The Google Assistant has a neat Dragon Ball Z Easter egg

Damien Wilde | Jan 13 2021 - 2:02 am PT

It’s hard to quantify why software Easter eggs are just so interesting, with Google being no stranger to adding neat little nods to popular culture within all facets of their software and hardware offerings. The latest Easter egg to be uncovered is the Google Assistant’s nod to the late-80s and early-90s anime classic Dragon Ball Z.

Unlike the recent “Do Nothing Mode” that came exclusively to India — in partnership with Cadbury — and does exactly that, the Assistant will actually do something when you ask it to “Go Super Saiyan” (via Android Police).

So, when you ask the Google Assistant to “Go Super Saiyan,” it will mimic the groans and shrieks associated with heading into the high-powered state. Having tried on multiple devices, I’m personally not able to get this Dragon Ball Z Easter egg working here in the UK consistently enough with “UK English” activated at least, meaning this not a completely foolproof Easter egg. To get it to work properly, you might need to set your Assistant language to US English — which likely downloads the necessary resources to pull the Easter egg.

Your Assistant will try and cry out during the transformation process, but there’s a little bit of garbling as it reaches a full power stage. As AP notes, it’s probably a nod to the first time that Goku actually “goes” Super Saiyan for the very time in the anime, but it’s a neat little throwback to the show and associated manga.

So you can add a Dragon Ball Z option to the growing list of Google Assistant Easter eggs. If you have a favorite or even one that you’ve found that we haven’t seen or heard before, be sure to let us know down in the comments section below.