Dragon Ball Z: Shin Butoden

In light of the negative reactions DBZ Ultimate Battle 22 got, I remember searching looking up other DBZ video games. This was way back in 2008, or so. And I got very curious about this game called Dragon Ball Z: Shin Butoden for the Sega Saturn. I don't remember there being a lot of footage of this game back then, but the intro fascinated me. Granted, it was a similar intro to DBZ Ultimate Battle 22, just with some different editing.

Years went by and some gameplay clips made it into Youtube. I was basically hooked after seeing those, because the game looked like what Ultimate Battle 22 should have been. A fighting game with proper 2D stages, instead of dreadfully empty 3D backgrounds, and some damn ki blasts with proper explosions. It didn't have to be the deepest fighting game, after all, the earlier Butoden games on the SNES got by on their basic gameplay just well enough for me.

Eventually, I got around to actually playing it, and...it's not quite what I had in mind. I could go on about the goofy mode with Mr. Satan trying to rig fights in the tournament, and the rather poor AI you'll have to deal with in general, but let's get down to the essentials: how is the fighting?

For me: it's not good. The controls don't feel like they consistently respond well. If I were to play, say, DBZ Super Butoden 2 on the SNES, I could pull off some Kamehamehas with Goku or Gohan just fine. Trying the same move in Shin Butoden will often not lead to the same result, even though Shin Butoden politely tells you the commands for moves as each fight is being loaded. That inconsistency is found throughout the game. I will often try to pull off special moves, and fail about half the time. This leads to the game being more frustrating than fun.

That alone is already hurting the game pretty badly, but then you also have to deal with the annoying gimmick this game added for fights. When you get knocked down, you have the option of getting up like in any other fighting game, or* doing a kip up, hurting your opponent in the process. This sounds neat on paper, but in practice, you'll end up knocking down the AI and then the AI will immediately do a kip up. So, in response, you'll be taking down your opponent and then holding back on the d-pad, hoping that the AI doesn't hit you.

Again, this leads to the game being more frustrating than fun.

I also found that attacks in general are too strong in this game, and there doesn't seem to be a way to turn the damage down in the game (I don't know Japanese, and I haven't heard of this game having an English translation). This has worked to my benefit in some fights. I distinctly remember turning a match back in my favor by mashing the punch button like an idiot because...the game just lets you do a combo like that.

You can do epic ki blasts from a distance, and you can defend yourself from attacks like that, just like in the SNES games. Seeing each character do a reaction face during those moments is a nice touch, but that's just not enough to make up for the overall uncomfortable feeling I had with this game. It's a shame, because I'm sure that some people have looked up gameplay clips of this, and probably have the same embellished idea of this game that I once had. All I can say to those people is this: Don't expect too much from this game.

Also, being better than Ultimate Battle 22 is not a very high bar to clear.

* - there's also the option of leaping backwards to create distance between you and your opponent.