Remembering The Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi Games

Continuing the celebration of childhood classics, we sink our teeth into the beloved Budokai Tenkaichi series. This stretch of games features my personal all time favorite Dragon Ball game, so pardon me if I lose my cool a little here!

#DragonBallSuper #DragonBallZ #PlayStation

[thomaswatson]

BT3 is one of the only games I’ve purchased multiple times lol The first time, my cousin broke the disc. The second time, I let a friend borrow it but then according to them I “never lent them” a game. The third time, it cost me $80 and that one will never leave me lmao

[notecard]

One thing I like about Tenkaichi 2’s story over 3 is that 2 goes over a lot of smaller things (for example 3 would go straight from Raditz to Nappa, but 2 would have you play Piccolo’s, Tien’s, Krillin’s, etc training in between). Plus the z items, level system, and flying around thing of course

[AbsoluteMC]

These games were my introduction to the Dragon Ball rabbit hole back in the early 2000s.

[tastefullys]

Tenkaichi 3 is one of my most played games of all-time as a kid. So much nostalgia

[milkbottleu]

So glad you brought up the music of Tenkaichi 2; so many people talking about these games completely skip over the music, which is the best I've heard in any DBZ game. Literally every single track in this game is a banger

[kwes]

I played BT2 so much as a kid, I could confidently place bets with neighborhood kids and play against the computer on the highest difficulty with ease. I was a complete menace in that game. BT2 will always hold a special place in my heart.

[DisMan]

I wish they'd remastered the Budokai Tenkaichi franchise. (Minus Ultimate Tenkaichi)

Edit: i grew up with Dbz: Bt3. And it still holds up as one of the greatest dbz games.

[skepticalfox]

FINALLY I found someone who also considers BT2 their favorite! I always loved 3 but 2 wins my heart for the story mode

[get_at_it_all]

So who here is watching this because Budokai Tenkaichi 4 was announced?

[itswoahfoxy]

The best dbz game series ever made to this day. The rosters man, too good

[Nevrop-nort]

Dude you have the copy with the bonus disc!! That’s sick!! I had a bonus disc edition as a kid I got used at gamestop for 30$, lost it, then bought it again when I was older for 60$, sold it, bought it again for 90$ before college, then sold it. I swear I am having 3 degrees of seller’s remorse rn!

[inkchariot]

DBZ games peaked here, we will never have quality like this ever again.

I miss Spike and Atari 😭

[HydrationIsMe]

Tenkaichi 2 was the first Tenkaichi game I played. Beforehand I only played the Budokai games so when I first played T2, it absolutely blew my mind away.
It was literally what I wanted in a DB game.

[TheSuperkeithg]

Tenkaichi 2 actually has a what if as well. You have to beat Raditz with Piccolo and it creates a whole new what if story

[thFromTheSun_]

I prefer BT2 overall. Playing as Devilman is neat in BT3, but doesn't make the game for me. I prefer the gameplay from 2 and the story mode had more to chew with unlockable story bits and What Ifs

[mexiwolf]

Shoutout to anyone who got Budokai Tenkaichi on Wii. We are all very special/strange people.

[_jagger]

Every one of these Tenkaichi retrospectives neglects to talk about anything gameplay related, I assume that's because they're meant to be casual retrospectives, which is fine, but it's crazy to me that no one talks about the gameplay of these games.
The reason why T2 feels so much better than the first is *because* of the mechanics, the whole combo system was reworked, dashes were improved with more control, sliding speed was increased, cancels were improved, you can't say "the mechanics aren't the biggest thing, but the feel" because the latter is a direct result of the former

Also, I cannot for the life of me call the Raging Blast part of the Tenkaichi series. Tenkaichi always emphasized movement options to the point where there's a damage increase if you attack the opponent from behind. Positioning always has been essential in those games, Raging Blast completely focussed on combos and offense instead. In RB2, your speed is abhorrent, you literally can't steer your flight while ascending/descending, there is no positioning to be considered here, you either combo or you defend.

(Also Tenkaichi 2s cancels are 10x better than RB2 cancels fight me)

[BigHeadClan]

Bt2 &3 are still to this day the best executions of a DBZ fighting game.

Story mode was good, movement system spot on and combat deep. God I remember getting into teleport battles with my brother that lasted what felt like a minute and we couldn’t land hits on each other.

If it had one flaw is was the joy stick rotation movement you had to do, god wore through so many pads on the ps2 controllers.

Few times my hands would start bleeding while playing against my bro during a beam struggle. Lol

[Ar]

Oh man this hits hard! I need to start retro collecting again, because I miss these games! I remember getting so deep into the DBZ and Naruto fighting games, I was practically undeafted by my friends!

[demon-x]

One little thing i like in the BT games well to me BT2 is the one i played a lot is when characters get to their 2nd to the last health bar, their stance changes to looking injured like vegeta clutching on his arm. Its really good at showing a desperate battle vibe especially when you finish a fight with little health left almost no other game does this. Plus getting hit by a special attack also destroys some clothing just adds more to the vibe. And yeah the levels showing up during the pre story battle screen kinda adds some intimidation plus the fact that "unwinnable" battles are actually winnable and unlock special story events just motivates you to push your skills to the limit.