Dragon Ball Z: Shin Butōden (ドラゴンボールZ 真武闘伝 Doragon Bōru Zetto Shin Butōden, lit. Dragon Ball Z: True Fighting Story) is a fighting video game released only in Japan on November 17, 1995, on Sega Saturn.
Overview[]
Shin Butōden is the fourth and final installment in the Butōden series. It features 27 playable characters, their sprites being those used in the earlier game Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22. Also, the game's introduction is made with scenes recycled from the introduction of Ultimate Battle 22.
Game Modes[]
Battle Mode[]
The Battle Mode includes the regular type matches. It includes the Story Mode, the Versus Mode, and the Group Battle Mode.
- Story Mode
The Story Mode of Shin Butōden ranges from the Androids Saga to the Cell Games Saga. An ending is shown when it is completed.
- Versus Mode
One on one battle mode. The following choices are available:
- 1P VS CPU: single battle with a chosen opponent.
- 1P VS 2P: single two player battles.
- CPU VS CPU: pick two fighters to watch battle.
- Group Battle Mode
In Group Battle, players get to create a team of five characters, and fight against either another player or the computer. Both players can pick the same character, but cannot pick a character more than once. When the winner of each match goes on to fight the next opponent, the remaining life bar is extended by one half of the energy left in the Power Bar. The winning team's portraits are shown over the match results at the end of all the battles.
Tournament Mode[]
One to eight players can compete in a World Martial Arts Tournament. Each player chooses their character, and after all players have selected their characters, the computer selects and controls any unused tournament slots. On the tournament options board, the life meter level and power meter level can be raised or decreased before starting the tournament.
Then, the World Tournament Announcer announces the days matches. The first round of battles is the elimination round, which consists of four matches; the winners of which advance to the semi finals and the losers games are over. The second round of battles is the semi finals, which consists of two matches; these winners go on to the final and the losers battle each other for third place. The third round is the losers of the semi finals battling for third place. The fourth round is the finals, the winners of the semi finals battle each other for the top position. After this round ends, a picture of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-place winners is shown over the credits, with black and white pictures of the various matches shown randomly.
Mr. Satan Mode[]
In the Mr. Satan Mode, the player controls Mr. Satan who is trying to raise enough zeni to pay off his Ƶ10,000 debt to Android 18 from the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament. At the Jaguar Dome, a group of six fighters are chosen at random to battle one another, and the player bets on matches. He starts with Ƶ1,000, and must get Ƶ10,000. A minimum of Ƶ10 and a maximum of Ƶ3,000 can be bet.
Mr. Satan can cheat by using several items, such as banana peels, guns, and dynamite, but he must buy those offerings. When the matches start, Mr. Satan is on the side of the ring and can move left and right to throw things into the ring in order to sway the outcome of the match. Both characters can be damaged or powered up by what is tossed into the ring.
The Item Configure lets the player place the items that are in use on the various controller buttons. The items are:
- Banana peel – Makes character slip and fall over.
- Gun – Damages character, but not much.
- Mine – Goes off when stepped on.
- Red bottle – Increase characters health by 10.
- Red jar – Increase characters power by 10.
- Flashlight – Blinds all non blocking characters.
- Blue bottle – Increase characters health by 30.
- Blue jar – Increase characters power by 30.
- Dynamite – Goes off after a short time.
Before the battle starts, Mr. Satan can "give gifts to a fighter", "talk with fighter", or "prey to the heavens". To give gifts, the player chooses the fighter he would like to give the gift and the gift he would like to give (the gifts can raise health, power, or strength), then a spinning wheel determines if the fighter will accept the offering (the white highlighted word is no, and the yellow is yes). "Talk with a fighter" lets Mr. Satan meet one of the fighters and see if they feel confident about the match going their way; the wheel is spinned to see their answer. "Prey to the Heavens" lets Mr. Satan pray to the heavens to let the fighter picked win; the wheel is spinned once again to see if he was successful. These last two options have no real factor in the outcome of the match.
Characters[]
Playable characters[]
Returning from Super Butōden
Returning from Super Butōden 2
Returning from Buyū Retsuden
- Recoome
- Captain Ginyu
- Frieza (Final Form) (while Frieza first appeared in Super Butōden, he first appeared in his powered-down final form in Buyū Retsuden)
- Krillin
Returning from Super Butōden 3
Returning from Ultimate Battle 22
- Tien Shinhan
- Zarbon
- Great Saiyaman
- Super Saiyan Gotenks
- Super Buu
There are also five secret characters, who are also secret characters in Ultimate Battle 22. Those characters are:
- Super Saiyan 3 Goku*
- Super Gogeta* (mislabeled "Vegito")
- Kid Goku*
- Master Roshi*
- Mr. Satan* (while Mr. Satan appeared first in Super Butōden and Super Butōden 2, he appeared as a Non-playable character)
Other characters[]
Battle Stages[]
- Mountain Road
- Namek
- Rocky Canyon
- Cell Games Arena
- Hyperbolic Time Chamber
- Majin Buu's house
- Ruined City
- Babidi's Spaceship
- Zoon
- Under a large tree in the rain
- Kame House
- World Martial Arts Tournament
- Jaguar Dome (Mr. Satan Mode only)
Trivia[]
- Unlike its twin brother game Ultimate Battle 22, this game was never released outside Japan and had 2D backgrounds.
- Like Ultimate Battle 22, this game marks the return of almost every character from the Super Butoden series. Missing characters are Frieza (100% Power), Dr. Gero, Imperfect Cell, Cell Jr., Zangya, Bojack, Broly, and adult Gohan (Super Saiyan 2).