The Cell Games (presented by Hetap) is a martial arts tournament hosted by Cell and presented in a live broadcast by Jimmy Firecracker, Hercule, and the cameraman Larry. the tournament, the arena itself is deliberately destroyed by Cell, who found ring out victories anti-climactic.
The Rules[]
The Cell Games maintains the rules of the World Martial Arts Tournament:
- You lose if you are "ringed out" (pushed or tossed out the the square) or if you are knocked out and unable to fight.
- The tournament consists of solely 1-on-1 fights within the arena.
However, there are two major changes: Cell is the only opponent for whoever enters, and killing one's opponent is allowed (and obviously enforced in the case of Cell's opponents). The ring out rule is later annulled by Cell, who felt that neither he or Goku would be satisfied with such a win. Making this point clear, Cell destroys the arena itself. After snatching the Senzu bag from Krillin, Cell later updates the rules on the spot to ban the use of Senzu Beans. This is done in Cell's continuining effort to anger Gohan into unleashing his full power (not that it stops Gohan from reclaiming them and having Trunks distribute the beans where necessary.)
The Story[]
The Construction[]
At the end of "My Body Is A Temple 'O' Trunks" after being questioned by Trunks (who got beaten badly.), Cell told him he was planning his "Revolution". Throughout the first half of "Tiles and Tribulations", Cell tried many times to make the Arena, scrapping them and starting again at the smallest mistake.
The Announcement[]
It wasn't until near the end of "Tiles and Tribulations" that it was publicly announced by Cell on live TV that the Cell Games would be occurring in one week, (He did this to give the participants "Plenty of time to prepare" and for those not participating, to do whatever they must do.) and that if they win, he will leave the planet forever. But if he wins, he will BLOW THE PLANET UP. (Demonstrated by firing a Ki blast that destroys a picture of Earth on the wall of the news studio behind him.)
The Week Before[]
The next day or so, Cell had finished the arena (including patching a hole...), and had been contacted by Hetap. Following a conversation where the Hetap company didn't seem too bothered that they'd be wiped out if Cell won the whole thing, it was decided that the competition would officially be named "The Cell Games Presented By Hetap." Goku showed up, much to the surprise of Cell, who wasn't expecting him until the day of the Tournament, and following an awkward conversation about the arena, Cell decided he will "Miss him when he's dead."
The Games Begin[]
Finally, the day of destiny arrives. The main challengers, consisting of the Z Warriors themselves and Mr. Satan (flanked by Jimmy Firecracker and his news crew) arrive, eager to take the challenge. After an embarrassing showing by a clueless Mr. Satan, Goku is the first to take Cell on, much to Cell's joy. The two have an amazing battle...that promptly ends anti-climactically when Goku gives up and hands Cell the win, much to Cell's irritation. After Mr. Satan refuses to rechallenge Cell (by claiming "DIARRHEA!") Goku nominates Gohan, leaving Cell outraged as Gohan wasn't even Cell's personal wishlist (though surprisingly Yamcha was.) This is part of Goku's plan to let Gohan's hidden power emerge from a near-death battle and thus destroy Cell, though Gohan's cowardly pacifism and hatred of fighting puts this plan at risk.
Growing frustrated with Gohan's pig-headed refusal to fight at his full power, Cell unleashes his children (Norio, Dameon, Travis, Curtis, Dale, Jonathan and Vegeta Junior Junior) and sets them upon the Z Warriors in order to further rile Gohan up. Android 16 attempts to suicide-bomb Cell, though this is made a mite bit impossible thanks to Bulma having removed his bomb earlier, allowing Cell to reduce 16 to a head. Following the first properly brave move by Mr. Satan, a rather harsh speech from the bodiless 16 however and 16's head being cruelly crushed by Cell, Gohan finally unleashes his fury, ascending to Super Duper Saiyan (as Goku calls it.) The newly empowered and worryingly psychotic Gohan makes a fool of Cell and kills his children as well, before dealing Cell a kick so brutal it causes Cell to vomit up Android 18 which also has the side effect of reducing Cell back to his Semi-Perfect form. In a fury, Cell attempts to blow both himself and the Earth up as a final act of spite toward Gohan, though Goku, wanting to make amends for practically throwing Gohan into the lion's den, teleprots himself and the rapidly inflating Cell to King Kai's planet where Cell explodes.
The Games End[]
Sadly, Cell survives his own self-destruction and completely regenerates thanks to Piccolo's DNA. Worse still, his Saiyan DNA boosts his power horrifically, not only regaining his Perfect Form, but gaining more power as well, becoming Super Perfect (or rather, "Perfecter Cell" as Yamcha embarrassingly calls it.) His first act as Super Perfect Cell is to fire a Death Beam that kills Trunks (though he meant it for his arch-nemesis Tien, finding it hard to parse their power levels in his godlike state.)
Gohan tanks a shot meant for an enraged Vegeta and is left down an arm, but after some encouragement from Piccolo and his once-again-dead-absentee dad Goku, Gohan fires his iconic one-handed Kamehameha in order to counter Cell's own Solar Kamehameha. Though Cell's power proves overwhelming, its thanks to a large amount of encouragement from Goku, and a timely distraction by Vegeta, Gohan finally vaporises Cell down to the last atom. Though briefly shocked, Cell accepts his "perfect" end, going out with his rendition of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" all the way.
After the carnage has ended, Mr. Satan is left contemplating his ways when Jimmy Firecracker demands an explanation, pointing out that they only have working audio equipment and that Satan's fans are rioting worldwide. Satan takes credit for Cell's ultimate defeat, giving the people of peace of mind (and enough relief and joy to have an orgy, a considerably better result than a riot at least.)
Ultimately, while the Cell Games (sponsored by Hetap) "officially" ended with Mr. Satan as the champion, Gohan was the true winner of the tournament.
The Arena[]
The Cell Games arena is a simple, flat, white square of tiles, "A full twenty four by twenty...(four)" As Cell described it, with four Spires around, one on each corner. At the sides of the square are steps to easily get up and down from the arena (Rather unnecessary mind you, as most characters can fly, and most Humans can climb up there if not jump rather high.) It is situated in the middle of a wasteland. (Was once a hilly plain before Cell decimated it, as shown in "Tiles and Tribulations"). According to Goku, it's a little bit small for fights, although Cell prefers to call it "Intimate." In the end however, Cell decides that neither he nor Goku would be happy with a win by ring out. With that clear, Cell destroyed the arena itself, an act far easier ironically than it was to build it.
Trivia[]
- In trying to construct the arena, Cell created at least three different arenas, before scrapping at least two of them due to slight inconsistencies:
- The first arena was almost perfect, except for the fact that one of the tiles was a Bright Green (This "Son of an Emerald Whore" was the reason Cell started again the first time)
- The second one was even worse, somehow being circular in shape, much to the surprise of Cell ("How did all these Squares make a Circle?!") And like before, that tile was still somehow green.
- The third known failure (Albeit one Cell fixed later) Was even closer to being perfect, although this time one of the tiles was only half the size of the rest. After temporarily leaving it be so he could make his broadcast ("Let it go. You have shit to do,") this would ultimately be the arena Cell used, after simply patching the hole itself.
- Thanks to a conversation during the Week-long grace period, the official name for the tournament it the "Cell Games Presented By Hetap." Though Cell pointed out over his earpiece that the Hetap company would likely die with the Earth if he won over the planet's warriors, Hetap's CEO considered it a win-win nonetheless.
- Although Gohan is the one to kill Cell and essentially win the whole thing, Mr. Satan takes official credit for defeating Cell and winning the Games in order to stop his worldwide fans from rioting. As a side effect, this also won Mr. Satan a lifetime supply of Hetap.
- Despite the Games being open-invite, Cell also references a list of fighters he had in mind for personal invites, which Son Gohan was not present on. Yamcha was apparently on this list, though only as "half-time entertainment."
Matches[]
Rather than being held as a standard tournament, the Cell Games are an open-invite gauntlet (though Mr. Satan's entrance causes Cell to regret making it open-invite). With the exception of the Cell Junior battle, all of the fights consist of competitors attempting to take on Cell himself. The matches are as follows:
- Cell vs Yusuke Urameshi
- Victor: Cell
- Method: Forfeit
- Cell vs Kazuma Kuwabara
- Victor: Cell
- Method: Forfeit
- Cell vs Yami Yugi
- Victor: Cell
- Method: Forfeit
- Cell vs Ryu
- Victor: Cell
- Method: KO
- Cell vs Ken
- Victor: Cell
- Method: KO
- Cell vs Sonic
- Victor: Cell
- Method: Forfeit
- Cell vs Knuckles
- Victor: Cell
- Method: TKO
- Cell vs Kenshiro
- Victor: Inconclusive
- Method: Kenshiro left
- Cell vs Light Yagami
- Victor: Cell
- Method: KO
- Cell vs Ash Ketchum
- Victor: Cell
- Method: Forfeit
- Cell vs Genos
- Victor: Cell
- Method: KO
- Cell vs Saitama
- Victor: Inconclusive
- Method: Match Rescheduled
- Deadpool vs Cell
- Victor: Inconclusive
- Method: Deadpool called away
- Cell vs Bobby Hill
- Victor: Inconclusive
- Method: Bobby left
- Cell vs Mr. Satan
- Victor: Cell
- Method: KO
- Cell vs Goku
- Victor: Cell
- Method: Forfeit
- Cell Juniors vs Goku, Vegeta, Future Trunks, Piccolo, Krillin, Tenshinhan, and Yamcha
- Victor: Cell Juniors
- Method: TKO
- Cell vs Android 16
- Victor: Cell
- Method: KO
- Cell Juniors vs Gohan
- Victor: Gohan
- Method: KO
- Cell vs Trunks
- Victor: Cell
- Method: KO
- Cell vs Vegeta
- Victor: Cell
- Method: KO
- Cell vs Gohan
- Victor: Gohan
- Method: KO
Appearances[]
| Appearances of the Cell Games arena in DragonBall Z Abridged | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Season 2 | |||||||||
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Season 3 | |||||||||
| 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 |
| No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 |
| No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 |
| No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Epilogue | |||||||||
| No | |||||||||
| Movies | |||||||||
| M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 | M5 | M6 | M7 | M8 | ||
| No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| Specials | |||||||||
| SP1 | SP2 | SP3 | SP4 | ||||||
| No | No | No | No | ||||||
| Kai Abridged | |||||||||
| Kai1 | Kai2 | Kai2.9 | Kai3 | Kai3.5 | |||||
| No | No | No | No | No | |||||
