Super Saiyan: the legend, every form and who reached them, from Goku to Daima (2026 guide)
Thomas writes about fights, power levels and rankings for Manga Horizon — our editorial team
Super Saiyan is the most famous transformation in manga history: hair that stands on end and turns gold, turquoise eyes, an aura that makes the ground shake, and power multiplied in an instant. It appeared in 1991 when Goku faced Frieza on Namek, and has since spawned a whole family of forms, from Super Saiyan 2 to Super Saiyan Blue, from Broly's Legendary form to the Super Saiyan 4 that made a surprise return in Dragon Ball Daima in 2025. This guide explains exactly what a Super Saiyan is, where the legend comes from, how each level appeared (with the manga chapter and the anime episode), who reached it, what is not one despite the hair changing colour, and which forms are pure fan inventions. All in order, so you never again mix up God, Blue and Rosé.
At a glance
- Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人, Sūpā Saiya-jin) is a transformation reserved for Saiyans and their descendants: golden hair, turquoise eyes, and power multiplied by fifty according to the Daizenshuu guides.
- First appearance: Goku against Frieza, chapter 317 of the manga and episode 95 of Dragon Ball Z (June 1991), after Krillin's death.
- Three numbered levels in the main story: Super Saiyan 2 (Gohan against Cell, chapter 408), Super Saiyan 3 (Goku against Majin Buu, chapter 474), and Super Saiyan 4, long confined to GT, which became canon with Daima in February 2025.
- Two divine forms: Super Saiyan God (red hair, Battle of Gods, 2013) and Super Saiyan Blue (blue hair, Resurrection 'F', 2015).
- Ultra Instinct, Ultra Ego and Gohan Beast are not Super Saiyans. Super Saiyan 5 does not exist: it is a fan drawing.
Contents
- Super Saiyan: what exactly is it?
- The legend of the Super Saiyan: Frieza, the thousand-year warrior and Yamoshi
- The first transformation: Goku against Frieza (chapter 317, episode 95)
- The Super Saiyan levels: 1, 2 and 3
- Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue: the forms of the gods
- Rosé, Rage, Legendary, Berserker: the derived forms
- Super Saiyan 4: from GT to Daima
- What is not a Super Saiyan: Ultra Instinct, Ultra Ego, Beast, Mystic Gohan
- Who became a Super Saiyan? Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, Broly and the others
- All of Goku's transformations in order
- Super Saiyan 5, 6, 1000: the forms that do not exist
- Frequently asked questions
- Further reading
Super Saiyan: what exactly is it?
Super Saiyan is a combat state that only the Saiyans, the warrior people Goku descends from, and their half-Saiyan children can reach. The body changes in a second: the hair stands on end and turns golden, the eyes turn turquoise, the muscles become denser, and a golden aura surrounds the fighter. The personality changes too, and the anime underlines this at every first transformation: a Super Saiyan is colder, more aggressive, less talkative. In this form, Goku stops joking.
In France, the word has had three names. The Club Dorothée TV dub said "Super Guerrier" ("Super Warrior"), the French translation of the manga wrote "Super Saïyen", and fans, like the rest of the world, say "Super Saiyan", often shortened to SSJ (from the Japanese Saiya-jin). All three mean the same thing; we use Super Saiyan, the form everyone types.
Two conditions, according to the manga: an already very high power level and an emotional shock. Goku transforms out of anger and grief when Krillin dies before his eyes, Gohan out of rage when Cell crushes Android 16, Vegeta after months of frustration at failing to get there. Much later, in a 2017 Q&A, Akira Toriyama added a biological explanation: Saiyans have "S-cells", whose number increases with power and calmness of mind, and whose accumulation triggers the transformation under a strong emotion. That is why the half-Saiyan children, Goten and Trunks, manage it in childhood: raised on Earth, in comfort, they accumulate these cells much faster than their fathers, who were born on a planet of warriors.
In terms of numbers, the Daizenshuu guides, published in Japan in the 1990s, give a fifty-fold multiplication of base power. The following levels stack: Super Saiyan 2 doubles Super Saiyan, and Super Saiyan 3 quadruples level 2. These multipliers are indicative, and the series does not always respect them, but they set the orders of magnitude fans have used for thirty years.
The legend of the Super Saiyan: Frieza, the thousand-year warrior and Yamoshi
Before it was a transformation, Super Saiyan was a legend. Among the Saiyans, it is said that once every thousand years a warrior appears whose power is beyond all comparison with the rest of the people. Frieza believes it enough to act: it is out of fear of this birth that he destroys Planet Vegeta and almost all its inhabitants, even though the Saiyans are his most effective soldiers. The entire Namek saga is built on this fear, up to the moment the tyrant finds himself facing exactly what he wanted to prevent.
Vegeta is the first to talk about it at length. Convinced that he himself is the warrior of the legend, as prince of his people and an elite fighter, he experiences the transformation of Goku, a low-class Saiyan, as the humiliation of his life. His obsession with Super Saiyan then shapes his entire character: finally achieving it, then trying to overtake Goku level after level, without ever getting there first, except once, with Super Saiyan Blue Evolved.
The legend has had a name since 2018. For the release of the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Toriyama mentioned Yamoshi, a pure-hearted Saiyan who, a very long time ago, rose up against the barbarity of his people with five companions, reached a golden form and then, as he died, left his spirit wandering in search of six pure-hearted Saiyans. This story links the legend told by Vegeta to the ritual of the Super Saiyan God, which requires precisely six pure-hearted Saiyans. Yamoshi never appears on screen; he is the ancestor of all the forms presented in this guide.
Finally, the legend has a dark side: the Legendary Super Saiyan of the films, embodied by Broly, whose power grows without limit and without control. We come back to it in the derived forms.
The first transformation: Goku against Frieza (chapter 317, episode 95)
The most famous scene in Dragon Ball Z takes place on Namek. Goku has launched his giant Spirit Bomb, everyone thinks Frieza is defeated, and the tyrant comes back. He pierces Piccolo, then makes Krillin explode before Goku's eyes. In the manga, this is the end of chapter 317, "Life or Death…", and the transformation fills chapter 318, "The Legendary Super Saiyan". In the anime, it is episode 95 of Dragon Ball Z, broadcast in Japan on 26 June 1991, whose Japanese title literally announces: "Transformed at Last!! Son Goku, the Legendary Super Saiyan". Goku's anger does what years of training had not: his hair stands up and turns gold, his eyes change, and Frieza, for the first time in his life, is afraid.
Toriyama has told two stories about this scene. First, that he feared Goku's Super Saiyan face would make him look like a villain, before deciding it was acceptable since the transformation is born of anger. Then, and this is the fans' favourite anecdote, that the golden hair has a very practical reason: his assistant spent a considerable amount of time inking Goku's hair black, and light-coloured hair was much quicker to draw. The piercing gaze comes from Bruce Lee, whose paralysing stare Toriyama admired. A mythical transformation born, in part, from an ink problem.
The fight that follows lasts a dozen or so episodes and ends with the explosion of Namek. It fixed forever what a transformation in a shonen must be: a price to pay, a precise moment, and an opponent who understands he has lost before the first blow. It is this scene that the Super Saiyan Goku figure with the explosive aura reproduces, and it opens our ranking of the best anime transformations, where Super Saiyan takes first place.
The Super Saiyan levels: 1, 2 and 3
The three numbered levels appear in the original manga, each in a different saga, and each is recognisable by the hair. The table gives the landmarks; the sections go into detail.
| Form | First appearance | By whom | Visual sign | Power (guides) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super Saiyan | Manga ch. 317-318 · DBZ ep. 95 (1991) | Goku, against Frieza | Spiky golden hair, turquoise eyes, golden aura | × 50 |
| Super Saiyan 2nd and 3rd Grade | Cell Saga (1992) | Vegeta, Trunks, Goku | Bulging muscles, lightning; the 3rd Grade makes you slow | Stages of level 1 |
| Full Power Super Saiyan | Cell Saga | Goku, then Gohan | Level 1 look, maintained permanently | × 50, without fatigue |
| Super Saiyan 2 | Manga ch. 408 · DBZ ep. 184 (1993) | Gohan, against Cell | Spikier hair, blue lightning in the aura | × 100 |
| Super Saiyan 3 | Manga ch. 474 · DBZ ep. 245 (1994) | Goku, against Majin Buu | Very long hair, no eyebrows | × 400 |
Super Saiyan: the base form and its stages
After Goku, Vegeta and Future Trunks reach Super Saiyan during the Android saga. The Cell saga adds intermediate stages that fans call "Second Grade" (Vegeta against Cell, the form he calls Super Vegeta) and "Third Grade" (Trunks, huge muscles but reduced speed, which costs him his fight). Goku sees the trap and chooses the opposite: staying Super Saiyan permanently, until the form no longer consumes any energy. This is Full Power Super Saiyan, which he passes on to Gohan in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. This stage does not change the appearance, but it changes everything in the logic of the series: power is not enough, you have to master it. The figures of Super Saiyan Goku with arms crossed and Super Saiyan Future Trunks illustrate this first level.
Super Saiyan 2: Gohan against Cell
Super Saiyan 2 is reached not by Goku but by his son. At the Cell Games, Cell crushes Android 16, who had just reminded Gohan that it is not wrong to fight to protect the ones you love. The boy's anger breaks a lock: chapter 408, "Son Gohan Explodes!!", episode 184 of the anime. The hair spikes up even more, a single lock falls over the forehead, and blue lightning runs through the aura. Gohan overtakes Cell in one go and destroys him with the Kamehameha that Goku whispers to him from the afterlife. Goku masters this level on his return for the tournament, and so does Vegeta (it is as a Super Saiyan 2 that Majin Vegeta fights Goku), and in Dragon Ball Super, Caulifla and Cabba, the Saiyans of Universe 6, reach it during the Tournament of Power. The Gohan Super Saiyan 2 Cell Games figure recreates the scene, and the Majin Vegeta figure the version marked with Babidi's M.
Super Saiyan 3: Goku against Majin Buu
Super Saiyan 3 arrives in the final saga of the manga, when Goku, back for a single day, buys time against Majin Buu: chapter 474, "Son Goku Goes Beyond the Limit!! Super Saiyan 3", episode 245 of the anime. It is the most spectacular transformation of the series: it lasts several minutes, shakes the planet, and gives Goku golden hair that reaches down to the small of his back, with no eyebrows. It has one major flaw: it consumes a crazy amount of energy, and in a dead body, it burns through Goku's time on Earth. Gotenks, the fusion of Goten and Trunks, then reaches it with the ease of children; in GT, Goku can only hold it for a minute in his child's body. For thirty years, Vegeta never achieved it in the main continuity: it is Dragon Ball Daima that finally gives him Super Saiyan 3, in episode 12, in December 2024, a scene that sent the series' audience soaring. Our two figures of this level: Goku Super Saiyan 3, 35 cm and Goku SSJ3 and the Golden Dragon.
Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue: the forms of the gods
With the franchise's return to cinemas in 2013, Toriyama created a new line of transformations based no longer on anger but on divine ki, the energy of gods such as Beerus. They can be recognised by a slimmer silhouette than that of classic Super Saiyans and by hair that is no longer golden.
Super Saiyan God: the red hair
Super Saiyan God appears in the film Battle of Gods (2013), then in the first arc of Dragon Ball Super, in episode 9 (September 2015), whose title announces that the Super Saiyan God has arrived at last. It is obtained through a ritual: six pure-hearted Saiyans, five of whom pass their energy to the sixth. Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks and the baby Videl is carrying (the future Pan) perform this ritual to face Beerus. The hair turns magenta red, the eyes red, the body slims down and the aura looks like flames. The form is time-limited, but Goku keeps a trace of it: his body learns divine ki, which makes the next form possible. Vegeta then acquires it through training, without the ritual, and uses it notably against Broly in the 2018 film.
Super Saiyan Blue: the most used form in Dragon Ball Super
Super Saiyan Blue, full name "Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan", is what happens when a Saiyan who can wield divine ki transforms into a Super Saiyan: the hair and aura turn cyan blue. It appears in the film Resurrection 'F' (2015) and in episode 24 of Dragon Ball Super, when Goku faces a resurrected Frieza. It is the workhorse form of the whole series: Goku and Vegeta use it in almost every major fight, and so do the fusions, Vegetto Blue against Fused Zamasu, Gogeta Blue against Broly. The Gogeta Super Saiyan Blue figure and the Vegetto Blue figure with arms crossed are the two most requested blue pieces in the franchise.
Blue has its own stages. The Blue Kaioken: Goku layering the Kaioken on top of the divine form (episode 39, against Hit, red and blue aura intertwined, up to × 20 against Jiren), at a real risk to his body. Super Saiyan Blue Evolved, which only Vegeta reaches, in episode 123 (January 2018), by pushing past his limits against Jiren: a darker blue, a denser aura, and for once the prince gets ahead of Goku. And in the manga, perfected Blue, the mastered version that no longer leaks energy, which Goku obtains in chapter 24 and Vegeta in chapter 27.
Rosé, Rage, Legendary, Berserker: the derived forms
Around the numbered levels and the divine forms orbit variants specific to one character or one work. They come up in every search, and each has a simple explanation.
Super Saiyan Rosé: Goku Black's form
Super Saiyan Rosé is the divine form of Goku Black, that is, of Zamasu, an apprentice god who stole Goku's body. A god who transforms into a Super Saiyan does not get blue but pink: hair, aura and eyes. First appearance in episode 56 of Dragon Ball Super (August 2016), in the second fight against Black, with his energy scythe. The "Rosé 2", "Rosé 3" and "full power Rosé" versions that circulate online come solely from the arcade game Super Dragon Ball Heroes, not from the series. The Goku Black Rosé figure with his scythe reproduces the weapon and the colour.
Super Saiyan Rage: Trunks against Zamasu
Super Saiyan Rage (Ikari, "anger") is an anime-only form: Future Trunks, in episode 61 (October 2016), fuses his anger with a share of divine ki and obtains longer golden hair, with a bluish tint at the base of the aura. It lets him stand up to Fused Zamasu before the final blow, the energy sword powered by the whole Earth. In the manga, the scene is different and this form does not exist: Trunks fights there as a Super Saiyan 2.
Legendary Super Saiyan: Broly, two versions
The Legendary Super Saiyan is Broly's, in the 1993 film Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan. Born on the same day as Goku, with a power level of 10,000 at birth, that of an adult elite, Broly is the warrior of the legend in the literal sense: his golden form leans towards green, his size increases, and his power grows constantly without him being able to control it. The character was completely rewritten in 2018 in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, this time with Toriyama's approval and script: a more tragic Broly, raised on a hostile planet, who goes through a state of rage (Ikari) with golden eyes before reaching his full-power Super Saiyan, with green hair. It is this Broly that Gogeta Blue faces at the end of the film, the scene reproduced by the Broly vs Gogeta diorama. The Broly Legendary Super Saiyan figure, for its part, takes up the 1993 version, the most recognisable one for fans who grew up with the films.
Super Saiyan Berserker: Kale and Kefla
Kale, the shy young Saiyan from Universe 6, is Broly's female counterpart in Dragon Ball Super: in episode 100 (July 2017), her jealousy towards Goku tips her into a massive, uncontrollable golden-green form that fans call Berserker. She learns to control it in episode 113, in a slimmer version, then passes it on to Kefla, her fusion with Caulifla, one of Goku's strongest opponents at the Tournament of Power. The term "Berserker" comes from the video games; the anime never uses it.
Super Saiyan 4: from GT to Daima
Super Saiyan 4 has a unique history: it was born in a series Toriyama did not write, and it became canon twenty-eight years later, in the last work by that same Toriyama.
In Dragon Ball GT (1997): the red fur
In Dragon Ball GT, episode 35, the "level 4" episode (January 1997), shows Goku, turned back into a child, transforming into a golden Great Ape and then, as he regains control of that form, into Super Saiyan 4: an adult body with a torso covered in red fur, long spiky black hair, a tail, and eyes rimmed with red. Vegeta gets there thanks to a machine of Bulma's that mimics the light of the full moon, and the two fuse into Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta against Omega Shenron. For years, this form divided fans: magnificent for some, non-canon for others, since GT does not adapt the manga and Toriyama described it as a "grand side story". The figures of Goku Super Saiyan 4 on the attack and Gogeta Super Saiyan 4 come from this version.
In Dragon Ball Daima (2025): the magenta fur
Dragon Ball Daima, twenty episodes aired from October 2024 to February 2025, is the last work Akira Toriyama took part in before his death in March 2024: he wrote its story and designed the characters. The villain Gomah shrinks all the heroes into children using the Dragon Balls, and the adventure takes place in the Demon Realm. In episode 18, "Awakening", broadcast on 14 February 2025, Goku, on the ground facing Gomah, receives the power of the old Namekian Neva and transforms into Super Saiyan 4. The form differs from the one in GT: the fur and hair are magenta, and Goku wears it in his small child's body. He takes it up again in episode 20, after chaining all his previous forms, just like in the good old days of Majin Buu. The twenty-eight-year debate is closed: Super Saiyan 4 is now part of the main continuity, with its creator's signature.
What is not a Super Saiyan: Ultra Instinct, Ultra Ego, Beast, Mystic Gohan
Since Dragon Ball Super, several transformations change hair colour without being Super Saiyans. The confusion is common, and the difference is clear: a Super Saiyan draws its power from its Saiyan nature; the forms below come from elsewhere.
- Ultra Instinct is a technique of the angels, Whis's technique: the body fights on its own, without the mind intervening. Goku brushes against it in episode 110 (October 2017), in a form called "Sign", with silver hair, then masters it in episode 129 (March 2018) against Jiren, with completely silver hair and eyes. Any living being can in theory learn it; Goku is simply the first mortal to manage it. The 42 cm Goku Ultra Instinct figure is the reference silver piece.
- Ultra Ego is Vegeta's answer: a form of destruction taught by Beerus, in the Dragon Ball Super manga (chapters 74-75, 2021), with purple hair, which grows in power the more hits Vegeta takes. It is the opposite path to Ultra Instinct, and there is nothing Saiyan about it.
- Gohan Beast, which appeared in the film Super Hero (2022), with spiky silver-grey hair and red eyes, is the full awakening of Gohan's potential, in line with his Mystic state. It is not a Super Saiyan level.
- Mystic Gohan (or Ultimate Gohan), obtained through Elder Kai's ritual in the Buu saga, unlocks all of Gohan's potential without changing his hair: he no longer needs Super Saiyan.
- The Ōzaru, the Great Ape, is the original form of all Saiyans with a tail under the full moon, the one little Goku takes in the first Dragon Ball. The Super Saiyan 4 of GT derives directly from it.
Who became a Super Saiyan? Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, Broly and the others
Searches for "goku super saiyan", "vegeta super saiyan" or "gohan super saiyan" are as frequent as the word on its own: fans want to know how far each one went. Here is the rundown, character by character, counting only the main continuity (manga, Z, Super, Daima and the films written by Toriyama), with GT as a note.
| Character | Forms reached | Outside Super Saiyan |
|---|---|---|
| Goku | SSJ, SSJ2, SSJ3, God, Blue, Blue Kaioken, SSJ4 (Daima; GT) | Kaioken, Ultra Instinct |
| Vegeta | SSJ, SSJ2, SSJ3 (Daima), God, Blue, Blue Evolved, SSJ4 (GT only) | Ultra Ego |
| Gohan | SSJ, SSJ2 | Mystic, Beast |
| Future Trunks | SSJ, SSJ2, Rage (anime) | — |
| Trunks and Goten (children) | SSJ; Gotenks: SSJ, SSJ3 | — |
| Broly | Legendary (1993); Full Power (2018) | Wrath State (Ikari) |
| Goku Black | Rosé | — |
| Cabba, Caulifla, Kale (Universe 6) | SSJ, SSJ2; Kale: Berserker | — |
| Gogeta / Vegetto | SSJ, Blue; SSJ4 (Gogeta in GT) | — |
| Bardock, Raditz, Nappa, Pan | Never in the main continuity | Bardock SSJ in a 2011 special episode |
Super Saiyan Goku
Goku reached each form first, except two: Super Saiyan 2, which goes to Gohan, and Super Saiyan Blue Evolved, which remains Vegeta's. He is the only one to combine the three numbered levels, the two divine forms and Super Saiyan 4 in two different series, and the only mortal to master Ultra Instinct. His most powerful form is therefore not a Super Saiyan: it is Mastered Ultra Instinct, then, in the manga, its "perfected" version.
Super Saiyan Vegeta
Vegeta reaches Super Saiyan during the three years of training before the androids, Super Saiyan 2 for the Buu saga, God and Blue in Super, and Blue Evolved first. Two forms eluded him for a long time: Super Saiyan 3, finally obtained in Daima (episode 12), and Super Saiyan 4, which he only has in GT. His most powerful form is Ultra Ego, which is not a Super Saiyan.
Super Saiyan Gohan
Gohan is the series' child prodigy: Super Saiyan in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Super Saiyan 2 at eleven against Cell, then a character who gives up fighting and comes back to it through the Mystic state, and finally Beast in 2022. He never needed Super Saiyan 3. The Gohan Super Saiyan 2 figure with the golden aura shows him at the peak of his child form.
Super Saiyan Trunks
There are two Trunks. Future Trunks, the one who cuts Frieza down with his sword, is a Super Saiyan from his very first appearance, then Super Saiyan 2 and, in the anime only, Super Saiyan Rage. Kid Trunks, the son of Bulma and Vegeta in the main timeline, becomes a Super Saiyan at eight, like Goten, and forms Gotenks with him, capable of Super Saiyan 3 from the very first successful fusion. The Kid Trunks Super Saiyan figure and the Gotenks Super Saiyan and his ghost figure cover both.
Super Saiyan Broly
Broly exists in two incompatible versions. The 1993 one is the Legendary Super Saiyan, a power-crazed madman obsessed with Goku, whose crying as a baby traumatised him. The 2018 one is a shy, mistreated giant, whose full-power transformation is one of the most impressive ever animated. In both, the hair turns green, and both are in our Dragon Ball figures.
All of Goku's transformations in order
The question "all of Goku's transformations in order" keeps coming up, and the answer mixes Super Saiyans with techniques that are not. Here is the complete timeline, in the order in which Goku acquires them, with what sets each apart.
- Ōzaru (Great Ape): from the first Dragon Ball, under the full moon, as long as he has his tail. He never remembers it.
- Kaioken: King Kai's technique, red aura, power multiplied at the cost of damage to the body. Not a transformation, but the first time Goku "changes colour".
- Super Saiyan: Namek, against Frieza, chapter 317, episode 95.
- Super Saiyan 2nd Grade and Full Power: the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Cell saga.
- Super Saiyan 2: mastered on his return from the afterlife, shown against Majin Vegeta.
- Super Saiyan 3: against Majin Buu, chapter 474, episode 245.
- Super Saiyan God: the ritual of the six Saiyans, Battle of Gods, episode 9 of Super.
- Super Saiyan Blue: Resurrection 'F', episode 24 of Super.
- Blue Kaioken: against Hit, episode 39, then × 20 against Jiren.
- Ultra Instinct "Sign": episode 110, against Jiren, silver hair.
- Mastered Ultra Instinct: episode 129, Goku's most powerful form.
- Super Saiyan 4 (Daima): episode 18 of Daima, February 2025, magenta fur, in his child's body.
If you add GT, you need to insert the red-furred Super Saiyan 4 and the Golden Great Ape after Super Saiyan 3; if you add the Super manga, perfected Blue and perfected Ultra Instinct. The Dragon Ball chibi figures make it possible to line up this timeline on a shelf for next to nothing, and the Dragon Ball posters to put it on the wall.
Super Saiyan 5, 6, 1000: the forms that do not exist
Google suggests "super saiyan 5", "super saiyan 6", "super saiyan 10" and even "super saiyan 1000" to anyone who types the word. None of these forms exist in a work written or supervised by Toriyama. Here is where they come from.
- Super Saiyan 5: a fan drawing from the late 1990s, Goku with white hair and grey fur, which circulated online as the image of a fake sequel called Dragon Ball AF. There was never any series. The drawing became so famous that manufacturers made figures from it, like the Goku Super Saiyan 5 figure in our catalogue, which should be taken for what it is: a tribute to an internet legend.
- Super Saiyan 6, 7, 10, 100, 1000, infinity: one-upmanship from forums and videos, with no basis at all. "Super Saiyan 1000" has even become a running joke on social media.
- Rosé 2, Rosé 3, Super Saiyan 4 Limit Breaker, Super Saiyan Blue 3: real forms, but limited to the arcade game Super Dragon Ball Heroes and its spin-off games, which do not count in the story.
- Super Saiyan Blue 2 and Blue 4: do not exist, even in the games; these are searches born of confusion with Blue Evolved and Super Saiyan 4.
The simple rule: the canon forms are the ones listed in this guide, from the first to the one in Daima. Anything with a number beyond 4 is an invention.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Super Saiyan?
A Super Saiyan is a transformation that only Saiyans and their descendants can reach: the hair stands up and turns golden, the eyes turn turquoise, a golden aura appears and power is multiplied by fifty according to the Daizenshuu guides. It is triggered by an emotional shock in a warrior who is already very powerful. Goku is the first to reach it, against Frieza.
In which episode does Goku become a Super Saiyan?
In episode 95 of Dragon Ball Z, broadcast in Japan on 26 June 1991, after Krillin's death at Frieza's hands. In the manga, it is the end of chapter 317 and chapter 318, "The Legendary Super Saiyan".
Why do Super Saiyans have blond hair?
For a practical reason told by Akira Toriyama: his assistant spent a lot of time inking Goku's hair black, and golden hair, left white on the page, was much quicker to draw. The Super Saiyan's piercing gaze comes from Bruce Lee.
How many Super Saiyan forms are there?
In the main continuity: Super Saiyan and its stages (2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, Full Power), Super Saiyan 2, Super Saiyan 3, Super Saiyan 4 (since Daima), Super Saiyan God, Super Saiyan Blue and its variants (Kaioken, Evolved, perfected), plus forms specific to one character: Rosé, Rage, Legendary, Berserker. That makes about ten real forms. Super Saiyan 5 and beyond do not exist.
What is Goku's most powerful form?
Mastered Ultra Instinct, reached in episode 129 of Dragon Ball Super, then its perfected version in the manga. It is not a Super Saiyan but a technique of the angels. Among the Super Saiyans, Goku's most powerful form is Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken multiplied by twenty.
What is Goku's latest form?
Chronologically, the Super Saiyan 4 of Dragon Ball Daima, reached in episode 18 in February 2025 thanks to the power of the Namekian Neva, in his child's body, with magenta fur. In terms of power, his top form remains Ultra Instinct.
Is Super Saiyan 4 canon?
Yes, since 2025. It appeared in Dragon Ball GT in 1997, a series not based on the manga that Toriyama described as a side story, and then Dragon Ball Daima, whose story Toriyama wrote, brought it into the main continuity in episode 18. The Daima version has magenta fur, the GT version red fur.
Does Super Saiyan 5 exist?
No. Super Saiyan 5 comes from a fan drawing from the late 1990s, associated with a fake sequel called Dragon Ball AF, which never existed. Super Saiyan 6, 10, 100 or 1000 are forum inventions. "Super Saiyan 5" figures take up this fan drawing.
What is the difference between Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue?
Super Saiyan God (red hair) is obtained through a ritual of six pure-hearted Saiyans and gives access to divine ki. Super Saiyan Blue (blue hair) is a Super Saiyan achieved with that divine ki: it is the next form, more powerful and more stable, used in almost every fight in Dragon Ball Super.
Did Vegeta reach Super Saiyan 3?
Yes, but only in December 2024, in episode 12 of Dragon Ball Daima. For thirty years, he had never reached it in the main continuity, only in video games. He does, however, have God, Blue, Blue Evolved and Ultra Ego.
Why is Goku Black's Super Saiyan pink?
Because Goku Black is Zamasu, a god, in Goku's body. When a god transforms into a Super Saiyan with his own divine ki, the colour is not the blue of mortals but pink: this is Super Saiyan Rosé, which appeared in episode 56 of Dragon Ball Super.
Who is the first Super Saiyan?
In the story as told, Goku, against Frieza. In the Saiyan legend, a warrior who appeared a thousand years earlier, whom Toriyama named Yamoshi in 2018: a pure-hearted Saiyan, at the origin of the Super Saiyan God ritual. Broly, in the films, embodies the Legendary Super Saiyan, the uncontrollable version of this legend.
Is Ultra Instinct a Super Saiyan form?
No. Ultra Instinct is a technique of the angels, Whis's technique, which any being can in theory learn: the body reacts on its own, without the mind. Goku is the first mortal to master it, in episode 129 of Dragon Ball Super. His silver hair has nothing to do with the gold of the Super Saiyan.
Is Gohan Beast a Super Saiyan?
No. Beast, which appeared in the film Super Hero in 2022, is the full awakening of Gohan's potential, in line with his Mystic state from the Buu saga. Its silver-grey hair and red eyes correspond to no Super Saiyan level.
How many times stronger is a Super Saiyan?
According to the Daizenshuu guides published in Japan, a Super Saiyan multiplies base power by fifty, Super Saiyan 2 by a hundred and Super Saiyan 3 by four hundred. These figures are guide benchmarks, not a strict rule applied in every fight.
Is Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan?
In the 1993 film, yes: Broly is presented as the warrior of the legend, born with a power level of 10,000, whose strength grows without limit. In the 2018 film written by Toriyama, the character is rewritten and his final form is called Full Power Super Saiyan; the hair turns green in both versions.
Further reading
- Our Dragon Ball figures, form by form: Super Saiyan Goku on a light-up base, Goku Super Saiyan 3, Goku Super Saiyan 4, Vegito Super Saiyan 4, Goku Black and Goku Ultra Instinct, 25 cm.
- To wear the colours: our manga soccer jerseys, including the black and red Goku Super Saiyan 4 and black Goku Super Saiyan Blue jerseys.
- Our Dragon Ball chibi figures, Dragon Ball iPhone cases and Dragon Ball posters.
- Our other guides: the 16 best anime transformations, the rarest Dragon Ball figures and the manga gift guide.
