Microsoft pays tribute to Akira Toriyama with new background featuring the Dragon Ball creator's designs from cult classic Xbox 360 JRPG Blue Dragon

Blue Dragon
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

17 years ago, Akira Toriyama provided art for the cult classic Xbox 360 JRPG Blue Dragon, and after the Dragon Ball creator's death, Microsoft is paying tribute with a piece of dynamic background art for modern Xbox consoles.

"Honoring a true legend," the official Xbox account says on Twitter. "We’ve added a new dynamic dashboard background featuring Xbox 360's Blue Dragon, with art and character designs by Akira Toriyama." The background itself is a remix of the game's original box art, with some light bits of animation to give it a bit of dynamism. 

If you want to use the background yourself, head to the general section of your Xbox's settings menu, then choose personalization, background, and then dynamic background. The new Blue Dragon option will be the first one you see - at least until another dynamic background gets added to the rotation.

Blue Dragon launched in Japan in 2006 and worldwide in 2007. Supervised by Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, it was published by Microsoft as an Xbox 360 exclusive as part of the company's drive to make the platform a home for big Japanese games. It enjoyed decent reviews - the one big knock is that it hewed too close to JRPG traditions - and has become something of a cult classic in the years since release.

It only takes one look at the game's character art to recognize that you're looking at the work of Akira Toriyama. The legendary mangaka had a long association with video games, providing art for the Dragon Quest series and arguably the best JRPG ever made in Chrono Trigger. Following his death earlier this month, the creators of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest paid tribute to Toriyama and his work as well.

Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama's last contribution to the manga was a drawing of Piccolo waving goodbye, and fans couldn't have asked for a better send-off.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

Read more
The Legend of Dragoon
Beloved PS1 JRPG Legend of Dragoon wasn't meant to be a Final Fantasy 7 killer, Super Mario RPG's battle designer just said "I want to make a new RPG"
A meeting inside one of Chrono Cross' cathedrals
Square Enix remembers that Chrono Trigger exists, announcing various new projects as it celebrates the Dragon Ball, Final Fantasy, and Dragon Quest royalty behind the cult JRPG
A painting shows a woman sleeping as a demon with three eyes bites her chest.
Final Fantasy 7 concept artist Yoshitaka Amano's new gallery exhibit summarizes everything I love about the Square Enix games, even though he might have stood me up
Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy creator plans to make another game before he retires, and this one is inspired by Final Fantasy 6
Scalebound
Devil May Cry and Bayonetta veteran Hideki Kamiya would still "love to make" his canceled dragon action RPG Scalebound: "Let's do it, Phil!"
Lunar Remastered Collection
"Will today’s players still enjoy a game from 30 years ago?": JRPG icon Kei Shigema says he was thrilled to see Lunar getting a remaster even after all this time
Latest in JRPG
Lunar Remastered Collection
"Will today’s players still enjoy a game from 30 years ago?": JRPG icon Kei Shigema says he was thrilled to see Lunar getting a remaster even after all this time
A screenshot of a pink-haired protagonist in Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, surrounded by other BLADE soldiers and a Skell.
I spent 10 years waiting for the answers to Xenoblade Chronicles X's haunting cliffhanger ending, and it was worth the wait
Metaphor: ReFantazio anime cutscene screenshot shows Strohl, the protagonist, Gallica, and Hulkenberg looking ahead with shocked expressions.
Metaphor: ReFantazio dev once thought turn-based JRPG combat "was starting to get outdated," but now thinks the format has a "long future ahead"
The Legend of Dragoon
Beloved PS1 JRPG Legend of Dragoon wasn't meant to be a Final Fantasy 7 killer, Super Mario RPG's battle designer just said "I want to make a new RPG"
Screenshot of a Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition protagonist with short pink hair and a shocked expression.
Sci-fi JRPG Xenoblade Chronicles X's overpowered combat system is back in Definitive Edition, and it's taken fans mere hours to deal millions of damage in 1 hit: "New Arts are so broken"
A screenshot from an animated cutscene in Persona 4 Golden, showing Teddie and protagonist Yu Narukami stood looking surprised.
Persona 4 fans are in shambles as website domain for "p4re" appears, potentially following in the footsteps of the Persona 3 Reload announcement
Latest in News
The T6 Power Armor
I'm about to spend over $400 on this iconic T60 Power Armor figurine because "Communism is the very definition of failure"
A large, muscly bloke eating noodles at a bar while two people point pistols at him from behind in Cyberpunk 2077.
The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developer enters into partnership with Pokemon Go owner to create a new game "set within one of CD Projekt's IPs"
Owen Cooper in Adolescence
Sorry, Adolescence season 2 isn't happening, despite its 99% Rotten Tomatoes score and record-breaking Netflix audience
Daredevil: Born Again episode 6
Daredevil: Born Again's long-awaited moment has been called "pure cinema" featuring one of the "best lines in comic book movie history"
Daredevil looking mean and moody.
Daredevil: Born Again episode 5 just nodded to Thanos and the Avengers movies in the most obscure way
The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast assemble
Fantastic Four star says the Marvel movie "will go down in history" for rejuvenating the MCU, "in the same way the Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther hit"