For roughly four decades, Dragon Ball has been synonymous with a single name: Goku. The franchise’s next major release is now handing that role to somebody else — and the newcomer’s name could pass for a firmware version number.
Say hello to J-Age, the silver-haired hero spearheading the action in West City in the far-future AGE 1000. He’s been installed as the new default protagonist of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3, the third chapter in the Xenoverse series from Bandai Namco Entertainment. Players who would rather craft their own hero can still do so. But for the first time ever, the franchise has seated an unfamiliar face in Goku’s old spot — and it’s billing him as the star of the show.
The legacy of 291 episodes
Some perspective on what J-Age is stepping into. Dragon Ball Z, the direct follow-up to 1986’s Dragon Ball, aired from 1989 through 1996 and delivered 291 episodes of an adult Son Goku standing guard over Earth. Androids, mystical entities and a warrior race commanded by Vegeta all came knocking — and somewhere amid it all, Goku had to figure out how to be a father to his boy, Gohan. No small ask.
That run cemented the show’s place among the greatest anime ever made and turned Goku into a bona fide icon of the medium. More than four decades after it first hit screens, the franchise remains a juggernaut. It just isn’t building this particular release around Goku.
An all-new kind of Dragon Ball game
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is an upcoming action-adventure RPG that was first revealed back in April 2025. Per the official synopsis: “DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 3 is a completely new Dragon Ball experience, where you decide the hero you want to be in an unexplored future of the Dragon Ball world.”
You’ll fight shoulder to shoulder with franchise icons, and there’s even the option to build a fighter entirely of your own. The late Akira Toriyama, who created the franchise, is honored as well: his most iconic characters feature as the Great Saiyan Squad makes its way through an entirely new world.
The white-haired lead, up close
A seven-minute gameplay presentation gave fans their first real look at the game, and that footage is where J-Age made his debut as the default Saiyan protagonist. Prefer to design your own hero? That choice is still on the table. Opt for the default, however, and you’re controlling someone completely unknown in a series defined by 40 years of familiarity.
The footage shows J-Age fighting alongside three fellow members of the Great Saiyan Squad. Thanks to the Soul Assist/Soul Switch mechanic, you can summon icons such as Future Trunks and Vegeta into battle, then morph into them and wield their abilities. That’s the sort of edge that can decide certain fights while you roam the world and brawl across 3D arenas.
Mark 2027 down
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 arrives in 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and everything suggests it will hit just as hard as the entries before it. Whether J-Age can shoulder the weight of the man he’s succeeding is the one question nobody can answer yet.
Goku required 291 episodes to set the benchmark. J-Age takes his first crack at clearing it in 2027.