Goku (also known as Son Goku) is the main character in the animated television series and manga entitled Dragon Ball along with other spin-offs and sequels. The character was created by Akira Toriyama. Goku is an energetic and cheerful boy who has superhuman strength and the tail of a monkey.
The character was first introduced in the chapter of Dragon Ball comics entitled Bulma and Son Goku which was published on December 3, 1984. Son Goku is a martial arts student who met Bulma as they both tried to find the seven magical dragon balls which when gathered together will summon the dragon Shenron who can grant their wishes.
At first, Goku was thought to be a normal human with super strength. However, as the story progressed, it was revealed that he is from another planet and that he belongs to a race of warriors called Saiyans. His monkey tail makes him transform involuntarily into a giant destructive monkey during full moon. His tail was cut later on to stop his undesirable transformation.
The story of Goku started from when he was a young kid until he grew up, got married, had children, and had grandchildren. Through his story, he encountered many opponents, some of which became his allies and good friends- an example is another alien named Piccolo who used to be his enemy but has later on turned to be his good friend and a good uncle-like figure to his first son named Gohan.
Goku married Chi Chi who is the daughter of the Ox King. They had two sons-Gohan (named after Goku's adoptive grandfather) and Goten- who grew up to be strong fighters just like their father. The story also showed how Gohan grew up, how he tried to live a normal life as a student and a teenager, how he got a girlfriend, and how he had a daughter named Pan who is Goku's first grandchild.
Originally, Goku was sent to Earth as a baby by the Saiyan race to conquer the planet. Fortuitously, when he was adopted by the hermit Gohan, he suffered from severe amnesia and forgot about his mission to conquer Earth and destroy all its life forms. Now, he serves as the protector of the Earth from all creatures who want to destroy it.
He fought many epic battles and faced many strong opponents that killed him and some of his friends. They are often brought back to life by gathering the dragon balls and asking Shenron to revive them. Some of Goku's great opponents include his evil brother Raditz, Vegeta who is the prince of the Saiyan race who eventually became his ally, Frieza who made him transform into the first Super Saiyan which is extremely powerful and has floating golden hair, Cell who killed him, and Majin Buu who caused destruction all over the world.
The continuity of the story made it necessary to have many sequels including Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Z Kai.
Many Goku games or Dragon Ball games can be found online as flash games. There are also various Goku games or Dragon Ball games that have been released through the years. Recent Goku games or Dragon Ball games include Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2, and Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butoden.