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ATARI BRINGS DRAGON BALL Z® FIGHTING ACTION TO GAME BOY® ADVANCE
'Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu' Coming This November
BEVERLY, MA - June 10, 2003 - Building on the success of its Dragon Ball Z® portfolio, Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) today announced the first DBZ fighting game for the Nintendo Game Boy® Advance, Dragon Ball Z®: Taiketsu(tm). Developed by WebFoot Technologies, the group that made the smash hit Dragon Ball Z®: The Legacy of Goku(tm) game, Dragon Ball Z®: Taiketsu(tm) is currently slated for release this November.
"We are excited to add Dragon Ball Z®: Taiketsu(tm) to the library of authentic DBZ games and provide fans with an explosive fighting-action game for the Game Boy® Advance," said Nancy MacIntyre, vice president of marketing for Atari's Beverly studio. "The enormous success of the Dragon Ball Z® portfolio is a tribute to the power and recognition of the DBZ® franchise."
"After our outstanding success with Dragon Ball Z® Budokai, we are very excited to be working with Atari to bring the first DBZ fighting game to the Game Boy® Advance," said Gen Fukunaga, president of FUNimation Productions, Ltd. "Atari knows how to bring the DBZ atmosphere and action to our fans, and we expect Dragon Ball Z® Taiketsu(tm) to be another great DBZ fighting-action game."
Dragon Ball Z®: Taiketsu(tm) 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 favorite characters featured in all sagas of the DBZ® story, including Goku®, Buu®, Gohan®, Cell(tm), Piccolo(tm), 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 two million units in North America* alone during the 2002 calendar year, 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, sold more than one million units*, becoming 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*. A version of Dragon Ball Z®: Budokai for the Nintendo GameCube is slated for release in October 2003. (*All data is according to The NPD Group, Inc.).
For more information on Dragon Ball Z® and Dragon Ball Z® titles, visit www.dbzgamer.com and www.dragonballz.com.
About FUNimation
Focusing on quality entertainment properties such as Dragon Ball Z®, FUNimation Productions, Ltd., is a full-service brand management company with in-house production, licensing, Internet, home video distribution and toy divisions. Dragon Ball Z® is a top rated series on Cartoon Network and was the most searched for topic on the Internet for 2002 (also #1 in 2001), becoming "the first topic to ever repeat atop the Web's Most Wanted," according to the Lycos 50 Daily Report. Other quality entertainment properties produced by FUNimation include: Dragon Ball®, now airing on Cartoon Network; Dragon Ball GT®, the eagerly awaited sequel to Dragon Ball Z®; Yu Yu Hakusho, one of the top anime of all time, airing weekdays in the USA on Carton Network's Toonami block; Lupin the 3rd, one of the longest running anime classics; Fruits Basket™, based on the top selling manga in Japan; and Blue Gender™, a sci-fi anime series.
About Atari
New York-based Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) develops interactive games for all platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company's 1,000+ titles include hard-core, genre-defining games such as Driver(tm), Enter the Matrix(tm), Neverwinter Nights(tm), Stuntman(tm), Test Drive®, Unreal® Tournament 2003, and Unreal® Championship; and mass-market and children's games such as Backyard Sports(tm), Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues(tm) and Dora the Explorer(tm), Civilization®, Dragon Ball Z® and RollerCoaster Tycoon®. Atari, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257), the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. For more information, visit www.atari.com.
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© 2003 Atari Interactive, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2003 BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA, TOEI ANIMATION. Licensed by FUNimationâ Productions, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Dragon Ball Z and all logos, character names and distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of TOEI ANIMATION. Game Boy and Game Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. ® 2001.
"PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
The NPD Group is a service mark of NPD Group, Inc.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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