The Cell Games (セルゲーム Seru Gēmu) is a tournament organized and hosted by Cell in order to show his power to the world. One of Cell's other reasons for creating the Cell Games is so that he can recreate the World Martial Arts Tournament.
Biography[]
Background[]
Cell gives an international announcement for the games on May 17, Age 767 during a televised broadcast on WHN in ZTV Studios and gives the fighters who want to participate 10 days to prepare. He also explains that new fighters can follow earlier participants. If the fighter were to give up or touch the outside of the ring, they automatically lose, and if the fighter is killed, they will be disqualified. In contrast with the World Martial Arts Tournament, killing was effectively permitted.
The Earth's Military had attempted to attack Cell prior to the start of the tournament, but the attack completely failed. That same day, Mr. Satan announces on television that he will defeat Cell at the Cell Games.
The Tournament Begins[]
Nine days later, on May 26, the Z-Fighters have done as much training as they can possibly do, except for Goku and Gohan, who are convinced they can beat Cell without the extra days of training. When the tournament commences, Goku decides he will be the first one to fight Cell. However, the first challenger to arrive at the Cell Games is Mr. Satan, who voices his beliefs that the Z-Fighters are nothing more than phonies and then challenges Cell himself along with his students, Pirozhki and Caroni. Cell quickly disposes of them and begins his battle with Goku.
After a bit of sparring, Cell forms a Kamehameha which threatens to destroy the Earth, until Goku diverts it away from the Earth and then returns to the ring using his Instant Transmission, only to surprise Cell with an attack. Cell then attacks with a flurry of Ki Blasts. After much fighting, Goku reaches his limit and nearly falls from the ring. Cell, tired of being confined to a small area, destroys the ring, and announces that the entire Earth is the ring now. Goku, desperate to end the conflict, forms a Super Kamehameha while in the sky, and makes Cell believe that Goku will fire the Super Kamehameha and risk the existence of the Earth in order to defeat him. Everyone is concerned that Goku will actually destroy the Earth, when Goku teleports at the last moment to a close proximity to Cell, and shoots the Kamehameha, blowing off Cell's head and upper body. Although Cell is able to regenerate from the attack due to having Piccolo's regenerative ability, it leaves both him and Goku significantly weakened.
Goku, with his power dropping fast from the massive blast, announces that he is forfeiting the match, and then asks Gohan to take his place, because he knows that Gohan had no trouble following the fight between him and Cell. As the Z-Fighters watch in awe, Goku reveals to everyone that Gohan is the only one able to beat Cell. Wanting the fight to be fair, he arrogantly gives Cell a Senzu Bean in order to recover from his energy loss, with the other Z-Fighters being vehemently against the idea.
Gohan challenges Cell, increasing his ki to a point that rivals even Goku's. Cell quickly launches a series of attacks on the young Super Saiyan, but Gohan is surprisingly fast. Cell eventually launches him into a mountain. Believing that he has finished Gohan when he had launched him through that mountain; Cell calls on Goku to fight him once more. Goku points Gohan out to Cell, who emerges from the destroyed mountain practically unscathed. Gohan asks Cell to end the killing and tells him about his seemingly limitless dormant power that reveals itself whenever he goes berserk from rage. Cell is amused by this statement and decides to test it, attacking Gohan ruthlessly. When Cell fails to get Gohan angry, he then decides to provoke Gohan by attacking the other Z-Fighters, and quickly swipes the Senzu Beans. Goku had not taken one before, leaving him weak and vulnerable to Cell. Android 16 launches a surprise attack on Cell, grabbing him and attempting self-destruction. Unfortunately, Krillin informs Android 16 that his self-destruction device was removed by Bulma when she and her father repaired him. Cell escapes from 16's grasp and proceeds to obliterate him with a single blast.
Gohan's Challenge[]
Cell then returns his attention to Gohan's friends and, instead of wasting energy and risking defeat by fighting them directly, he creates seven miniature versions of himself, which he calls the Cell Juniors. The Cell Juniors, each nearly as strong as Cell himself, attack the Z-Fighters, effortlessly beating all but Vegeta, Future Trunks and Piccolo. At this point, it is revealed that even though 16 was destroyed by Cell, his head was still operational and happened to land where Mr. Satan and his pupils were hiding. Satan surprisingly proves his worth by tossing 16's head over to Gohan. 16 reassures Gohan that sometimes words cannot reach people like Cell and tells him to release his power to protect the Earth. Cell then crushes 16's head under his foot, killing him. Finally pushed beyond his emotional limit, Gohan's inner power awakens, causing him to transform into the first Super Saiyan 2.
Gohan snatches the stolen Senzu Beans from Cell, who could not see how Gohan had managed to do so. Gohan then effortlessly annihilates the seven Cell Juniors. It is then revealed that Goku was aware of Gohan's superior abilities all along, and Piccolo realizes that Goku used his own fight with Cell to give Gohan a preview of Cell's abilities; he never intended to beat Cell himself.
With the Z-Fighters out of harm's way, Gohan returns the Senzu Beans and then utterly dominates the evil bio-android, severely injuring him with two simple hits, even after Cell increases his ki to maximum. All the Z-Fighters (except Goku) are in awe of Gohan's immense power, especially Vegeta, who has had his pride hurt even more (it took him his entire life to become that strong while it only took Gohan a couple of years). Attempting to make sense of this child's power that far exceeds his own, Cell fires a massive Kamehameha, knowing that if Gohan dodges it, it will destroy the Earth; to his surprise, Gohan easily counters it with a larger and stronger Kamehameha, pushing the blast back and destroying a significant portion of Cell's body. Goku tells Gohan to finish Cell off, but Gohan, still in a rage from his awakened power, declares that he will make Cell suffer for what he has done. As Goku predicted, Cell regenerates, and out of frustration and rage, transforms into a state that maximizes his power, just like the Super Saiyan Third Grade form. Future Trunks makes note that it was the same mistake that Cell mocked him for when he had fought him as a 3rd Grade Super Saiyan. Gohan beats Cell so hard that he is forced to regurgitate Android 18, which reverts him back to his Semi-Perfect form. Left with no other options, Cell initiates his self-destruction sequence, pumping his body up with enough ki to destroy the Earth. Gohan is unable to do anything, and Goku steps in as he chooses to sacrifice himself in order to save the Earth as he bids Gohan, and the others farewell. He teleports Cell to King Kai's Planet where Cell explodes, destroying the planet along with all life on it.
Cell's Downfall[]
After regenerating from a single cell that had survived his self-destruction, the now-Super Perfect Cell uses Instant Transmission to return to Earth just moments after his apparent death, announcing his presence by killing Future Trunks with a single Full Power Death Beam through the chest. Vegeta, enraged by the death of his son, launches a furious assault on Cell; it is in vain, as Cell is unaffected by the attack and quickly slams Vegeta aside. Cell then attempts to finish Vegeta off with a second ki blast, but Gohan intervenes and takes the full force of it himself, breaking his left arm as a result. Cell wastes no time after this and fires a massive Kamehameha at Gohan, proclaiming that it will not only destroy the Earth, but the entire Solar System as well. Gohan, with spiritual assistance from Goku, launches a counter Kamehameha with his right arm. The two blasts meet in the middle, and a power struggle between Gohan and Cell ensues. Cell has the upper hand when the Z-Fighters jump in. Their attacks do not affect Cell, though, and he maintains his blast. The only attack that affects Cell at all is a powerful blast from Vegeta which throws Cell off and allows Gohan to destroy him once and for all, thus ending the Cell Games.
Aftermath[]
Though Gohan is effectively the winner of the tournament, the "official" winner is Mr. Satan, since Gohan and the Z-Fighters fly off almost immediately after Cell's defeat and Mr. Satan claims that he defeated Cell single-handedly after Cell beat the other fighters. Despite the impossibility of this story's validity, Mr. Satan is easily believed by the populace and considered the true winner of the Cell Games (thus saving the Z-Fighters from media pressure). Following the Cell Games, the Dragon Balls are used to revive Future Trunks, Android 17 and most of Cell's victims, save for Goku, King Kai, Bubbles and Gregory, who remain in Other World, as Goku suggests that the Earth would be safer if he didn't come back this time.
In the Dragon Ball Super manga, during the Universe Survival Saga, Mr. Satan is shown being interviewed on a talk show about a movie "re-creation" of the Cell Games featuring a realistic re-enactment of Mr. Satan's unseen battle with Cell. In the "re-creation", Mr. Satan is depicted as stronger than Cell who cannot believe that such a being exists. The re-creation features real footage of Android 17 who appeared where Cell had perished after being revived by Shenron along with Cell's other victims. The interviewer asks Mr. Satan about the mysterious 17 though Mr. Satan views the question as suggesting Cell survived and is quick to dismiss it, by confirming the fact that Cell was dead.
Additionally, during Universe Survival Saga of the Dragon Ball Super manga, it is revealed that the Cell Juniors regenerated and thus survived the Cell Games. Fortunately, Android 17 found and managed to tame them. As a result, he allowed the Cell Juniors to live on Monster Island as they were essentially rare lifeforms that are potentially an endangered species due to the demise of their progenitor Cell.[1]
Other Dragon Ball stories[]
Super Cell Games[]
During the Tournament of Time, Cell creates the Super Cell Games as part of a deal with Dabura who helped Cell achieve his Perfect Form. It is a team battle royale.
Teams[]
Cell's team[]
Beerus' team[]
- Shallot (Ancient era)
- Gohan (Post-Cell's death)
- Zahha (Unknown era)
- Cabba (Pre-Tournament of Destroyers)
- Android 16 (Pre-activation; Eliminated)
- Bardock (DBZ movie) (Post-Team Bardock's death)
- Krillin (10 days before Cell Games)
- Yamcha (10 days before Cell Games)
- Tien Shinhan (10 days before Cell Games)
Kamikaze Fireballs' team[]
- Ribrianne (Pre-Tournament of Power)
- Kakunsa (Pre-Tournament of Power)
- Rozie (Pre-Tournament of Power)
Saibamen's team[]
- Three Saibamen (Tournament of Time)
- Jinkouman (Tournament of Time)
- Tennenman (Tournament of Time)
- Caiwareman (Tournament of Time)
Frieza Force's team[]
- Ramon (Unknown era)
- Appule (Unknown era)
- Orlen (Unknown era)
- Guprei (Unknown era)
- Raspberry (Unknown era)
- Navel (Unknown era)
Goten's and Trunks' team[]
Mr. Satan's team[]
- Mr. Satan (Pre-Cell Games)
Trivia[]
- In the Kanzenban version of chapter chapter 389, Cell's dialogue announcing the Cell Games has been altered so that the tournament will take place on May 26 like in Daizenshuu 7, rather than on May 17.
Gallery[]
See also[]
References[]
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Related Articles | Cell Games • Papaya Island • Punching Machine |
Wars and Conflicts | |
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Before Dragon Ball | |
Dragon Ball | Piccolo Day • Tritek conflict • Cell Games |
Dragon Ball Super | |
After Dragon Ball |