So I've been drowning in nostalgia recently by watching some (by which I mean all) DBZ, and I want to play one of the games, but which is the best? There are kind of a lot.

I dont remember what it`s called, but there was a top down rpg one that I really enjoyed on the GBA.

Budokai Tenkaichi 3!

I really liked the burst limit demo, that one had a lot of flair from the show going on.

Straight up Budokai 3.

I dont remember what it`s called, but there was a top down rpg one that I really enjoyed on the GBA.

@FLStyle said:

Budokai Tenkaichi 3!

no debate needed

@Icemael said:

@Rattle618 said:

I dont remember what it`s called, but there was a top down rpg one that I really enjoyed on the GBA.

Probably one of the Legacy of Goku games. I really enjoyed II, certainly more than any of the fighting games I've tried.

I remember playing Buu's Fury... I got through about half the game before I realized you actually had to assign the upgrade points yourself. The game suddenly got A LOT easier after that.

Budokai 3 is typically considered the "best game" by majority vote, but I was never sold on its rendition of the Dragon Ball style of combat. The Tenkaichi games always felt truer to the Dragon Ball experience.

Like you, I've been rewatching the series lately. Enough so that I actually went out and purchased Raging Blast for the Playstation 3. It's a Tenkaichi-style fighter right up my alley. As for top down RPGs, though, I'm flat out of suggestions.

Who's going to be the asshole to post the Davis and Gerstmann review of Ultimate Battle 22? Budokai 3 is the best DBZ game by far. Some people like the Tenkaichi games, but the camera is typically fucked and presentation is ass.

@EpicSteve said:

Who's going to be the asshole to post the Davis and Gerstmann review of Ultimate Battle 22? Budokai 3 is the best DBZ game by far. Some people like the Tenkaichi games, but the camera is typically fucked and presentation is ass.

Both valid points and yet the Tenkaichi series will always be a more accurate representation of DBZ, Budokai is only ever as good as the 2D fighting game nuances it's trapped behind.

They aren't that great to begin with but the budokai series, especially 2, is decent. Legacy of goku 2 for the GBA is probably my favorite. It's a top down Action game where you, if i remember it right, can level up several different character and unlock skills doing so.

Also if you're a PC guy and own Half-Life you should definitely check out Earth Special Forces, the upcoming version of that mod looks absolutely incredible.

Budokai 3. Not Budokai Tenkaichi.

Anyone who says Budokai 3 isn't a fantastic game is not to be trusted.

Super dragon ball z

Its a actual fighting game!

I hate the Tenkaichi games. The animation on the characters AND on the effects is too slow and rigid, It couldn't be more boring and awkward to play, the action feels like I'm playing some kind of submarine combat game, having a billion characters is sad because they're all clones of each other, there's just an endless list of things that make it feel weak, unfinished or padded out. Isn't there a boring level up system in that game or something?

Anyway the Budokai games really stuck with me- I never played Budokai 3, but I'll GUESS it's the same as Budokai 2...

Biggest point: THE CAPSULE SYSTEM.

The capsule system was an empty tray that you'd fill with capsules before the fight. Capsules included beam moves, super finshers and transformations, but there were also support capsules, like perks, like a Senzu Bean that'd restore your health, or "Saiyan Pride" that would make your attacks do more damage for the first 20 seconds of the fight.

Some of them were insane, like Captain Ginyu's Body Change that would literally fucking swap characters if you landed this combo, "Mecha Frieza" that would let you COME BACK AFTER K.O in a new skin if you're playing as Frieza, Fuse Tien with Yamcha, Fuse Buu with Gohan and all sorts of crazy bullshit. Powerful capsules like these ones would take up 3 or 5 or even all your slots, so you'd be sacrificing choice.

Certain capsules are limited to specific types of characters, like ONLY SAIYANS or ONLY ANDROIDS. Every character has a handful of moves that only they can do, and you can stack some moves, like having Kamehameha twice to have it do double damage.

There are more than a hundred capsules to collect, all with different scenes, buffs and transformations. You collect them by earning money in the campaign, and spending them at the Capsule Store. The store would be a random roll of 10 capsules every time, so there was some luck to going to the store and seeing a rare one. It's like-- You COULD buy this stuff you've been after, but you're never gonna see BECOME MAJIN VEGETA in there again. Some capsules were so rare that you had to collect all seven dragonballs in-game and wish for it.

WHERE THE FUCK DID ALL THIS COME FROM? It worked perfectly, and seemed perfectly suited to Dragonball Z: A fighting game with a hundred kind-of samey characters. I don't know of any other fighting game that picked up the capsule system in a way that you could COLLECT and change characters' moves, and give them RPG-like perks. Street Fighter X Tekken just came out with the gems system, but obviously they're not allowed to mess around with who has the hadouken too much.

There are other reasons why I like the Budokai series, but this is the main one.

EDIT-- Be right back, updating the wiki...

Budokai 3 had everything I could've asked for in a DBZ game and, while simplistic, the Legacy of Goku games can be a fun way to relive the key points of the story.

The one thing I hated in Budokai 3 was the Dragon Rush. Good grief did that get old fast.

Budokai 3 is generally considered the best one. It even got a decent rating on Metacritic.

EDIT: Not Tenkaichi.

Ultimate Battle 22

@obcdexter said:

Straight up Budokai 3.

This. Not the tenkaichi game but just plain old Budokai 3.

It was insanely fun and really well made. Absolutely the best DBZ game of its time. The newer Budokai games on PS3 probably look and play better in comparison (not the first one though, that had some issues) but I remember loving the sh*t outta Budokai 3.

@ervonymous said:

Budokai 3 had everything I could've asked for in a DBZ game and, while simplistic, the Legacy of Goku games can be a fun way to relive the key points of the story.

The one thing I hated in Budokai 3 was the Dragon Rush. Good grief did that get old fast.

I played a lot of 3 with friends and eventually you would forget that the Dragon Rush existed since no one ever used it. Then you fight a match against the computer and go "oh yeah...".

Budokai 3 is great for all the reasons @I_smell: stated above that 2 was great, except that it didn't have some of those fantasy fusions 2 apparently had (I never played it myself), it still has a decently fun story mode with some hidden alternate paths (Becoming SSJ 4 and finally defeating Goku with Vegeta, naturally) and it looks a bit better than 2.

The capsule system was really fun, one of my favorite combinations was using Senzu Bean + Babidi's Mind Control on Vegeta. Once you got down to one bar of health you turned into the super powerful Majin Vegeta and then you restored all of your life with the Senzu Bean.

I've also played a bit of the Tenkaichi series and they're decent if you want to fight some single player with a lot more characters (Budokai 3 only had 48, while those games are closer to a hundred if not more), I never enjoyed fighting against a friend in that though. The last DBZ game I bought was Burst Limit which was like Budokai in design with some neat mechanical changes but was unfortunately severly lacking in content.

Best?

I enjoyed Legacy of Goku 2 and the sequel, Buu's Fury. Legacy of Goku 1 wasn't that great however.

Budokai 3, no questions asked.

This thread seems familiar...

I'll just say again. Super Dragon Ball (someone else already said it which is nice to see since I feel it is a completely forgotten game).

And, also, Dragon Ball Z Legends was the funnest I had with a Dragon Ball game back when I was into the series. It's still quite a unique fighting game when I think back. You could have multiple fighters going at it at once.

I liked Budokai 3, though I never played the Tenkaichi games. The 2nd Legacy of Goku game was also pretty good.

I just noticed this so this here answers it all the best dbz game well numbers speak for it all the most anticipated dbz game of all time was burst limit for after tenkaichi 3 what were.they going to b able to do with the new.gen systems. But birst limit being a vamped budokai yet left u really wanting more and just being let down. Yet at the release of burst limit they also released a fix to there mistake which was infinite world for the ps2 which was amazing. But soon after they released raging blast which was good but it left out alot raging blast 2 fixed there mistakes but made a not bad but not good story mode. Ultimate tenkaichi was a moajor let down we were expecting another instalment to the tenkaichi series and it was a total toilet flop. Tenkaichi 3 was the blockbuster in the dbz series and for a good reason its was the best in the series but tenkaichi 2 nothing says OMG IMA DIE like seing the spirit bomb in the sky tormenting u before your opponent desides to throw it at u. Those who bash the budokai tenkaichi series just couldnt grasp the awesomeness of tenkaichi bidokai was good but to much steet fighter meets dbz tenkaichi felt lke u were really being emersed into the world of dbz. Battle of z (release date january 28th 2014) ive played the demo and i have it pre ordered but i dont think it will beet the tenkaichi 3 sales

BUDOKAI 3

I really like Budokai 2 and Dragon ball z budokai tenkaichi 3. Very good games with hours of fun and lots of great characters.

This is still right a year later. Budokai 3 is just an average fighting game with a dragon ball z skin. Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is way crazier and more explosive. Also, hella anime teleports and punchs in the gut.

Fighter: Budokai 3

Non Fighter: Legacy of Goku 2

I realize that this is specifically about DBZ games and not just plain Dragon Ball, but Dragonball: Origins 1/2 on Nintendo DS are some of the most polished and fully realized DB-anything related games I've yet played, in terms of matching the style and quirkiness of the show as faithfully as possible. The combination of fluid frame-rate, visually pleasing art style, and expressive animation was a technical high-water mark for the system, as far as 3d games go (enough to not even qualify that with 'licensed').

There's also been a couple of DBZ-themed, competitive MP mods worth considering over the years like Bid for Power for Quake 3, but more recently this bad boy which is still in active development/awaiting final/shaping up into something special and, most impressively, is somehow using the freaking Half-Life 1 engine :

Earth's Special Forces

Apparently the devs are planning to add a significant amount of destructibility to the maps as well, which sounds pretty dang awesome if they can pull it off to the degree they are hoping for while not bogging the game down/still maintaining a stable network synch.

Trick question. There aren't any.

Tenkaichi 3.

By far.