Sony PlayStation Portable-Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai

Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai (ドラゴンボールZ 真武道会, Doragon Bōru Zetto Shin Budôkai^?, Dragon Ball Z: True Tournament) is a fighting video game part of the Dragon Ball Z franchise, and was released on March 7, 2006. It was developed by Dimps. Scenario story mode is based on the events of the Dragon Ball Z movie Fusion Reborn. The players follow the events of the story in which you choose Goku and friends, including enemy characters, along the way. The choices that you make determine how the story evolves.

Another mode is the Arcade mode, a single player mode that lets you brawl against the CPU in order to fight and gain the Dragon Balls. Next is the Z trial mode, which consists of two different types of play: survival, where you fight against CPU-controlled opponents for as long as you can, and time attack, where you see how fast you can make it through a predetermined set of opponents.

Finally, there’s the Profile Card mode in which the players will have their in-game character profile cards that lists their name and power level. The player can design their own card and customize them with the items from the game’s item store.

 Gameplay

This game was developed by the producer of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi and Dimps , making this game have elements of both the Budokai series and the Sparking/Tenkaichi series. The game included a brand new technique known as the “Aura Burst” which allowed your character to move across the screen at high speed toward the opponent. When Bursting and pressing an attack button, you could dish out fast combos or blows that stun your opponent. Making long chain combos similar to the ones from Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 was much more difficult, but blocking was made slightly easier by using the Aura Burst as a canceler. Despite most criticism, Shin Budokai’s fighting system was deeper than initially expected.

 

 Dragon Road

This is the name of the story mode in Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai. It’s based on the movie “Fusion Reborn”. As you move along in the story, you’ll find yourself in fights, just for friendly competition (such a fight between Goku and Krillin) or a showdown against evil. The Dragon Road mode takes you on a trip to see the Fusion Reborn in a totally revamped way. Things that were in the movie are different in the game. It starts off with Goku and his friends going out on a camping trip, but it is interrupted when a portal to Earth from hell is opened, and the dead are being brought back to life. Goku and his friends have to fight their way through, from the plains of Earth, to the ruins of hell. The Dragon Road consists of 5 chapters.

 

 Training Mode

In this mode, the player can practice battles with the CPU. You have to pick two characters to fight with, choose the battlefield, and set your health, starting ki, and check energy.

• Health: The amount of health you wish to begin the fight with, which you can also set for the CPU. (They don’t have to be the same.) There are 7 bars of health, each a different color.
• Starting Ki: How much energy you want to begin the battle with. You can give yourself an advantage by setting the CPU’s Ki energy to low. There are 7 bars of Ki.
• Check Energy: The amount of Ki needed to teleport behind the enemy to dodge his/her attack. For example, the original ki consumption for teleporting is 3 ki bars. The higher you make it, the more ki it consumes. The lower, the less ki it takes.

 

 Network Battle Mode

This is the mode were you can have wireless multiplayer battles with your friends. Here, you can also add friends to your Profile Card, and view theirs as well. Every battle you win will raise your power level. (Shown on the main menu, on the dragon radar.) It will also increase your Victory Ratio, which is displayed on your Profile Card.

 

 Arcade

In this mode, you select your character, and head out to battle. The objective of this mode is to collect all the dragon balls. Although, you don’t get any wishes of your own, the characters ask the eternal dragon for something they want. You’ll fight 10 opponents in a row, and at certain points in the Arcade Mode, you’ll come across an opponent you’ll have a dialog scene with, this happens when a character is confronted with another that it has a relationship with from the anime or manga ex.(Goku and Vegeta’s long time rivalry)

 

Time Attack

In this mode, located in Z trial, you’ll be asked to fight certain enemies as fast as possible. There are seven courses in total.

• Course 1: Challenge Goku’s eternal friends and rivals!
• Course 2: Stops the rivals and enemies that stand in Goku’s way!
• Course 3: Burning soul behind a cool demeanor!
• Course 4: Even if you get beaten, keep training and get stronger!
• Course 5: The warriors who’ve exceeded their limits!
• Course 6: Fight for future peace!
• Course 7: The legendary Super Saiyans Fighting Spirits!

 

 Survival

This is a mode where you pick your character, and fight non-stop enemies, until you lose. After a certain amount of wins, your health will not regenerate fully.

 

 Profile Card

Here, you can create a special ID card that is used during Network Battles. It records your data, battles won, battles lost, Survival Records, Time Attacks, Rankings in Dragon Road, Power Level, Friends, Money, and your Victory Ratio. You can also buy stamps from the shop to customize it to your liking.

 

 Playable characters

• Goku (Base, Kaioken, SSJ, SSJ2, SSJ3)
• Vegeta (Base, SSJ, SSJ2, Majin Vegeta)
• Teen Gohan (Base, SSJ, SSJ2)
• Gohan (Base, SSJ, SSJ2, Elder Kai Unlock Ability)
• Pikkon
• Android 18
• Krillin (Base, Unlock Potential)
• Trunks (Base, SSJ)
• Piccolo (Bsae, Fuse With Kami)
• Frieza (Final, 100% Full Power)
• Cell (Perfect, Super Perfect)
• Majin Buu (Kid Buu)
• Cooler (Base, Final Form)
• Broly (Restricted Super Saiyan, Legendary Super Saiyan)
• Gotenks (Base, SSJ, SSJ3)
• Vegito (Base, SSJ)
• Gogeta (SSJ)
• Janemba (Final Form)

Sony PlayStation 2-Dragon Ball Z: Budokai

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, released as Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ, Doragon Bōru Zetto) in Japan, is a fighting video game that was released for the PlayStation 2 on December 3, 2002 in North America and for the GameCube in North America on October 28, 2003. The game was released in Japan by Bandai on the PlayStation 2 in February 13, 2003, while the Nintendo GameCube release was brought out near the end of the year, on November 28, 2003. It was developed by Dimps and published by Atari. As the GameCube version was released almost a year after the PlayStation 2 version, the opportunity was taken to improve the graphics using cel-shading.

Gameplay

 

Skills

Each character can be optionally customised by using a 7-slot skill tray; players may choose up to 7 skills and assign them to a fighter. Some skills can take up multiple slots. These skills can be used in “World Tournament” Mode and Versus Mode. (You can’t use skills on Story Mode, only the ones the character already has.) Skills may be purchased from Mr. Popo with the prize money from the World Tournament mode.

There are three types of skills: Special Moves, which include skills such as the Kamehameha Wave and the ability to become Super Saiyan; Physical, which includes such skills as Zanku Fist; and Equipment, which provide boosts such as increased defense. One can also purchase Dragon Balls, and when you have all of them, Oolong appears and summons Shenron, giving the player a choice of 3 Breakthrough capsules; these allow a player to use all of a character’s moves and abilities at once.

 

Story mode

The Story Mode consists of 3D cutscenes adapted from the series (though more close to the manga than the anime). Unlike later Budokai games, the story mode is similar to most other fighting games (in which cutscenes occur between battles). The story mode covers 3 Sagas – Saiyan, Namek, Android – and the player automatically collects capsules (or sometimes Dragon Balls) at the end of each battle. Depending on which episode is being played, the playable characters are Goku, Gohan, Piccolo and Vegeta. At the end of every saga there are bonus what if episodes, and one plays as the main villain of that saga; Vegeta, Frieza and Cell respectively.

• In Vegeta’s storyline, Vegeta: Saiyan Prince, Vegeta and Goku then duel, and Vegeta defeats him with minimum effort, driven by the desire to avenge Nappa. Then Krillin and Gohan turn up, and Vegeta beats them separately. After the battle, Vegeta speaks to himself for a minute while Yajirobe sneaks up behind him. Vegeta hears Yajirobe, and, impressed by Yajirobe’s bravery, offers him to become his next pupil. Yajirobe refuses, stating that he doesn’t want to end up like Nappa. Enraged at being reminded of Nappa’s death, Vegeta screams in anger, and becomes a Super Saiyan. The episode ends.

• In Frieza’s storyline, Rampaging Frieza, Frieza successfully beats Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Krillin and Gohan in battle. He then succeeds in wishing for immortality. Blowing up Namek, Frieza returns to his spaceship, deciding to destroy Earth next. The episode ends.

• In Cell’s storyline, A Cold-Blooded Assassin, Cell attempts to absorb 17 and 18, and successfully beats 16 in battle. He then absorbs 17, but while attempting to absorb 18, Krillin jumps in the way, causing Cell to accidentally absorb Krillin, shrink to Krillin’s size & colors, and lose a lot of power. Yamcha and Tien then show up to challenge the weakened Cell. He just manages to beat Yamcha, but he is then killed by Tien. The real Cell then wakes up in the middle of the Cell Ring, realizing that it was a dream & that ten days waiting for the tournament is a long time to wait. The episode ends.

 

World tournament

The World Tournament allows players to compete against a computer-controlled character in a Martial Arts Tournament. The Prizes are the following:

• Novice: 10,000 Zeni
• Adept: 30,000 Zeni
• Advance: 50,000 Zeni

 

 Dueling

Dueling mode allows a player to fight a computer-controlled character at a preset skill level, or two human players to fight each other using any custom skills. A player may also watch a fight between two computer-controlled fighters.

 

 Playable characters

• Goku

(Base-Kaio Ken x5-Kaio Ken x 10-Kaio Ken x20-SS1)

• Kid Gohan

Base-Unlock Potential)

• Teen Gohan

(Base-SS1-SS2)

• Great Saiyaman
• Vegeta

(Base-SS1-Super Vegeta)

• Trunks

(Base-SS1-Super Trunks-Super Trunks 2)

• Piccolo

(Base-Sync with Nail-Fuse With Kami)

• Tien
• Yamcha
• Krillin

(Base-Unlock Potential)

• Android 16
• Android 17
• Android 18
• Android 19
• Frieza

(Base-Final Form-100% full Power-Mecha Frieza)

• Dodoria
• Zarbon

(Base-Monster Form)

• Captain Ginyu
• Recoome
• Cell

(Base-Semi Perfect Form-Perfect form-Super Perfect Form)

• Hercule
• Nappa
• Raditz