Saiyans and Super Saiyan Forms
Legacy Archive: Dragon Ball Saiyan Guide
This page preserves an old Dragon Ball fan-site style guide about Saiyans, Super Saiyans, Saiya-jin terminology, and the different Super Saiyan forms seen throughout Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and the movies.
Archive note: This page has been reformatted for readability. Original image references have been removed because the source images are unavailable. Some wording reflects older fan discussions and theories from the early Dragon Ball website era.
What Is a Saiyan?
Saiyan is the English translation of the Japanese word Saiya-jin. The Japanese symbol for “jin” literally means “person.” When used by itself, or attached to a country or place name, it usually refers to a person or people from that place.
For example, in Japanese, Americans are known as America-jin, or “America person.” So being of the Saiya race, Saiyans is the English equivalent of saying Saiya-jin.
You may notice that this kind of naming often refers to a country or place. This creates an argument that the name of the country a Saiyan comes from may have been Saiya. However, there is no other evidence to fully support that.
If you were to refer to the Saiyans before their takeover of the Tuffles, also known as the Tsufuru-jin, both races would have been known as Plant-jin. At that time, the name of the planet was Plant.
The name of a planet followed by “jin” creates the name for that planet’s population. For example, we are all known as Earthlings. In Japanese, we would be known as Chikyuu-jin, or “Earth people.”
After the Saiyans successfully defeated the Tuffles, they renamed the planet Vegeta. At that point, all people living on the planet became Vegeta-jin, or perhaps Vegetans.
So, pulling it all together, when a character is a Super Saiyan or Super Saiya-jin, they are literally a “Super Saiya person.”
Legend of the Super Saiyan
This is where a major conflict between the anime and manga exists.
In the anime, Vegeta states that only one in every 1,000 Saiyans is born a Legendary Super Saiyan. In the manga, Vegeta states that once every 1,000 years, a Super Saiyan is born.
It is not a difficult choice which version you need to trust when it comes to pure facts. Believe the manga. So does this mean that most of the Saiyans are just incredibly lucky? No, of course not. A myth is a myth. Myths and legends were made to entertain and explain certain events that could not otherwise be explained.
A huge plot difference exists in the anime that validates events in Dragon Ball GT, but also creates problems for Dragon Ball Z. Because of this, the anime and manga should be considered two separate versions of the story when looking at certain details.
The Anime Version
In the anime, when Vegeta talks about the Legendary Super Saiyan, we see the shadow of a Great Monkey. This is the Golden Monkey form seen in Dragon Ball GT. This was the form of Super Saiyan held by the Legendary Super Saiyan.
This form can be reached in two ways: by absorbing an enormous amount of Brute Waves, far more than any moon gives off, or by having a tail and meeting the standard requirements for Super Saiyan.
With that said, the Legendary Super Saiyan was either a fake and simply absorbed an astronomical amount of Brute Waves, or he actually was born with the requirements of Super Saiyan.
The Manga Version
In the manga, no form of the Legendary Super Saiyan is seen. This becomes difficult when combined with the anime. Does having a tail affect how a Super Saiyan looks? According to this older fan interpretation, yes.
It was said that the golden hair and emerald green eyes were the result of not having a tail when turning Super Saiyan.
If you are going to be a manga purist, there is no Golden Monkey. The only form of Super Saiyan is the one with golden hair and light green eyes. That would mean the original Legendary Super Saiyan had that form as well.
However, if you hold that to be true, then you must turn away from parts of the Dragon Ball Z anime and from Dragon Ball GT.
Requirements to Become a Super Saiyan
What do you need in order to become a golden-haired, emerald-eyed Super Saiyan? According to this older guide, there are several main requirements.
- A minimum power level of 300,000.
- A quiet, pure, and calm heart, whether good or evil.
- Extreme rage.
- A tail is not necessary.
The power level listed here is not a confirmed minimum power level. It comes from Goku’s power level when he was fighting Frieza without the Gravity Kaioken techniques. Because of that, this older guide defines it as the minimum power level.
Like Frieza’s transformations, the Super Saiyan form changes the body so it can hold more power. The body of a Saiyan can only hold so much power in its normal form. The upgrade to Super Saiyan physically changes the Saiyan’s body and allows them to possess greater power. This is also true for each level of Super Saiyan.
Having a quiet, calm, and pure heart is a simple task because it does not matter if the Saiyan is pure good or pure evil, as shown by Vegeta.
Extreme rage is the harder part. It cannot just be ordinary anger. The Saiyan has to do some soul searching to find what truly makes them hate. For Vegeta, he had to redirect his anger toward himself for being weak, not just toward Goku for being stronger.
The no-tail rule was briefly discussed above. In the anime, it is clear that having a tail can result in the Golden Monkey form, while this is not as clear in the manga.
Super Saiyan Forms
Super Saiyan 1
First character seen in this form: Goku
Characters who have attained this form:
- Goku
- Gohan
- Goten
- Vegeta
- Trunks
- Gotenks
- Gogeta
- Vegetto
- Goku Jr.
- Vegeta Jr.
- Broly
- Future Trunks
Goku reached this first stage during the Frieza Saga after Frieza killed Krillin. That was the event that created the rage Goku needed to complete the requirements to become a Super Saiyan.
This form is only slightly distinguishable from Super Saiyan 2. Super Saiyan hair usually exists in a few large golden tufts. In this form, a Saiyan’s battle potential is increased 50 times.
This form allows a Saiyan to increase their fighting potential beyond the limits of their normal body structure. However, it uses up energy and drains the user faster than fighting as a normal Saiyan.
Ultra Super Saiyan
Also known as: Ultimate Super Saiyan
First character seen in this form: Vegeta
Characters who have attained this form:
- Goku
- Vegeta
- Future Trunks
This form of Super Saiyan is between Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2. The user’s body mass increases, which also increases fighting potential.
However, the ratio of muscle to the body is unbalanced. Because of that, a Saiyan in this form is slowed down, making it less effective in battle.
True Ultra Super Saiyan
First character seen in this form: Future Trunks
Characters who have attained this form:
- Future Trunks
This is a step beyond the previous Ultra Super Saiyan stage. Think of it as Super Saiyan 1.8, if you will.
This form has massively increased muscle, which makes the Saiyan even stronger. However, the Saiyan’s speed is also massively decreased.
This is an extremely ineffective form of Super Saiyan and is only used once in a real battle by Future Trunks against Perfect Cell.
Super Saiyan 2
Also known as: Super Saiyan Beyond Super Saiyan
First character seen in this form: Gohan
Characters who have attained this form:
- Goku
- Gohan
- Gotenks
- Majin Vegeta
Super Saiyan 2 was first achieved by Gohan while fighting Perfect Cell. This form is difficult to distinguish from Super Saiyan, but not impossible.
A Super Saiyan 2’s hair tends to exist in multiple spiky tufts. This is the first form reached after Super Saiyan 1 that is very useful in battle.
The user’s strength increases, but muscle mass does not increase. This allows the user to keep their speed while also becoming much stronger.
Super Saiyan 3
First character seen in this form: Goku
Characters who have attained this form:
- Goku
- Gotenks
Super Saiyan 3 is the most powerful form of Super Saiyan seen in Dragon Ball Z.
This form is extremely easy to distinguish from the others because of its incredibly long golden hair, extended brow, and complete lack of eyebrows.
Goku first showed this form when he battled Fat Majin Buu. Although Goku could have beaten Buu with this power at the time, he chose not to so the others could defeat Buu on their own.
The full-power version of this form is supposedly powerful enough to defeat Kid Buu. However, Goku never reaches full power because Super Saiyan 3 uses too much energy, causing him to run out before he can fully charge up.
Super Saiyan 4
First character seen in this form: Goku
Characters who have attained this form:
- Goku
- Vegeta
- Gogeta
This form is not considered a regular Saiyan form. It is more like a Saiyan and Oozaru hybrid.
The Saiyan’s strength increases even more and becomes virtually immeasurable. In this form, the Saiyan’s normal hair color returns and grows longer than its normal length, somewhere between Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3 hair length.
This form is very cruel and expresses few feelings, which is a big change for Goku. This highly advanced form does not wear a shirt, and the chest is puffed out to show off the character’s muscles. The body is covered with thick, dark red fur.
In order for a Saiyan to reach this stage, he must have his original tail intact. In Dragon Ball GT, Goku and Vegeta are able to make their tails grow back using a special device Bulma makes called the Brute Ray.
Goku and Vegeta both reach this highly advanced and final stage of Super Saiyan.
Giant Ape Form / Oozaru
First character seen in this form: Goku
Characters who have attained this form:
- Goku
Only seen in Dragon Ball GT in this context, this is a very complicated form of Super Saiyan. It is not technically Super Saiyan 4. Rather, this older guide describes it as something that could be called Legendary, or True, Super Saiyan 2.
This does not follow Super Saiyan 3. Instead, it follows Legendary Super Saiyan, which this guide treats as the real Super Saiyan form according to the anime.
To attain this form, you do not need a power level higher than Super Saiyan 3. Because of that, this guide argues that Super Saiyan 4 is not actually Super Saiyan 4 because it does not truly follow Super Saiyan 3.
All you need to attain this form is a tail and a large amount of Brute Waves.
This form looks drastically different from the normal Super Saiyan forms. Instead of being golden, the user’s hair is black and increases in body size, but does not stand up on end. The Saiyan’s body is covered in reddish hair and the eyes are outlined in red.
An interesting fact is that even though Goku is a child in Dragon Ball GT, when he turns Super Saiyan 4, he becomes an adult while he is in that state.
Gogeta, who is perhaps the strongest good fighter in the entire series, lasts in this mode for 600 seconds, or 10 minutes, before splitting because Goku runs out of energy.
According to this older guide, Super Saiyan 4 increases the user’s fighting potential by approximately 10 times.
False Super Saiyan
First character seen in this form: Goku
Characters who have attained this form:
- Goku
This is a form of Super Saiyan that is not a true Super Saiyan, but is not a normal Saiyan state either.
Only seen once in Dragon Ball Z Movie 4: Lord Slug, this was basically Super Saiyan 1/2.
It is not as powerful as Super Saiyan, and Goku barely changes physically. However, it is stronger than Kaioken.
Legendary Super Saiyan
First character seen in this form: Broly
Characters who have attained this form:
- Broly
This is supposedly the real form of the Legendary Super Saiyan, although this older guide questions that interpretation.
In this form, Broly is a bloodthirsty monster who will not hesitate to murder even his own father. Broly’s muscle mass increases to enormous proportions, making him look like a tank with arms.
Because of his ki, his hair also appears to be a greenish-yellow color.
Downsides of a Super Saiyan
As powerful as a Super Saiyan may be, it does not come without a few qualifiers.
While in Super Saiyan form, a Saiyan must be reminded of hate. Because of this, Goku is unable to form a Spirit Bomb while he is a Super Saiyan.
However, this does not mean he cannot become a Super Saiyan after he creates a Spirit Bomb.
As mentioned before, a Super Saiyan uses up a fighter’s energy faster than fighting normally would. This is why it is advantageous for Gohan when he receives the Elder Kai’s magical upgrade. He gains the ability to use great amounts of power without turning Super Saiyan, which greatly increases how long he can fight.
