Customer Reviews

Dragon Ball Z Budokai (Playstation 2)

5 star:		(99)
4 star:		(75)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Until now, the only American video game for for Playstation was Dragon Ball GT. Because of the limited print run this game has been very hard to find. Well, the wait is now over! Dragon Ball Z: Budokai is now avaible in your local video game store!

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai is the most intense way to expreience the epic battles of Dragon Ball Z! 5 fighting modes, including Story Mode, which takes players from the Saiyan Saga to the Cell Games saga. Up to 23 of the most popular hereos and villians of DBZ are in this game, each with their own 60 combo moves each.

Character list:
Android #16
Android #17
Android #18
Android #19
Captain Ginyu
Cell
Dodoria
Frieza
Young Gohan
Teen Gohan
Great Saiyaman
Goku
Hercule
Krillin
Nappa
Piccolo
Raditz
Recoome
Tien
Trunks
VEGETA!!!!
Yamcha
and Zarbon

Just get it.

This game is summed up in one word: Amazing. I've been a huge fan of DBZ ever since 5th grade, and have been waiting for a DBZ game of this caliber for the longest time. Sure, Hyper Dimension for SNES and DBGT Final Bout for PSX were great, but they were pretty much just pure fighting. Budokai introduces some new elements to the old generation of fighting games. For example, there is now an actual true-to-the-show storyline, which even a DBZ veteran can enjoy, even if he or she already knows the entire thing. Also, you can buy skills to customize your favorite characters.
Speaking of characters, there are 23 of them. Among these are Krillin, Vegeta, Androids 16, 17, 18, and 19, Cell, Trunks, Goku, and many, many more. The skills are cool, and when performed they look even cooler. My favorite skill is Trunks' Final Buster. When executed, it fires a big sphere of energy at your foe, creating a giant explosion, and actually changing the scenery around you by demolishing everything is the explosion's path! It looks AMAZING. The background looks something like Namek after Frieza used his trump card to make it explode.
Now, on to the combat. The combos are simply executed, and you don't have to rush pressing the buttons to execute an Energy Dan like you do in Ultimate Battle 22 for PSX. There are 60 plus combo moves for each character, including throws, energy waves, and strong physical attacks. The bosses are, for the most part, tough and challenging, and provide good training to improve on your skills.
The graphics could be a lot better, but I think it goes better rather than some flashy, smooth graphics when compared to the TV show. Some characters are a little too polygonal, and the way their mouths move don't exactly match the text, but the awesome energy attacks greatly make up for those faults!
There are 5 fighting modes to choose from. Story, Duel, World Tournament, Practice, and another cool one. I'm too tired, I forget what it is. All of them provide good challenges.
Dragonball Z Budokai is by no means a perfect game, but it's extremely fun, even if you're not a DBZ fan! Every game has its faults. This one is the graphics. If you like DBZ and have been waiting for a good one to come out, this is the game for you!

Dragonball z Budokai is one of the best Dragonball z games ever released. You can choose up to 23 great warriors like Goku, Vegeta, and many others. There are a great deal of unlockable characters. The best part about this game is that you can edit skills in the Edit Skills section. If you are a Dragonball Z fan, then you will love this game. The story follows the anime series very accurately.

The hardest thing abouut the game, though, is the Tournament Mode. Basically, the only way to win is to knock the person out of the ring. As you progress through the tournament, it will get very difficult. for me it took me five long days just to beat the tournament mode, and when you get to the end, you get a bonus character,(I am not telling who the character is.)

I wished they could have put more detail on the game, for example, adding the Majin Buu Saga, but I guess I can see why they Infogrames did not put that part in because the saga is not done on Cartoon Network.

Overall, I think the game is a great game. If you are a Hardcore DBZ fan like me, then you should go out and get it. Maybe the developers will make a part two of this game, at least I hope so.

Dragon Ball Z Boudoki is the 5th DBZ gaem to hit america. For the most part the games are not bad however each title that they release is truley nothing spectacular. However for fans this title will not disapoint.

The focus on Boudoki is on the combat. Set in 3D type world the game takes off with some decent results. There are multiple modes to work with to include story mode, World MArtial Arts Tournament, Duel, and Practice. Each one is a little unique in it's own way but the fighting stays the same. Lets discuss each one individually.

Story Mode basically tells the tale of DBZ up to the Cell Saga (what not enough time to fit Majin Buu). The first time through you fight as Goku primarily. The only other warrior you can control is GOhan at later moments. However once beaten you unlock more chapters in story mode involving other characters. Eventually by doing so you unlock more guys for other modes. Teh only other upside is the ability to collect capsuls to customize your own character.

Duel is just as it states, a VS mode. The battles are only one on one and it can be 1P vs CP, 1P vs 2P, or CP vs CP.

World Martial Arts Tournament is a little more unique in the way it is set up. You pick your guy and and difficulty level (the other two must be unlocked) and then compete to earn money. The ways to win this is to knock out your foe, or knock them out of the ring. If you win you earn money to be used at Mr. Popo's house.

PRactice: If I have to explain this than you must be at least 2 years old.

There are two other customary options, but nothing spectacular. You have Mr. Popo house which enables you to purchase capsuls to customize your own guy (for Duel, Practice, and WMAT) and than customize enables you to do that. It is nothign spectacular.

Overall this game is fun for a fighting game, but with shallow combat and difficult to pull off special moves this game is more for Die Hard DBZ fans (which is why I gave it 4 stars). If I was not a DBZ fan than in all honestly I would of given it 3 or less when you compare it to other games such as Virtua Fighter 4, Tekken 4, and Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance. Over all this is for fans only and nobody else.

Dragonball Z: Budokai closely follows the story line from Dragon Ball Z. It begins with the Saiyan saga and finishes with the Cell saga.

Graphics: 5/5.
The graphics are really good in this game. While they aren't "great" compared to other games such as Final Fantasy, you have to keep in mind that the characters are meant to have an anime look.

Gameplay: 4/5
If you have play Final Bout, you shouldn't worry, because the gameplay has vastly improved in Budokai. The controls are easy to learn, and all of the moves are simple to pull off.

Story: 5/5
Quite simply, if you enjoy Dragon Ball Z, than you will enjoy the story line. Its the same thing!

Sound: 5/5
The sound in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai is nothing shorter than amazing. While duking it out with your favorite villian, you can listen to the music of the actual fight from the TV show. The game uses the actual voices from the TV show for an extra touch of realism.

Summary:
While Dragon Ball Z: Budokai is a fun game, it does have some flaws. One of them is tournament mode. The computer is really, really cheap. If you play tournament mode, expect to get angry once and a while. Another thing is that most of the projectiles need to be used at close range. For example, to use Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon, you to kick your opponent in a certain way. You will kick them in the air and hit them to the ground. You then shoot it it at them. So if you are expecting something like you would find in Street Fighter, than this game is not for you. Another downside is you cannot jump, or duck, or even fly when you want to. The makes game play a lot more difficult. However, there are some very interesting things about Budokai that seperate it from the rest. Their is a unique character customization in which you can create the ultimate character. Basically, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai is a good game if you are a Dragon Ball fan. If you just want to buy a good fighting game, then look somewhere else. You won't find it in this game.

PROS:
+ Good game play.
+ Easy super moves.
+ Great graphics and sound.
+ Customization of allows your to create the ulimate character.
+ Burst mode

CONS:
- The tournament mode tends to be a little cheap.
- Almost all projectiles need to be used at close range. (ie. Special Beam Cannon, Kamehameha, etc.)
- Good for Dragon Ball fans, bad for fighting game fans.
- You cannot jump or duck.
- You cannot fly whenever you want.

Ok,Lets get started. This game is pretty good for a DBZ game. If you just looking for a good fighter I suggest elsewhere.
There is basicly 7 modes Story,practice,WorldTourny,Duel mode,Hercule,Editer,and options. On story mode its pretty basic. Youre first time around you play as Sayiana and unlock a couple of characters. Youll fnd it dissoted if youre not fammiler with DBZ. Fans will know obviously though. You go there Android,Namek and Satyian in story mode.It goes through Raditz to cell.With small cinemas. Practice is as it suggests.World Tournement is to earn oney and buy capsules wich I will explain later. Its Adebt Novice and Adavanced. Advanced is basicly SUPER hard. When you beat adept and advance you can buy Hercule and Great Sayiaman.Duel is just a 2 player mode or you pick who you wanna fight.Hercule is a survivor mde as you play with Hercule through wonderfull matches. Editor is my favorite option alowwing you to cutomize a Z- warrior.
Graphics is so so not bad but not good. For PS2 it could have been better. Characters are good 3-d shaded. Sound has ok music and orginal AMERICANN voices.
Capsules is basiclly moves you get. Without capsules you cant do anything. But you can easily get them by beating story 3 times and get tons. If you wish with the Dragon Balls three characters geta special ability Breakthrough wich gives you more capsules. The biggest thing I disliked is. Youre grounded! No jumping not ducking. To fly you half to get hit!No powr struggles etc. On the good side you can knock people into wall,cliffs,moutaines etc. Fighting is too easy. p,p,p, g is basicly everyones Kamehameha realated move.

Bad
Graphics ar soo
Backrounds are bland
Character moves are exactly the same
Simple fighting

Good
DBZ
Fastpaced
Stages change with a strong punch.(Into a mountaine. Then fight on a mountaine)
Orginal Hyper battle

All in all If you dont like DBZ rent it. If youre a fan the score would go up a star. DBZ fails and succesfull in many ways.

This game is really cool. I liked it alot!" I got it a few months ago and I was impressed. It features some of the greatest moves from the show, such as: Special Beam Cannon, Kamehameha, Spirit Bomb, Galick Gun, etc. The gameplay is great and I like the fighting action as well. However, that's just the good stuff. What really pisses me off is that doing major combo moves like Burning Attack, Spirit Bomb, etc. is that it gets really frustrating when you try to do the move but it never shows until you do it the 10th time! Also, the story line stops at the end of the Cell games Saga!! Can you belive it? No Majin Buu, no Dabura, no S.S.2 or S.S.3 Goku and no Goten and Chibi Trunks!!'' However the game is pretty good overall, and it's much better than Final Bout for sure. Tournament mode is not bad either. But let me give you a tip; it's really important that you learn how to sidestep before you go and try to beat tournament. Trust me, the most difficult thing to beat in this game is tournament mode if you don't know how to sidestep because if you get near the edge of the tournament ring, you're opponent will have an 85 percent chance of knocking you out of the ring if you don't know how move away from the edge. there's types of tournaments in tournament mode: Novice, Adept, and Advanced. If you win Novice, you get 10,000 Zenie. If you win Adept, you get 30,000 Zenie along with Hercule. If you beat Advanced, you 50,000 Zenie along with Great Saiyaman. Now how can they have Great Saiyaman in this game but not have the Great Saiyaman Saga or Babidi Saga in Story Mode?" Anyway, the money earned from winning tournaments is really important since you need it to buy skills from Mr.Popo's Skill Shop. I've already gotten all the characters. There are 23 playable characters in total: Goku, Kid Gohan(Gohan from the Saiyan-Frieza Saga), Teen Gohan(Gohan from Cell Games Saga), Great Saiyaman, Vegeta, Future Trunks, Cell, Android #19, Android #18, Android #17, Android #16, Recoome, Ginyu, Frieza, Hercule, Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, Zarbon, Dodoria, Piccolo, Nappa, and Raditz. Overall, this game is awesome!! As a hardcore DBZ fan, I would give this game 3 stars since it didn't have the Buu Saga story line. But as a video gamer, I would give this game 4 and a half stars since the gameplay, and music is great. You should get this game regardless of it's ... storyline.

I'm one of the Great Old Ones in American DBZ fandom, certainly online. I watched the entire series in the original Japanese because there was no other way to do it back in the early days. I played all the early DBZ videogames. It was exciting news to this 41-year-old geek that DBZ Budoukai would be released here.

Overall, it's a decent fighting game with some neat twists, but it's not "all it could be". Like some of its more recent ancestors, it's missing some of the features that the older games offered, and doesn't really hand us much else to replace it.

Good points: Nice movement of the characters, pretty backgrounds, some really quite cool animations for major combat sequences, the chance to do some apparent property damage (though, someday, they've got to actually make the scenery REALLY take damage, so you can make craters with the blasts and then end up fighting IN them, etc.). Decent story-arc intros and animations. A couple of very nice easter eggs (how you get Yamucha (FINALLY!!!) as a playable character features a visual so stunningly hysterical that I lost the battle the first time because I was laughing too hard to defend myself).

Negatives: Obligatory dubbed voices. C'mon, even the Battle Arena Toshinden people caught on and offered players a choice between hearing bad English dubbed versions of the fighting characters and the original Japanese ones. This should be a no-brainer with so much space to play with on a DVD: give us a choice of the original or dubbed versions.

Similarly, terrible BGM. The original background music for DBZ was one of the most effective soundtracks on TV. Why they have insisted on dumping it even in the videogames for tired, stupid-sounding electric guitar riffs I have no idea.

Once again, the power-duels have been forgotten. In the old SNES DBZ games, you could have the classic sequences where Vegita threw a big attack, Goku threw his own, and the two tried to battle power-to-power to see who won. The more recent entries have failed to do that.

ONE PLAYER TOURNAMENT ONLY? C'mon, this is stupid. Any offer of two-player options is a good idea, it permits a game to be a social event rather than a one-person wankfest. The old SNES game and the Playstation Ultimate Battle 22/27 offered many hours of combat entertainment for whole groups as we used to choose characters and play through Budoukais together. This is a major mistake.

I don't like their combo/special move methodology. I much preferred the old method, similar to that found in Toshinden and other fighters, where you combined the simple punch/kick/energy button with a symbolic movement on the control pad. The "chain of punch and kick, etc" approach doesn't quite do it for me.

So, three stars as a flat-out game, one extra because it's DBZ and I like it. Perhaps Budoukai 2 will be better.

Dragonball Z Budokai succeeds in capturing the likeness and personality of each character from the animated series perfectly. There are 23 characters to play as in all...spanning from the beginning of DBZ to the end of the Cell series (unfortunately, that means no characters from the Buu series). The button layout is simple but effective (punch, kick, guard, and energy), and the action of the in-game fights match the frantic pace one would expect from DBZ. The problem lies within that each of the character's moves vary little from each other. In other words, each character's moves are almost identical with the exception of a few special techniques tagged onto the end of the combos. Another bothersome feature is that you can't perform the large energy beam attacks outside of a combo. On the positive side however, there are several different game modes to help add variety. While the average player can plow through the entire story mode within 2-3 hours, there is still the World Tournament and The Legend Of Hercule modes to clear. The skill editing feature is really just a gimmick, but is a welcome addition nonetheless. So if you are a Dragonball fan that's looking for another way to enjoy the series, Budokai is definitely worth a look. Those simply looking for a great fighter with lots of depth can afford to pass this one up.

When I heard that their was going to be a dbz game coming out I pre-ordered the game and bought a PS2. It's definetly a must-have for any DBZ fan. The game has Story mode, World Tournament, Duel, Practice, and the Legend of Hercule. The game has cool cut scenes from the series and some great alternate ending once you beat the game the 1st time around. I think the coolest part are the skill capsules where you can customize your own fighter. For, example, my favorite Custom character is Super Sayian 2 Gohan with Viral Heart disease and Vaccine, Kamehameha, and Super Kamehameha. The are also some rare capsules like Frieza's spaceship where once your beaten a Spaceship comes down beams him up and he comes back as Metal Frieza. You can also collect all seven dragonballs and make a wish, which gives you the option to give a breakthrough capsule to a random character ( 3 choices). This game will be an instant classic.