31 Years Later, Goku’s Most Forgotten Super Saiyan Form Officially Returns to Dragon Ball

Goku’s Super Saiyan 3 is getting a surprise comeback, and it comes from a movie most fans haven’t thought about in ages. Dragon Ball’s official site announced that V Jump’s December issue, on sale in Japan since October 21, ships with a bonus Dragon Ball Super Card Game Fusion World card (via website).

It features Goku as a Super Saiyan 3, pulled straight from his fight with the phantom Hirudegarn in the 1995 film Wrath of the Dragon; that was 31 years ago. Undoubtedly, that battle still matters for Goku’s saga of transformations throughout Toriyama’s story.

Dragon Ball Gives Super Saiyan 3 Goku a Brand-New Battle Card

Super Saiyan 3 Goku | Credits: Toei Animation

The card is a Red “Son Goku” Battle Card, and it’s a bonus that only comes with the physical magazine. Digital readers won’t get one. Goku appears on it in his Super Saiyan 3 form, taken from that Hirudegarn fight.

In play, it has an Evolve skill, so you can drop it on top of an existing Son Goku card for a cost of 2. Then there’s the Activate skill. Pay 1 and send the card to the Drop, and if your Leader is a Son Goku with only the Saiyan trait, you can play one Son Goku card from your hand, as long as it has 35,000 Power and only the Saiyan trait. So even after attacking, you can keep the pressure on with something bigger. The magazine also includes a sample deck built around the card, plus a look at the FB12 booster pack, REACH THE GOD, arriving in Japan on December 12.

It’s a nice nod for a form that doesn’t get much love. Goku first showed Super Saiyan 3 to Babidi and Majin Buu in the Buu Saga after years of training in the Other World, and the strain cut his remaining time on Earth in half. Against Kid Buu, it wore him out completely. By Dragon Ball Super, he mostly pulls it out for quick bursts, like his sparring match with Future Trunks or a short stretch against Caulifla and Kale. Dragon Ball Daima even gave it a moment against Gomah. Still, it’s rarely the form people point to when they rank Goku’s best looks.

How SSJ3 Gave Goku His Iconic Dragon Fist Against Hirudegarn

Wrath of the Dragon is the thirteenth Dragon Ball Z movie, and in Japan it goes by Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Won’t Do It, Who Will? Hoi, the last of the Kashvar, revives Hirudegarn, and the monster starts flattening everyone who steps up. Goku, Gohan, and Goten can’t handle it. Vegeta jumps in as a Super Saiyan and gets beaten too. Gotenks goes Super Saiyan 3 and hammers it with the Continuous Die Die Missile, but Hirudegarn evolves and smacks him into the ground.

That’s when Goku turns Super Saiyan 3 himself. Trunks cuts off the monster’s tail with Tapion’s sword, and Goku figures out something important: Hirudegarn is only vulnerable right after it attacks. So he taunts it and takes punishing hits on purpose until the monster is worn down. Goku can take multiple hits and keep fighting, something Gohan and Gotenks couldn’t manage.

Then comes the Dragon Fist: Goku punches straight through Hirudegarn and wipes it out. It’s an attack Goku developed in his Super Saiyan 3 form, and this fight is where he first uses it. The technique hasn’t had much of a life since. Dragon Ball GT brought back a stronger version when Goku used it on Super 17, and video games have kept it around, including as a learnable skill in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. Outside of that, it’s mostly a Wrath of the Dragon moment, which is exactly why the new card feels so fitting.

What are your thoughts on the card? We’d love to know them in the comments below.