After a relatively long wait, fans are finally able to make use of Bulma's modern day time machine in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. The time machine allows players to travel back in time to some of Kakarot's greatest moments and is great for replaying awesome scenes, finishing timed sub-stories players may have missed, and getting the chance to play certain characters again. Despite all this, though, there are some key features about the time machine which simply don't make any sense, and as unfortunate as it is, the system is need of a major overhaul if it is going to provide anything of value to players.

Since Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's release, the ability to replay certain scenes, episodes, and boss fights has been a highly requested feature, with developer CyberConnect2 revealing it was working on adding new functionality to the time machine to provide this. Previously, the time machine only served one purpose, allowing fans to play Future Trunks during the end game free roam, so the new uses are certainly appreciated by fans. That said, it seems it might be too little, too late, as there are some glaring problems with the implementation that need to be revised.

RELATED: Predicting Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's Super DLC Release Date

DBZ: Kakarot Time Machine Level Scaling

Dragon Ball Super Time Machine With Question Marks Header Image

One of the many questions regarding Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's time machine update revolved around how it would handle the level of the player. Naturally, players are much higher level now at the end of the game than they were when they first played through a given segment of the game, and that creates problems for time travelling. DBZ: Kakarot opts to not scale the player's level when returning to previous moments in the story, but this causes almost every replayable battle to be over in a few hits at best.

This is a problem because it makes battles that were once enjoyably difficult, like Super Saiyan 2 Gohan's battle with Super Perfect Cell, a complete cake walk. There are two main ways that this problem could be rectified, and both involve adding level scaling. First, the developer could set the levels of each character at each episode to a more appropriate point, ensuring that the battles would still be challenging and enjoyable. Alternatively, enemies could be scaled up to meet the player's level in a similar way that random enemies in the field are. This would make for interesting encounters as players may be facing level 250 incarnations of Frieza, Cell, and Buu.

Locked Transformations

dbz kakarot secret boss fight

This is less a problem and more a way that the time machine in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot contradicts itself. When travelling back in time, any transformations that a character wouldn't have yet in that time period are unavailable for use. While this mechanic makes sense at the surface level, it wouldn't be any challenge if players could go Super Saiyan 3 on Frieza, the lack of level scaling makes this seem frivolous. If fights are going to be easy anyway, why not allow transformations? There are some special cases where this does make sense, though.

Gohan, for example, changes dramatically in appearance as he grows up throughout the course of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, and it would be quite strange to see Kid Gohan enter Ultimate Form. That brings up more inconsistencies, though, as if transformations are locked and age is scaled back when using the time machine, level should be too. Likewise, recent screenshots detailing DBZ: Kakarot's DLC revealed Super Saiyan God Goku fighting Raditz. If this was a result of the time machine, why is the Super Saiyan God form allowed when no other Super Saiyan form is? Ultimately, form restrictions either need to be removed entirely or level scaling needs to be implemented to keep the rules consistent.

RELATED: What Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's DLC Reveal Means for the Season Pass

Playing Gotenks and Vegito With The Time Machine

Gotenks and Vegito Villainous Enemies DBZ: Kakarot

One aspect of the time machine that many fans were beyond excited about was that it would let players play Vegito and Gotenks again. While this did turn out to be true, the way in which that happens is quite strange. It turns out that Vegito and Gotenks' levels are not tied to Vegeta and Goku or Trunks and Goten's levels, but instead are independent. This means that these two characters alone will be at an appropriate level for their fights.

Although this is nice because it means that the fights aren't over before they begin, it is still not enough as they are only playable in three fights total, all of which are against the same opponent, Super Buu. To fix this, developers could simply allow any character to be played during any mission. It wouldn't make much sense canonically, but that isn't really a problem. Allowing Vegito and Gotenks to be played in this way would be great, allowing fans to face different opponents at different levels.

DBZ: Kakarot's Time Machine Could Tie Into Future DLC

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Original Stories DBZ: K DLC Season Pass Mira and Android 21

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's time machine isn't just capable of travelling forwards and backwards in time on a straight line, but of jumping between timelines. As such, it is entirely possible that the time machine could be used as a justification for DLC exploring non-canon events such as Dragon Ball Z movies, games, and even Dragon Ball: GT. Mira and Android 21's inclusion in the game as well as files hinting at a Dragon Ball Z: Broly movie conversation all seem to support this idea. This would help to make the time machine feel less gimmicky and add more content to the game.

In truth, the time machine's problems are not difficult to fix, but the developers to make some design decisions on how to fix it. There are any number of ways this could be done, and the suggestions offered here are just a few of the possible ways to make Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's time machine feel more relevant. Either way, the time machine was definitely a step in the right direction, and with DBZ: Kakarot's Super DLC coming soon, hopefully more information on the future of the game will come to light soon.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

MORE: Everything You Need to Know About DBZ: Kakarot's Time Machine