Cover of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai for PlayStation 2
The Dragon Ball Z: Budokai series is a series of fighting games based on the Dragon Ball series and developed by Dimps for PlayStation 2, Gamecube, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3. The series debuted in 2002, and consists of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai (2002 [PS2], 2003 [GameCube]), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (2003; PS2, GameCube), Dragon Ball Z 2 V (special update of Budokai 2 [PS2]), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 (2004; PS2), Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai (2006; PSP), Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road (2007; PSP), Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (2008; PS3, Xbox 360), Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World (2008; PS2), Dragonball Evolution (2009; PSP), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai HD Collection (2012; Xbox 360, PS3), and Dragon Ball: Xenoverse (2015; Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Steam).
Gameplay
The gameplay of the Budokai games is similar to the Tekken games in that they have 3D arenas and the camera is angled to the right side of the player. However, there are differences; such as the Budokai series has projectile attacks, like energy waves and energy balls, which are entirely absent in the Tekken series. Also, the Budokai games have a ki meter which enables the user to use energy attacks and transformation, which the Tekken games do not have.
The Budokai series plays like a typical 3D fighting game. As well as including the regular punch and kick buttons, there is the ability to shoot Ki Blasts, which can also be used in specific special moves. The special moves are mainly taken from the ability to teleport, fly freely, and have Beam Struggles between two character's beam attacks. Although these mechanics have stuck with the series, other ideas such as the "Hyper Mode" were later replaced in favor of other techniques.
Budokai games
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, released as Dragon Ball Z in Japan, was published by Atari for the PlayStation 2 on November 2, 2002 in Europe and on December 3, 2002 in North America, and for the Nintendo GameCube on October 28, 2003 in North America and on November 14, 2003 in Europe. It was the first Dragon Ball Z game to be released in all Europe and aside from specific releases in France, Spain and Portugal like it was with the earlier games. The game was released in Japan by Bandai on the PlayStation 2 on February 13, 2003, and on the Nintendo GameCube on November 28, 2003.
The game follows the Dragon Ball Z timeline starting with Goku and Piccolo's fight with Raditz up to Gohan's final battle with Cell, and has a total of 23 playable characters. Features included in the game are a story mode, a versus mode, a tournament stage, a practice mode, and an items shop which allows the player to purchase various customization abilities using Zeni gained through the various challenges in the story mode and tournament victories to customize and make the most powerful warriors. The story mode also includes a few "what if" episodes to play, retelling iconic events in the Dragon Ball history with a few twists. A cel-shading effect is added to the graphics in the GameCube version.
Dragon Ball Z Budokai is highly praised for it's Story Mode, which follows closely to the plot of the anime, and it's use of 3D cutscenes.
The North American versions feature English voice acting from the North American FUNimation dub, while the European versions feature the original Japanese voice acting and several European languages text translations.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, released as Dragon Ball Z 2 in Japan, is the sequel to Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, still developed by Dimps and published by Atari for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. It was released for the PlayStation 2 in North America on December 4, 2003, and on the Nintendo GameCube on December 15, 2004. The game was published in Japan by Bandai, and released for the PlayStation 2 on February 5, 2004.
The game's features include a tournament stage, versus mode, and an item shop. The story mode in the game is known as Dragon Adventure and plays like a board game, as the player assembles a team of Z Fighters to challenge the various enemies in the series starting from the Saiyan Saga up to the final Kid Buu Saga. The game has a total of 31 playable characters, including fusions of different fighters and Majin Buu's various forms.
The Japanese version of the game added several new costumes, as well as a new stage in the game's story mode. Some of the added costumes were added to the North American release of the GameCube version. Once again, the North American versions feature English voice acting from the North American FUNimation dub. The European PlayStation 2 version also features it, while the later European GameCube version switched back to the original Japanese voice acting, because of negative feedback from most European Dragon Ball fans which were used to the Japanese dub since the 16-bit era.
A remake titled Dragon Ball Z 2 V added several new features. The biggest of all was the addition of Cooler.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, released as Dragon Ball Z 3 in Japan, was published by Atari for the PlayStation 2 like its predecessors. It was released on November 16, 2004 in North America in both a standard and Limited Edition release, the latter of which included a DVD featuring a behind the scenes looks at the game's development. In Europe, it was released on November 19, 2004.
The game's story mode yet again plays through the events of the Dragon Ball Z timeline, and the game includes several characters and events from the Dragon Ball Z movies (like Cooler, Broly, and Bardock), Dragon Ball GT (like Super Saiyan 4 and Omega Shenron), and the original Dragon Ball series itself (Kid Goku). Other features the game includes are a versus mode, an items shop, a tournament, and a battle ranking stage where the player has to challenge the AI in a hundred fighter challenge. Moving a spot above after beating who ever is next in the ranking. The fighting mechanics have also been enhanced from the preceding 2 games making the game closer to its anime counterpart in terms of combat (which was well received by fans of the series and gamers alike). Budokai 3 has a roster of 42 playable characters.
The game released in Japan by Bandai on February 10, 2005. Like Budokai 2 before it, the Japanese version of Budokai 3 added several costumes not present in the North American and European versions. The North American Greatest Hits version of Budokai 3 adds these costumes, as well as the option to switch the audio to Japanese for the first time in North America. This version was also released in Europe as a re-release of the game under the title Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 - Director's Cut. From this release onward, all Dragon Ball Z games in North America and Europe were released with dual voice language options in English and Japanese in order to please all fans. This was also the first game to introduce Beam Struggles in the series.
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai was released in North America on March 7, 2006 and in Europe on May 25, 2006.
The game's story mode is based on the events of the movie Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn. The choices the player makes in the story determine how the story evolves. Another mode is the Arcade mode, a single-player mode that lets you brawl against the CPU in order to fight and gain the Dragon Balls. Next is the Z trial mode, which consists of two different types of play: survival, where you fight against CPU-controlled opponents for as long as you can, and time attack, where you see how fast you can make it through a predetermined set of opponents. Finally, there is the Profile Card mode in which the players will have their in-game character profile cards that lists their name and power level. The player can design their own card and customize them with the items from the game's item store.
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road, known simply as Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai 2 in Japan and Europe, is the sequel to Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai.
The game features a brand new story that tells the tale of Majin Buu being released in Future Trunks' timeline. As Majin Buu is too strong for Trunks to handle alone, he uses his Time Machine to recruit the original Z Warriors for assistance, eventually succeeding in the destruction of Majin Buu.
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit was published in North America and Australia by Atari, and in Japan and Europe by Namco Bandai under the Bandai label. It was released in Japan on June 5, 2008, in Europe on June 6, 2008, North America on June 10, 2008, and in Australia on July 3, 2008.
The game allows the player the opportunity to let their character battle other characters controlled by the in game AI, or another player both on or offline depending on the mode of play the player or players choose. The game's Z Chronicles story mode allows players the chance to relive key points of the three sagas within the Dragon Ball story, with the aid of items called Drama Pieces that give what has been called an immense Dragon Ball experience. Burst Limit also dropped the inclusion of Beam Struggles.
The game became a top rated title for the PlayStation 3, and was nominated for a Spike Video Game Award for best fighting game.
Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World
Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World was published in North America by Atari and in Europe and Japan by Namco Bandai under the Bandai label for the PlayStation 2. It was released in North America on November 4, 2008, in Japan on December 4, 2008, in Europe on December 5, 2008. It is the last Dragon Ball Z game to be released on the PlayStation 2 console.
Dragon Ball Z Infinite World added emphasis on the inclusion of Dragon Ball GT characters as the anime had been fully released in North America and there was a high demand for the inclusion of these characters because of the consumer's demand for more, submersible playable characters.
The game is a fighting game, the player pits their character against other characters controlled by the in game AI or by another player, which depends on the mode that the player or players are in. The Dragon Mission game mode features other gameplay elements, making the gameplay less linear. Infinite World also cut the World Tournament mode in favor of a mode similar to the Dragon Arena mode in Budokai 3.
HD Collection
Main article: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai HD Collection
Photo of the Dragon Ball Z stand at Japan Expo 2012
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai HD Collection was announced and shown at the Japan Expo convention in France in July 2012. The game includes Budokai 1 and Budokai 3, and was confirmed to be released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in winter 2012 in Europe and North America. It was then released on November 2, 2012 in Europe and November 6, 2012 in North America.
Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection was chosen to only revive Budokai for it's Story Mode, and Budokai 3 for it's in game fighting mechanics and popularity. There is currently no plans for a sequel.
Dragon Ball: Xenoverse
This is the latest Budokai game announced for consoles, and the first game in the series to be released for PC via Steam. Unlike the other Budokai games, this game features full 3D gameplay similar to the Budokai Tenkaichi series. This game also features a character creation system with five different races. Players can create their own Earthling, Saiyan, Namekian, Majin, Or Frieza's race as well as create a female character for most of these races.
It will feature an original story not seen in the anime or manga. The story will feature the Time Patrol group led by Time Patrol Trunks (Future Trunks) and the Supreme Kai of Time, featuring the new character Future Warrior, trying to undo the machinations of the evil Time Breakers.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse takes a lot of inspiration and carries over features from Dragon Ball Heroes and Dragon Ball Online.
Playable characters
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In addition, some characters have costumes based on different characters, such as Piccolo having a Nail costume in most games and a King Piccolo costume in some versions of Budokai 3, Frieza having Kuriza and Cooler costumes in Dragon Ball Z 2 V, among others.
Trivia
-Dragon Ball Z Budokai briefly shows Goku's fight against Piccolo Jr. at the World Tournament in the first cutscene of the Story Mode.
Cellin in Dragon Ball Z Budokai
-Dragon Ball Z Budokai also features a "what-if" level in the Story Mode upon completion where Cell absorbs Krillin, resulting in the creation of Cellin, a fusion of the 2 characters. Cellin was intended to be playable as an alternate costume for Cell Jr., but the developers decided to not have Cell Jr. as playable until much later in the series.
-Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2 V features a secret Story Mode board where Tiencha (a fusion of Yamcha and Tien) must fight Kuriza, Frieza's son. Kuriza is the only character in the Budokai series to not have come directly from the original Dragon Ball storyline, but rather Akira Toriyama's spin-off manga, Nekomajin.
Kuriza in his final form from Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2 V
-Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 was the only title in the home console series to not have 3D cutscenes.
-Dragonball Evolution was the only title in the series to not include the feature of flying.
-The Shin Budokai PSP series are the first games to feature a unique Story Mode that defies the main storyline.
-An alternate costume for Videl is accessible through the Japanese version of Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 via Action Replay, which swaps Videl's model with Bulma's Training Mode model.
-Nappa's attire when fighting Goku is only available as a costume in the first title of the series and Dragon Ball Xenoverse, despite this being the only other attire we've seen Nappa in the original storyline.
Nappa's attire when fighting Goku
-Despite Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit being released for the Xbox 360 and PS3, the next title in the series, Infinite World, was released for PS2.