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

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. 

Honoring a true legend. We’ve added a new dynamic dashboard background featuring Xbox 360's Blue Dragon, with art and character designs by Akira Toriyama. pic.twitter.com/ZFj20fX2edMarch 29, 2024

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