Ever thought why so many characters in the world of anime, movies, and games, have certain similarities? Like how they eat a lot or are fooling around until things get serious? That is no coincidence, that’s because of the influence of the old Chinese tale, Journey to the West, and the latest game to pay homage to the original is Game Science’s recently released Black Myth: Wukong. The astute among you may have already noticed that the protagonist of the game is eerily similar to a certain Kamehameha-throwing Dragon Ball Z character, Goku.
And that is because both Goku and The Destined One, the protagonist of Black Myth: Wukong, are based on Sun Wukong, the focus of the original 16th-century Journey to the West novel. Their similarities go beyond mere appearance, as even the way they fight, act, and the weapons they use, are all from the Chinese tale.
Sun Wukong is a mischievous and powerful monkey god who is accompanied by a monk as he travels across the land to retrieve sacred texts. If that doesn’t sound familiar, it should, because Goku is also a monkey man who was accompanied by a monk, Krillin, as they gathered the sacred Dragon Balls. Black Myth: Wukong follows the story even more closely than Dragon Ball Z.
“Goku isn’t a monkey man” I hear you say, and to that my response is, he isn’t, but he used to be. Goku comes from Planet Vegeta, the land of Sayins, where men have tails, and when they are exposed to a full moon, they turn into gigantic apes that wreak havoc upon everything in their wake. But the similarities don’t stop there.
Both The Destined One and Son Goku wield a staff that they use in combat, and when it comes to traveling, both use a small cloud as their means of transportation. Goku used to use his red Power Pole in the original Dragon Ball series (more on that later), as well as fly around on his cloud Nimbus, but those things went by the wayside when he started learning transformations and could fly on his own.
Speaking of transformations, which are a prominent part of Dragon Ball Z, Goku has the ability to transform into different forms of a Super Sayin. Meanwhile in Black Myth: Wukong, The Destined One also has a myriad of transformations he can choose from. Both of them are a throwback to Sun Wukong, who had 72 different transformations in the original book.
Both The Destined One and Goku wield a magical staff that has the ability to extend and retract at will, exactly like their inspiration. While Goku left his staff in the past, The Destined One uses it as a central part of his arsenal, and you will find yourself swinging that staff until the credits roll.
Whether they are similar or not, Goku has carved his own identity even after borrowing heavily from the inspiration, and when it comes to Black Myth: Wukong, it seems it is on the way to doing exactly that. The game has started topping charts like no other and has already reached the top spot on the Steam charts for concurrent players. But even if we come to the all-time player peak, Black Myth: Wukong is in the second spot with over 2.3 million concurrent players, overshadowed by PUBG alone at over 3.2 million. Let’s not forget that Wukong is also available on PlayStation 5 and is confirmed to arrive on Xbox Series consoles at some point in the future, so the actual player numbers are truly astounding.
Both Black Myth: Wukong and Dragon Ball Z’s Goku serve as a testament to the enduring legacy of Sun Wukong and the influence of his Journey to the West. Whether through the pages of a manga, the frames of an anime, or the immersive world of a video game, the Monkey King’s journey will continue to captivate audiences for centuries after his original release.
