DZ2K18

**DZ2K18** is an upcoming installment in the DZ2K series. It will be released on October 27th on all consoles. It will be the first game since DZ2K14 to be released on Nintentdo branded consoles.

This game is notable for it's 425 character roster.

## Plot

10 months have past since the events of DZ2K17 Xtreme Legends Blood Dragon and the multiverse is in turmoil once again. Zeus, who was killed by Kratos in DZ2K12, has been revived and is issuing a war against everyone who sided with Kratos. Not even the Elder Gods can stop it. It is all down to one woman. A woman that is the key to saving the multiverse.

## Characters

Almost everyone from DZ2K17 Xtreme Legends Blood Dragon will return with a bunch of new characters. However, there will be less new characters than the previous installment.

* Cheng Pu
* Man Chong
* Masayuki Sanada
* Sasuke (SW)
* Chacha
* Kairi Sane
* Skuld
* Katsuyori Takeda
* Hidetada Tokugawa
* Jax Jonez
* Oney Lorcan
* Lars Sullivan
* The Fan
* Kagero
* Rinkah
* Hinoka
* Pieri
* Angelo Dawkins
* Velveteen Dream

Also, there are a few Exclusive Characters

* Dylan Andrews (Pre-Order)
* Sanzang Fashi (Caboose Edition)
* Scorpion MKDA (Caboose Edition)
* Xing Cai '12 (Caboose Edition)
* Michael J. Caboose Retro (Caboose Edition)

### DLC Returning Characters

* Jimmy Hopkins
* Pyramid Head
* Baek Doo San
* Nathan Drake
* Rei Ichido
* Pyrrha Nikos
* Julia Chang
* Vanessa Lewis
* Vexille
* Oichi

### DLC New Characters

* Adam Cole
* Ria Iwamura
* Xin Xianying
* ?
* ?

## Soundtrack

On July 27th 2017, it was confirmed that Utada Hikaru will be the music producer of DZ2K18, replacing Chester Bennington, who died on the 20th of July.

On August 16th 2017, Utada Hikaru chose 15 songs for DZ2K18. Two of them were chosen exclusively due to Kingdom Hearts 3

* Simple & Clean - Utada Hikaru
* Sanctuary - Utada Hikaru
* Where ya at - Future
* Faneto - Chief Keef
* Don't Let me Fall - B.O.B
* Nightmare - Avenger Sevenfold
* Find your Love - Drake
* Swimming Pools - Kendrick Lamar
* Demons - Imagine Dragons
* The Asterisk War - Shiena Nishizawa
* Numb - Linkin Park
* Faint - Linkin Park
* Vampire - Gorilla Zoe
* Virtue and Vice - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
* Survivor - Man with a Mission

## Theme

### Unity

DZ2K18 focuses on Unity and how Yumiko Sakaki united the multiverse in an effort to fight Zeus.

(TO BE ADDED)

## Musou Mode

Musou Mode makes it return since DZ2K13 due to fan feedback. However, there will be only 24 characters that will receive a Musou Mode due to it's mega roster.

### Yumiko Sakaki

Chapter 1 - Rise of the Yellow Turbans

Chapter 2 - Betrayal at Si Shui Gate

Chapter 3 - Battle of Guan Du

Chapter 4 - Flames over Chi Bi

Chapter 5 - Wrath of the Undead in Honnoji

Chapter 6 - Unification on Yi Ling

Chapter 7 - Zeus' Retribution

(TO BE ADDED)

## Popularity Poll

On June 14th 2017, Kazuya Arashi announced the 1st 2017 character popularity poll in January 2017 The top three characters will get an exclusive portrait designed by KOEI TECMO while the top ten will receive a special costume in celebration of DZ2K's 20th anniversary. These costumes will be available as DLC and will be released in November 2017.

Here are the results from the top 20.

1st: Heath Slater - 50'325 votes

2nd: Lady Hayakawa - 48'700 votes

3rd: Makoto Niijima - 47'995 votes

4th: Seth Rollins - 42'287 votes

5th: Guan Yinping - 41'748 votes

6th: Braun Strowman - 41'426 votes

7th: Lucina - 36'851 votes

8th: Yumiko Sakaki - 34'107 votes

9th: Jinder Mahal - 31'295 votes

10th: Dean Ambrose - 28'289 votes

11th: Xavier Woods - 25'972 votes

12th: VanossGaming - 25'421 votes

13th: Daithi de Nogla - 25'928 votes

14th: Cai Wenji - 24'389 votes

15th: Wang Yi - 23'862 votes

16th: Lu Lingqi - 23'024 votes

17th: Neville - 21'772 votes

18th: Kevin Owens - 20'005 votes

19th: AJ Styles - 18'205 votes

20th: Da Qiao - 17'924 votes

When the results came out, Kazuya was surprised at the top 20 results, especially 2nd and 6th place. He said that Braun Strowman has earned his way into the top 10 because of the overwhelming amount of people who voted for him while Lady Hayakawa managed to rank 2nd for some unexpected reason.

He eventually revealed that Lady Hayakawa ranked 2nd due to a sudden amount of votes.

Despite this, he's satisfied that there is a new top 20 with Da Qiao, Braun Strowman, Yumiko Sakaki and others have joined the ranks.

The 2nd 2017 Popularity Poll started in July 5th and ended in August 29th 2017 but this time, it's characters from 10 different franchises. The top ranking character from all 10 franchises will be included in Mirage Warriors: Destiny Dragon, an upcoming crossover game between Fire Emblem and DZ2K.

Here are the top 10 from 10 franchises

### WWE

1: Tye Dillinger

2: Heath Slater

3: Ember Moon

4: The Miz

5: Shinsuke Nakamura

6: Asuka

7: Roderick Strong

8: Carmella

9: Becky Lynch

10: Jinder Mahal

### Dynasty Warriors

1: Wang Yuanji

2: Guan Yinping

3: Lu Lingqi

4: Cai Wenji

5: Wang Yi

6: Diaochan

7: Lu Xun

8: Zhou Tai

9: Zhou Cang

10: Ma Chao

### Samurai Warriors

1: Lady Hayakawa

2: Aya Gozen

3: Yoshitsugu Otani

4: Nobuyuki Sanada

5: Hanbei Takenaka

6: Oichi

7: Ranmaru Mori

8: Tazu Lio

9: Hidetada Tokugawa

10: Mitsuhide Akechi

### Dead or Alive

1: Mila

2: Brad Wong

3: Rig

4: Christie

5: Akira Yuki

6: Pai Chan

7: Eliot

8: Hayate

9: Kokoro

10: Leifang

### Red vs. Blue

1: Lavernius Tucker

2: David Washington

3: Michael J. Caboose

4: Katie Jensen

5: Lopez the Heavy

6: Sarge

7: Emily Grey

8: Carolina

9: Matthews

10: Dylan Andrews

### Persona

1: Akira Kurusu

2: Makoto Niijima

3: Naoya Toudou

4: Minato Arisato

5: Junpei Iori

6: Chie Satonaka

7: Yu Narukami

8: Hifumi Togo

9: Tatsuya Suoh

10: Mitsuru Kirijo

### Global Force Wrestling

1: Rosemary

2: Alberto El Patron

3: Lashley

4: Hernandez

5: Low Ki

6: Sienna

7: Jade

8: Bram

9: Joseph Park

10: Brandi Rhodes

### Yakuza

1: Shun Akiyama

2: Goro Majima

3: Guy Kendo

4: Kazuma Kiryu

5: Makoto Date

6: Marina

7: Kazuchika Okada

8: Ryuji Goda

9: Daigo Dojima

10: Kazuto Arase

### Tekken

1: Lei Wulong

2: Asuka Kazama

3: Eddy Gordo

4: Katarina Alvez

5: Josie Rizal

6: Hwoarang

7: Lee Chaolan

8: Shaheen

9: Heihachi Mishima

10: Jin Kazama

### Dragon Age

1: Merill

2: Anders

3: The Inquisitior

4: The Warden of Ferelden

5: Cassandra Pentaghast

6: Varric Tethras

7: Marian Hawke

8: Fenris

9: Blackwall

10: Alistar

Just like the 1st poll, Kazuya is surprised. For some odd reason, Lei Wulong is the most popular character in the Tekken division while Rosemary takes 1st in the Global Force Wrestling division.

## Overall Rating

Like DZ2K17, the Overall Ratings have been decided on fan vote. Here are the overall ratings for each character.

### 90 & Above - Men

* Seth Rollins (94)
* Michael J. Caboose (94)
* Brock Lesnar (94)
* Braun Strowman (94)
* Kurt Angle (94)
* Lavernius Tucker (93)
* John Cena (93)
* Kevin Owens (93)
* Andre the Giant (93)
* Samurai Jack (93)
* Mitsunari Ishida (93)
* Heath Slater (92)
* Yuuji Kazami (92)
* Jay Lethal (92)
* AJ Styles (92)
* Zhao Yun (92)
* Christopher Daniels (92)
* Cody Rhodes (92)
* Kyrie Irving (92)
* Finn Balor (92)
* Dean Ambrose (91)
* Sting (91)
* Guo Jia (91)
* Sora (91)
* David Washington (91)
* Dexter Grif (91)
* Lu Xun (91)
* Samoa Joe (91)
* Xavier Woods (91)
* VanossGaming (91)
* Kirito (91)
* Paul George (91)
* Xiahou Dun (91)
* Tatsuma Sakamoto (91)
* Daithi de Nogla (91)
* H20 Delirious (90)
* Baron Corbin (90)
* The Miz (90)
* Roman Reigns (90)
* Gintoki Sakata (90)
* Yu Narukami (90)
* Minato Arisato (90)
* Xu Shu (90)
* Hyde Kido (90)
* Hanbei Takenaka (90)
* Yukimura Sanada (90)
* Tatsuya Shiba (90)
* Mini Ladd (90)
* Shingen Takeda (90)
* Kenshin Uesugi (90)
* Jinder Mahal (90)
* Rentaro Satomi (90)

### 85 - 89 Men

* Kane (89)
* Eren Jaeger (89)
* Shizuo Heiwaijima (89)
* Qwenthur Barbotage (89)
* Kagekatsu Uesugi (89)
* Cao Pi (89)
* Mitsuhide Akechi (88)
* Nobunaga Oda (88)
* Hideyoshi Toyotomi (88)
* Zhong Hui (87)
* Kenny Omega (87)
* Sami Zayn (87)
* Neville (87)

## Reception

DZ2K18 was met with mixed to negative reviews.

## Controversy

* Yumiko Sakaki as the cover star of DZ2K18 was met with controversy. Most Fans criticized the cover star as "SJW Cringe" while others praised Yumiko as the cover star. In response, Kazuya Arashi decided to add Daithi de Nogla, Female Corrin, and Zeus in the official cover.