After a decade of waiting, a new Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi game is finally in development, causing longtime fans to go wild with excitement while leaving everyone else hopelessly confused.
The announcement of this new 3D fighter adaptation of the popular manga and anime series was made during the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2023 esports event on Sunday night. However, apart from the name Budokai Tenkaichi and a short clip of Goku powering up into his Super Saiyan God Blue form, no further information about the upcoming game was revealed.
With everything that has occurred in the Dragon Ball Super era since the previous Budokai Tenkaichi game, there are now a plethora of new characters, storylines, and transformations that could be explored in a potential Budokai Tenkaichi 4.
However, it is crucial that the game stays true to its roots by retaining elements such as Super Saiyan 4, which were previously retconned. At its finest, Budokai Tenkaichi has always been a type of interactive encyclopedia, providing a comprehensive understanding of the Dragon Ball universe.
To provide some context, DBZ adaptations have been prevalent in gaming since the NES era. These adaptations ranged from adventure to fighting games and often repeated the same plot points from Akira Toriyama’s manga. While some games were poorly received, others were deemed satisfactory, and a handful have remained popular among fans for many years. For instance, during the PS2 era, the 2D side-scrolling Budokai fighting series was well-liked, whereas in the Wii and PS3 era, the Budokai Tenkaichi games incorporated the same formula in expansive 3D maps.
Why Fans (and myself) Are Going Insane
In previous games, players had access to an extensive and notoriously unbalanced roster of characters, enabling them to participate in epic 12 fighter tag-team battles featuring characters from the original Dragon Ball series to the peculiar futuristic spin-off, Dragon Ball GT. Although the movement and combos could occasionally feel awkward, particularly in the Wii version, which relied on motion controls, players who mastered the mechanics and had a full ki gauge could reenact the series’ chaotic battles and even go beyond them.
It was followed by a series of lacklustre games and then Bandai Namco eventually shifted their focus to the Xenoverse series, which incorporated elements such as character creation, original narratives, and RPG mechanics. Although Xenoverse 2, which was launched in 2016, has received numerous DLC expansions seven years later, it is not Budokai Tenkaichi. Similarly, Dragon Ball FighterZ, a fantastic 2D side-scrolling fighter game, is not a replacement for Budokai Tenkaichi.
Nostalgia plays a huge factor for many fans as some of my fondest memories was back on the PS2. After primary school, my friends and I would rush to my place and we would have our battles to see who is the best player. We would often purposely have beam clashes and shout at the top of our lungs as we spin to stick to win the clash or destroying the buttons on my PS2 controllers by mashing buttons. The best part would be charging the ki bar to the max and unleashing the ultimate attack for the ultimate humiliation.
We have no idea when the game will be released or what plans Bandai Namco has for the game. But a huge thanks should go out to the Spanish modding community for keeping the old games alive with mods that add in new characters and transformations from the latest season.
