Dragon Ball Z: Budokai

"Best Anime-Related Game Ever!!!"

When I first saw the trailer for this game, I really wasn’t too impressed. Sure, I like DBZ, but DBZ fighting games typically aren’t all that good. This game, however, is definitely not a typical DBZ fighting game. This game actually makes sense, and is actually not bad at all.

Controls and Gameplay: 6.5/10- This is where the game, in my opinion, lacked the most. The controls buttons for Punch, Kick, Ki, and Guard work well and so does the “gathering Ki” idea. Also, the throw idea also works just fine (there maybe could’ve been more than one throw per person), and the controls, in general, are very responsive.

Though the sidestep they used works just fine, sidestepping could’ve been made easier if you didn’t have to press Guard+Up to sidestep up or Guard+Down to sidestep down,. Flying, in my view, could’ve been included (other that being knocked up into the air and being knocked backed down to the ground).

One of the major problems in this area is the differentiation between the characters’ moves. Although they may be named differently, Goku’s Continuous Kamehameha and Freiza’s Falling Star (I think that’s the right name…) look very similar and are, in fact, the same move. All the moves for every person, however, aren’t at all similar. In fact, each person has at least one special move that belongs to him alone that nobody has a move similar to (Goku’s Warp Kamehameha, Ginyu’s Body Change, Piccolo’s Special Beam, etc…)

This section got so low of a score for the moves that sound different but are actually pretty similar. This doesn’t, however, doesn’t detract from the overall game play in any way, as it is a very addictive game.

Graphics: 10/10-No problems here, just us Saiyins. Contrary to everyone’s first impression, the graphics actually fit DBZ perfectly; you want a video game about DBZ to have believable, cartoonish graphics, just like you want Tekken to look more realistic.
Also, I’ll come back to this later, but the voice acting has near perfect sync with each character’s lips.

Story: 10/10-If I could, I’d give this part ten-and-a-half out of ten, as it is really that good.
The story mode is practically perfect in every way, and more!

Sounds: 10/10-Again, no problems here! The characters have the English dubbed voices from the original English voice actors (the option to change to the Japanese voices would have been nice), and the character’s lips match the words nearly perfect. The background music isn’t that bad, either, and they even used a couple of songs from the actual DBZ series.

Replay Value: 10/10-The capsule system will be mentioned here and it should also be included in the Gameplay section, for it pertains to that, also. The capsule system is your special ki attacks, special physical attacks, and different items to boost attack, defense, etc. You buy capsules with zenie (you get zenie by getting winning the World Tournament or getting runner-up in it) and equip them on your character to “create your own type of character.” Collecting these capsules is what greatly adds to the Replay value of this game. Also, you only start out with 5 characters; the rest of them are unlocked by beating Story mode or the World Tournament (two of the seven game modes).

Dragonballs are also sold as capsules. You collect all 7 Dragonballs and call up Shenron! He’ll give you a Breakthrough Capsule for one of three people (chosen at random) (the breakthrough capsule includes all Special Ki and Physical Attacks for that person). Then, the Dragonballs are scattered about to be found again. Since there is a Breakthrough Capsule for every fighter, finding all 7 Dragonballs 23 times adds to the Replay Value tremendously.

Tilt: 10/10-Tilt is a personal like or dislike of the DBZ genre. DBZ fans (like me) you have a really high tilt, for the game, whereas gamers who don’t watch the show really don’t have the tilt factor. If this game weren’t DBZ, nobody would play it. So, for those who are looking for the best possible fighting game and aren’t a fan of DBZ, bypass this one, as it is not the best fighting game out there.

Overall: 9/10 (6.5/10 for non-DBZ fans)-Again, the reason I gave this one a 9/10 is because of the similarity between characters moves. If you’re not a DBZ person, then be warned that you may not enjoy this game. If it weren’t for the DBZ factor, this would be an overall average game (hence the 6.5 for non-DBZers). Other than that, this game is the best anime-related game out there.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/09/02, Updated 12/09/02