Super Saiyan 4

"That's right, you may have anticipated my attacks so far, but you have no idea what I am capable of now... and what you don't know... could hurt you."
— Goku ("Raising the Stakes")

Super Saiyan 4 (超サイヤ人フォー) is a Saiyan transformation present in the anime-only sequel Dragon Ball GT. This transformation is a combination of both the humanoid Saiyan and the Golden Great Ape. The only way a Saiyan can attain Super Saiyan 4 is if they can already turn Super Saiyan, transforms into a Golden Great Ape, and then regains conscious control over the form. After this form is attained once, it can be accessed at any point.

The Super Saiyan 4 form was designed by Toei Animation's character designer Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru. The unique characteristics of the form makes it seperate from the core Super Saiyan line of transformations.^[4]

Overview

Appearance and power

VegetaSS4DBGT01 — Vegeta's Super Saiyan 4 form seen for the first time

In this form, the Saiyan's hair color differs, the same goes for the tail and the body is covered in red fur. A Saiyan in this form also possesses a shadow trim around the eyes and over the eyelids that varies in color, such as crimson. The hair is lengthened, but not nearly as long as a Super Saiyan 3's. The aura in this form loses the arcs of electricity and replaces it with sparkles and also becoming flame-like. In the case of the Fusion Dance warrior Gogeta, the coloration of the aforementioned features seemingly switch, as Gogeta's hair became a bright shade of red whereas his fur became a dark shade of brown and the trim around his eyes were black instead of red. The Super Saiyan 4 form draws the power of its users up to their absolute limit.^[4] The massive power and speed enhancements brought on by this form easily make it the strongest Saiyan form in the GT series. For example, while Goku's Super Saiyan 3 form was almost unable to even faze Baby Vegeta, as soon as Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan 4, their roles in power became polar opposites, with Baby Vegeta being almost unable to hurt Goku at all.

The users of this transformation have powerful signature techniques. For example, Goku develops an attack he calls the 10x Kamehameha, as it is ten times (10x) stronger than the Super Kamehameha, while Vegeta, in his Super Saiyan 4 state, uses an attack he calls the Final Shine Attack, which is a more powerful version of his Final Flash attack (although, Vegeta is first seen using this attack against Super 17 with one hand while in his first Super Saiyan form). Like the Super Saiyan God form, this form also seems to allow the user to absorb energy attacks. This is shown when Goku absorbs the Revenge Death Ball Final attack by Great Ape Baby and turns it into a 10x Kamehameha.

Goku ascended SS4 — Goku ascending to Super Saiyan 4

Unlike the Super Saiyan 3's strain due to the utilization in ki, this form does not require as much energy to maintain as Super Saiyan 3, allowing the user to stay in the state at a much longer duration. While its ki consumption does not strain the user himself, it does become straining when used in conjunction with Fusion Dance, significantly shortening the fusion time limit; as evidenced by Gogeta defusing within ten minutes instead of the regular half-hour limit. It also appears that the form makes the individual larger in height and muscularity; in scenes with Goku standing next to others such as Gohan, Goten and Trunks, Goku appears much taller and bulkier than all of them, even though in his normal state, he is relatively around the same size.

In Dragon Ball Z: Scouter Battle Taikan Kamehameha, Super Saiyan 4 is 10x a regular Super Saiyan in power (matching the 10x Kamehameha multiplier).

Usage

GokuSuperSaiyan4DBGT — Goku's Super Saiyan 4 form seen for the first time

The Super Saiyan 4 form is first achieved by Goku after transforming into a Golden Great Ape and witnessing his granddaughter Pan crying to calm him down. In this new form, Goku has enough strength to dominate Super Baby Vegeta 2, whose attacks (including the Revenge Death Ball) have no effect on Goku in this form. However, after Baby Vegeta transformed into a Golden Great Ape, things are far more even but despite Baby Vegeta's new power (even gripping Goku between his hands Goku still broke out of it with minor difficulties). Eventually, the two have a double Knock-out. Baby Vegeta is rejuvenated by Bulma's Blutz Waves Generator however, and Goku borrows energy from his friends and family and gains enough power to defeat Great Ape Baby. He finally defeats the Tuffle parasite with a powerful 10x Kamehameha, forcing Baby to flee Vegeta's body and attempt to escape inside a spaceship. Just before Baby can escape, Goku launches one final Kamehameha towards the spaceship, which hurls Baby into the Sun, finally destroying him.

Goku's next opponent upon achieving the form is Super 17, who has easily defeated the other Z Fighters and proved to be Super Saiyan 4 Goku's first real challenge. Because of his energy absorbing abilities, Super 17 is able to turn all of Goku's energy attacks into his own power, making him stronger with each attack. Eventually, Goku reverts to his base form and kills the android (with the assistance of Android 18) using his Dragon Fist attack followed by a Kamehameha.

VegetaAndGokuSS401 — Vegeta (left) and Goku (right) as Super Saiyan 4s

Super Saiyan 4 proves to be incredibly helpful when Goku uses it to take down most of the evil Shadow Dragons. However, he meets his match in Syn Shenron, the strongest of the seven Shadow Dragons, who absorbs all of the Dragon Balls and becomes Omega Shenron. Omega Shenron's power proves to be far greater than that of a Super Saiyan 4, and Goku is thrashed around for most of the fight. Seeing how bad this situation has become, Vegeta uses Bulma's Blutz Wave Generator to grow a tail and become a Golden Great Ape like Goku. When he finally gains control, Vegeta is successful in becoming a Super Saiyan 4.

However, even as a team, Goku and Vegeta still stand no chance against Omega Shenron. It is not until they fuse into Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta that their power vastly exceeds that of the Shadow Dragon. However, Gogeta spends too much time playing around with Omega Shenron and the fusion wears off in fifteen minutes rather than the usual 30 minutes, due to his own tremendous power, ultimately failing to finish Omega Shenron off in time (but manages to land a Big Bang Kamehameha on Omega which made him regurgitate the Dragon Balls, reverting him back into Syn Shenron). Goku eventually kills Omega Shenron with the Universal Spirit Bomb.

Video game appearances

Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout (Goku)
Dragon Ball GT: Transformation (Goku)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 (Goku, Vegeta, Gogeta)
Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World (Goku, Vegeta, Gogeta)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi (Goku, Vegeta, Gogeta)
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road (Goku)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (Goku, Vegeta, Gogeta)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (Goku, Vegeta, Gogeta)
Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi (Gogeta)
Dragon Ball Heroes (Goku, Vegeta, Broly)

Trivia

Toriyama SSj4 DragonBox — Akira Toriyama's drawing of Super Saiyan 4 Goku

While the Super Saiyan forms 1-3 have gold hair, the Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan 4 forms do not. They could be different types of Saiyan transformations though, but they have been officially stated to be part of the Super Saiyan line.
Goku rapidly ages back to an adult whenever he becomes a Super Saiyan 4. Upon transforming for the first time, Goku says "This body and its amazing power is needed right now to defeat Baby."
When transforming into Super Saiyan 4, both Goku and Vegeta lose their shirts, but when they revert to their base forms, their shirts can be seen again (however, Gogeta still has his vest on when he is a Super Saiyan 4). The clothes are even repaired; in the Super 17 Saga, when Goku attempted to sacrifice himself with Super 17, he reverted to his child state, and his gi was fully intact despite the fact that it had been previously blasted off.
When Goku goes Super Saiyan 4, his clothes change compared with his child clothes, including his size and his shirt part is removed by the transformation leaving him only with clothes up to the waist. When Vegeta goes Super Saiyan 4, his clothes also change from his normal attire. In addition to losing his shirt his gloves also become full gloves when they are normally fingerless gloves.
When Goku reverts to his base form from Super Saiyan 4, Goku still has his tail. Yet, when Vegeta reverts to his base form from Super Saiyan 4, his tail vanishes; this is most likely due to the fact that he achieved this form via non-natural means (the Blutz Wave Generator) and not via the usual method of absorbing Blutz Waves through his tail due to his lack of a tail.

Super Saiyan 3 - Ape — The Super Saiyan 4-like mental image that appears in *Dragon Ball Z*

When Goku first transforms into a Super Saiyan 3 on-screen (in Dragon Ball Z), there is a vision in his mind of him transforming from a Great Ape, to a more monkey-like Saiyan, to his adult form, and finally into a baby. The monkey-like form bears a large resemblance to Super Saiyan 4.
It is hypothesized by Bulma that only full-blooded Saiyans can achieve the Super Saiyan 4 form; however, it is equally plausible that the part-Saiyan children of Goku and Vegeta merely never became Golden Great Apes by sheer coincidence, and that Vegeta did not originally transform in the first time because it was Baby himself, not Vegeta, that was in control. This would mean that any Super Saiyan that could obtain Golden Great Ape status could theoretically become a Super Saiyan 4.
It could be possible that Goku is not the first Saiyan to achieve Super Saiyan 4. This is due to the fact that Old Kai already knew about the form.
- A highly debated subject, many fans believe the Super Saiyan 4 form to be the true form of the Original Super Saiyan, first spoke of by Vegeta in the Namek Saga. Vegeta states in his monologue, that "the Super Saiyan could only maintain his maximum power in the transformed state". Also, Elder Supreme Kai appears to know of the Super Saiyan 4 form, cementing the thought that Super Saiyan 4 has existed before Goku attained it, most probably by a previous Super Saiyan. The Super Saiyan 4 form even has enough power to break through a wish made with the Dragon Balls, as it turns GT Kid Goku into an adult again.
The only four Saiyans to have reached this transformation in the series have shown differences in appearance among one another:

Goku's variation is the first to be seen. When he transforms into a Super Saiyan 4, he has scarlet red fur on the top half of his body, his hair remains black, and his eyes change to golden-yellow.
Vegeta's variation is the second seen. When he transforms into a Super Saiyan 4, his hair turns dark brown, the fur on the top half of his body is crimson red, and his eyes are green.
Gogeta's variation is a completely different coloration from Goku's and Vegeta's. In this form, Gogeta's hair is red, the fur on the top half of his body is brown, and the eyes change to a blue color. The reasons for these alterations in Gogeta's Super Saiyan 4 form from Goku and Vegeta's forms are unknown.
Broly's variation is also different. In this form Broly has black hair like Goku, but his fur is a blood red color. Broly's variation takes on numerous traits of the Legendary Super Saiyan forms, including a much larger and more muscular body, and he loses the irises and pupils in his eyes.