Goku’s father Bardock is a surprisingly popular Dragon Ball character, so much so that he was brought back in the non-canon Super Dragon Ball Heroes manga in a major role that ultimately led to him battling his own son. And, to everyone’s surprise, Bardock more than held his own, despite using a much-maligned transformation: Super Saiyan 3.

In chapter #8 of Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission, a manga based on the web series of the same name, which is in turn based on a popular video game, Bardock (in his persona as the “Warrior in Black”) finds himself battling against Jiren, before Goku switches in. Goku transforms into his Super Saiyan 3 form in order to match Bardock’s current state, but quickly realizes that despite using the same transformation, his opponent is leagues ahead in terms of raw power.

After sparring in that form for a bit, Goku decides to step it up to his Super Saiyan Blue transformation, and eventually to Ultra Instinct, all with Bardock still operating at Super Saiyan 3.

Bardock’s Potential May Well Have Exceeded Even Goku’s

Super Dragon Ball Heroes is not considered canonical to the main Dragon Ball storyline. While the canonical Bardock never really had the chance to obtain the highest tiers of Super Saiyan, his time-traveling counterpart proves that he’s got talent when it comes to transforming. Goku doesn’t realize that he’s battling against his own father, but is, of course, giving it his all, as always. Goku does ultimately manage to defeat Bardock’s Super Saiyan 3 with Ultra Instinct, but it’s still a difficult fight for him, even with a form that is much more powerful. This suggests that Bardock has at least the level of aptitude for Super Saiyan transformations as Goku, and quite likely a much greater level.

Super Saiyan 3 is well known for being an underused transformation, as it consumes energy at a rapid rate. For Bardock to be able to maintain the transformation for so long, and at a higher power level than Goku, he must have some tremendous energy reserves at his disposal. If given the chance to attain higher-level transformations like Super Saiyan God/Blue, or Ultra Instinct, Bardock might be able to overpower even Goku, making him arguably the strongest Saiyan in the series. Clearly, despite being categorized as a “low class warrior,” Bardock had some exceptionally good genes, at least when it comes to Saiyan transformation, and Bardock’s recent return in Dragon Ball Super proved this.

Unfortunately, despite his popularity, Bardock is unlikely to ever be granted access to the top-tier transformations that Goku is using, so a direct comparison may not be possible. Still, Goku acknowledging that Bardock’s Super Saiyan 3 is superior in power is significant, and if that increase in power is relative, there’s no reason it wouldn’t translate to other forms as well, with enough training and mastery of the transformation. It may be that Bardock, not Goku, has the greatest potential of any Saiyan in Dragon Ball if only he had the chance to achieve it.