Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot follows the story of Goku, Gohan, and co. throughout the various sagas that make up the anime/manga series, often matching its scenes beat-for-beat. However, there is one particularly glaring omission in the game, as arguably DBZ‘s most famous scene was left on the cutting room floor.
The ‘It’s Over 9000’ scene from Dragon Ball Z‘s Saiyan Saga is almost certainly the most widely known scene among the series’ western audience. Taking place as Goku battles Vegeta and Nappa, the scene sees Vegeta measuring Goku’s power levels, incredulously exclaiming “IT’S OVER 9000!” after being stunned by the hero’s transformation.
‘It’s Over 9000’ became a meme over the years, garnering millions of views on YouTube and being widely referenced across the internet. Despite this, it’s nowhere to be seen in DBZ: Kakarot.
The reasoning behind ‘It’s Over 9000’ being excluded from DBZ: Kakarot could be due to the game focusing more on the manga series rather than the anime. While various cutscenes and missions draw direct influence from the anime series, there are also many other examples of Kakarot deviating from the TV show.
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It could also be due to the scene actually being a mistranslation. In the original Japanese version of the series, Vegeta actually shouts “It’s over 8000!” While developers Bandai Namco and CyberConnect2 could have easily tidied up this translation, perhaps the studio thought it best to exclude it altogether, in order to save any confusion among those who are familiar with the English anime dub.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot‘s depiction of the Saiyan Saga does follow most of its important story beats to the tee. While ‘It’s Over 9000’ isn’t exactly crucial to its plot, considering how infamous it is, it’s undoubtedly odd that it’s missing from the game.
