word. It's just incredible stuff, and whether it's hero, villain, or supporting character, everyone brought their A-Game when it came to bringing the manga to life.

5 The Special Attacks

Everyone, Give Me Your Energy!

If you were a fan of DBZ in the 1990s, you know that at some point, you put your hands together and screamed, "Ka me, ha me, HA!!!" You know you did it. Whether it was the Kamehameha, the Spirit Bomb, Final Flash, or the Special Beam Cannon, these moves were all imitated by countless fans across the world and inspired countless anime following Dragon Ball Z.

It made the beginning builds to each fight so intense, because you were just waiting for those iconic words to be shouted to signal the turn of the tide in the fight. The way these attacks would begin was cool enough to witness, but then the explosion of energy, whether it was blue, yellow, purple, or red, just emanated power from what you were watching. You felt these moves, and each one had its own unique twist to it, whether it was Frieza's planet-destroying Death Ball or Vegeta threatening to take half the world with him while powering up his Final Flash; they set an incredible bar that all other anime had to follow going forward.

4 Gohan Taking Center Stage

Ready to Take the Reigns

For the majority of the series, Goku is the hero of the story, and while that's good and all, so many Dragon Ball Z fans were of the younger variety, so they couldn't exactly relate to Goku, who was a grown adult at this point. Who they could relate to was Gohan, a character that was constantly in the shadow of the adult characters in the series. That all changed when the Cell Games began. Gohan, who had constantly been afraid to unleash his rage throughout the show, finally gives in.

The moment that he transforms into Super Saiyan 2, that changes. He becomes the man. The kid becomes the hope of the universe, and it was such a cool moment to see growing up because it made people believe in themselves to be that hero in their own lives. I know that sounds dumb, but this show was such a formative experience for so many, and you still have plenty of people quoting and citing moments from it today, like professional athletes, for example.

3 Goku Vs Vegeta

The Battle of the Fates

Everyone has their favorite moments in the series, but that first showdown between Goku and Vegeta is unlike anything else in fiction. It took a series that almost felt like a horror show, with Nappa just running roughshod through all of Goku's friends, including his son, and finally evened the odds. The arrival of Goku from his training with King Kai transformed the character. It was an incredible moment marked with an iconic atmosphere and some amazing writing to make it clear how epic this battle really was.

After their epic staredown, this fight is one of the most desperate in the series, with each character throwing everything they have at each other. With insane beam clashes, Vegeta transforming into a giant ape, and then, when it seems like the battle is won, Goku begs Krillin to let Vegeta live, despite all he's done, despite everything he just went through to win the fight; his kindness shined through. It showed all facets of Goku in one battle and cemented legions of fans to the show for good.

2 Farewell to the Prince

The Ultimate Sacrifice

For many out there, Vegeta's ultimate sacrifice is the greatest moment in the history of anime. I'm split on this as I think there is one more moment that stands above it, but there is no arguing that it's easily up there. To have Vegeta, the epitome of selfishness throughout the show, who just gave in to Babidi to unleash his evil power, then break the mind control of Babidi to stand against the horrible Majin Buu, is a moment that gives you chills.

And it's not just that he sacrifices himself, but it's the way he does it. Knocking out Goku to make sure he doesn't try to stop him from atoning for his sins, then hugging Trunks before knocking him and Goten out with two punches and then handing them over to Piccolo is something so chilling and powerful to witness.

Then, there's his speech to Piccolo about hoping to retain his body in the next world, and not even caring when Piccolo tells him he won't be given that same grace. It's the most mature moment in the series in my opinion. And then the shackles come off; he tells Majin Buu he's going to crush him and throw him into the wind, and the music swells; you can see Vegeta become fully untethered, and an explosion for the ages is set off as characters who have hated him, loved him, or both all mourn the loss of the proud Saiyan Prince.

Yes, I know he comes back from the dead almost immediately, but when we first watched this, we had no clue that was going to happen.

1 The Super Saiyan

The Transformation That Changed Everything

We talk about aura all the time these days, and if you're wondering where aura started, it's here. The moment that Goku saw his best friend Krillin blown to pieces and ascended to a place where no Saiyan had gone before, everything changed. It was a cultural moment for the ages, a transformation that was so iconic yet so simple that it spawned hundreds of anime with transformations hoping to do the same. Let's be honest; none have ever come close.

It was such a simple transformation: spiky blonde hair, pulsing cerulean eyes, and some more muscles. It kept the core of the character, just immediately signaled to the watcher that this was the moment where No More Mr. Nice Guy showed up. This evolution of Goku is a moment that every DBZ fan knows and cherishes, because it upped the stakes; it made the show not just about who good guys would have to fight next, but who might be the next Super Saiyan.

DBZ only upped the ante from there. Super Saiyan 2, 3, 4, and so on have become the core of the series itself, and it all started with this iconic visual – Goku glowing with rage and power, ready to obliterate Frieza once and for all.