[DBZ BT3] A Beginner's Guide to Competitive Play

IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep in mind while watching, this uses Playstation buttons as reference for displays, but the Wii version of DBZ BT3 for commands. Translate the information as necessary to however you are playing!

Legend:
Square = Melee
Triangle = Ki Blast
Circle = Guard
Cross = Dash
L2 = Ki Charge
R1 = Ascend
R2 = Descend

This guide is intended to show and explain the foundations of Budokai Tenkaichi 3 competitive play, so you can be able to improve at the game and reach a solid level. If you have any questions, make a comment about it, and I'll try my best to get to it, or join a Discord server and ask there.

Be sure to view this spreadsheet, it contains Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Resources & Discord Servers:

Song is Shenmue - Earth and Sea (Battle 1).

Timestamps:
(0:00) Intro

[Movement]
(0:09) Step-in & Movement Barriers
(0:55) Descending, Ascending & Jumping
(1:07) Dash Cancel
(2:03) Ground Dash
(2:25) Instant Dragon Dash

[Offense]
(3:13) Step-in Attack
(3:38) Safe Attacks
(4:09) Neutralizing the Opponent
(4:55) Dragon Dash Cancel

[Defense]
(5:34) Blocking
(5:42) Vanishing
(6:04) Dodging with Steps
(6:28) Deflect & Reflect
(7:05) Realign Defense
(7:54) Recovery
(8:46) Auto-Counter/Sonic Sway
(9:26) Defensive Blast-1s
(10:09) Emergency Blaster Wave

[PaigeDBZBT]

10:31 the damage threshold for the EBW scaling is -2.5% damage for each hit from 6th to 25th, the same rule applies for melee, throw & ki blast damage scaling

[weirdface]

this game has SO many fighting mechanics that i don't even know what to do and i barely remember any of them

[Greg-w-smeg]

Recently got Budokai Tenkaichi 4 (Fanmade) to get the hang of the mechanics again and this helps a ton.

[Geeksbruv]

Dude u guys have no idea how long I've been tryna figure out the sonic sway technique, and since I didn't know what it was called, that only made it harder😭thx so much for the vid😁

[robertrhoden]

I'm waiting for Sparking Zero. Have a friend who I played BT3 religiously with back in the day. Best in the neighborhood in all honesty. I've been hoping SZ would be very similar and it seems like it may be after watching the most recent trailer. Definitely aiming for leaderboard status when it drops. DBZBT3 is one of the best games I've ever played and enjoy.

[THEGrandMasterHawk]

1:05 Regarding Ascending/Descending in the Step-in barrier, this only holds true if you haven't been put in a combo yet; whoever is attacking you will be able to stop & ascend/descend freely, whereas the attackee will have to initiate it before you can actually move.

[OGDBZ]

This is perfect tutorial music defenitely reminds me of days as a kid grinding in the lab discovering new methods

[boredape]

Getting ready for sparking zero because i know itll be impossible to play with sweats from budokai tenkaichi 3 playing

[DBZscrub]

Nice work, never knew that fact about emergency blaster wave doing 2500 after 20 hits

[SlimLuffy]

For the next two weeks I’m practicing everything in this video just to get prepared!!

[coryholmes]

Me and the homie played BT3 last night via emulator and parsecs. Only the memories. We had take like 20 mins just figure out basic mechanics again 😂. Granted when we did start fighting forrreal we had a blast. All we do was mash around and super mainly. I had no idea there were so many mechanics in this game. Granted I was also a teenager when this game came out. Even in 2024 the game holds up surprisingly well and it’s fun.

[emans]

Getting ready for Sparking Zero, so a video like this is very helpful. Excellent choice of music, nothing like Shenmue to get you in the mood for training.

[shawncamp]

Okay the song you chose is beautiful. I am a Punk guitatist (lame to say these i know) my piano chords book when it goes the "beats, notes, and Rhythms" scetuon it talks about how you should feel music as if it is a Pulse. And this song slowed down sounds just as Good as Normal speed haha

[DanielFlrenss]

I would like to see a guide on "competitive" use of lower tier characters focused maybe on the larger characters and abusing brickwall. Obviously not good because of the ease of going behind, Maybe there is ways to abuse jumping in the more terrain areas of the map.

[YoToraDramatic]

Who else is here getting ready for Sparking Zero?

[himanshugirigoswami]

This is very useful. The spreadsheet is also nice to have. Thanks for the upload.

[DarkYTXEditz]

This Guide helped so much get out of retirement from BT3 and made me violate most Ranked matches

[noryssedelrosario]

Thank uuu! I never played this game before playing cause I can't afford a ps5 for Sparking Zero great tips !

[Rayane_zagh]

I played this game so much as a child and with sparking zero coming out I found a way to emulate it and I am on my training arc for them upcoming sweats.

[thatsRoxx]

gonna start watching guides for sparking zero imma be on top