Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra Drops on Everything with 4v4 Tactics and Full Crossplay

Dragon Ball Goes Full Team Tactics – And It’s Actually a Smart Play

Bandai Namco just surprise-dropped Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra, a 4v4 real-time strategy brawler on iOS, Android, PS5/PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam with full crossplay. That caught my attention because Dragon Ball spin-offs usually swing between arena fighters (Xenoverse) and pure fighting games (FighterZ), with the odd experiment like The Breakers. A team-focused, objective-driven tactics game? That’s a lane the series hasn’t really owned before, and the format could finally make “power levels” meaningful without breaking balance.

Key Takeaways

• 4v4, objective-focused matches with mid-game power growth read more like a MOBA-lite tactics game than a classical RTS.
• Full crossplay across mobile, console, and PC is a big swing – input parity and readability will make or break it.
• Roster jumps to 22 with Cell (Perfect), Android 17, Hit, Super Saiyan Kale (Berserk), and the Gamma 1 & 2 tag duo filling assassin, tank, and support lanes.
• If the map design and team synergies sing, this could be the most “team-sport” Dragon Ball game to date.

Breaking Down the Announcement

The pitch: assemble squads of iconic characters for fast, tactical 4v4 matches, grow stronger mid-match, unlock game-changing skills, and control objectives while wiping enemy teams and PvE bosses. That loop – objective control, on-the-fly leveling, ult-style abilities — sounds like a streamlined MOBA framework dressed in Dragon Ball flair. The series’ bombastic abilities make sense in a top-down or angled team-tactics view where stuns, blinds, and barriers can translate into clutch plays.

Today’s launch also expands the roster to 22. The five standouts joining the original 17 are smart archetype picks:

• Cell (Perfect Form): Powers up by absorbing Bioenergy and striking from behind. That’s classic assassin win-more design — punish overextensions, snowball into a late-game terror.
• Android 17: Barrier support with “limitless energy” flavor. Expect shielding, peel, and maybe cooldown-reset synergies that glue a comp together.
• Hit: A flanker who blindsides foes with “Fear of Death” and invis-approach vibes. If his kit includes brief untargetable moments, he’ll define pick-off metas.
• Super Saiyan Kale (Berserk): A front-line wrecker who flips from backline guard to full rampage. That screams engage-tank with high-risk, high-reward windows.
• Gamma 1 & Gamma 2: An alternating duo — one excels in team brawls, the other in skirmishes. The promise of swapping stances (or characters) mid-fight opens nasty macro options.

It’s a smart mix: one support, one tank/bruiser, two assassins, and a flexible duo that blurs roles. If Bandai Namco leans into synergies — 17’s barriers enabling Kale’s dive, Hit forcing picks that Cell snowballs off — we could see layered teamplay rather than four solo queues in a trench coat.

Why This Matters Now

Dragon Ball’s competitive highs have come from specialists like FighterZ (tight fighting fundamentals) and the long-tail community in Xenoverse 2. But those don’t scratch the “team tactics” itch that dominates modern online play. Squadra lands at a moment where bite-sized, objective-driven matches keep players engaged across platforms. The full crossplay promise is the headline: matchmaking pools stay healthy, you can run with friends no matter their device, and the community isn’t fractured on day one.

The flip side: crossplay only works if readability and controls scale. Dragon Ball effects are loud — great for hype, awful for clarity. If team fights devolve into neon soup, strategic play dies. Console controllers need clean radial menus and aim assists that don’t auto-throw ults into walls; PC needs hotkeys that feel snappy; mobile needs big buttons and smart targeting that doesn’t force finger gymnastics. Games like Pokémon Unite and Halo Wars proved you can make tactics work without a mouse — but it takes serious UI discipline.

The Real Story Behind the “RTS” Label

Bandai Namco calls this a real-time strategy game, but nothing here screams base-building. It’s closer to “team-tactics brawler” with macro decisions: when to contest objectives, who peels, who flanks, and how to chain ultimates. That’s not a knock — honestly, it’s the right fit for Dragon Ball. The series thrives on power spikes and dramatic momentum swings. If leveling mid-match unlocks new skills (as stated), it lets the power fantasy breathe without making early kills insurmountable.

What I’m watching for post-launch: map variety (three-lane vs. arena-style), objective pacing (frequent skirmishes or big set pieces), and whether PvE bosses are satisfying risks or just stat checks. Also, how the Gamma duo’s “alternating” mechanic actually functions in ranked play — is it a stance swap with shared cooldowns, or a literal tag system that opens combo routes?

What Gamers Need to Know

• Platforms: iOS, Android, PS5/PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam at launch (Sept 10, 2025).
• Crossplay: Fully integrated across all platforms — bring your squad from anywhere.
• Roster: 22 heroes at launch with five fresh arrivals covering assassin, support, tank, and flex roles.
• Playstyle: Tactical 4v4 with objective control, mid-match growth, and PvE bosses alongside PvP scraps.

If Bandai Namco nails netcode and matchmaking, Squadra could become the go-to “queue up with friends” Dragon Ball experience — easier to onboard than a traditional fighter, deeper than an arena button-masher. If they miss on clarity, balance, or inputs, it’ll feel like four chaos beams in search of a plan.

TL;DR

Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra bets big on 4v4 tactics with a 22-hero roster and full crossplay across mobile, console, and PC. From the kits and objectives described, it looks more MOBA-lite than RTS — which fits the IP’s power-spike fantasy. Now it’s on Bandai Namco to make the chaos readable and the teamplay sing.