Super Dragon Ball z

[AndrewTS 0]

Just rented it. Blasted through the arcade mode with 18.

 

The gameplay is good although slower than the budokai games (budokai series emphasized looking like the tv fights above all else, though), but I like it.

 

Your default characters to select from are: Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, krillin, majin buu, androids 16-18, Frieza, Trunks, Cell, Vegeta, Chi-chi and Chi-Chi. Unlockables are King Piccolo, Majin Vegeta, Mecha Frieza, Ultimate Gohan, Videl.

 

The game's been plugged many times as being much like Street Fighter + DBZ. That's not entirely true. It feels more like Rival Schools/Project Justice. There's 4 main buttons for play- Light, Heavy, Jump and Guard. However, you can assign the triggers to do two-button functions (such as throw and the homing attacks. Characters only have about 3-4 "Special moves" and usually a single super move. Plus there's canned strings of 3-4 hits each.

 

Scrubs will LOVE Goku. He has a projectile (which can be charged), the "Blast Fist" which is a shoryuken, and a spinning kick attack. Yes, you already know exactly how to execute them, too. He has a super Kamehameha, and is one of the few with a 2nd super with the ability to transform into a super saiyan. Plus he has a taunt that restores his life. The other saiyans share the transform ability, but their base play styles are much different.

 

Movement includes dashing forward, back-dashing, and sidesteps with quick taps of up and down. Items on the playfield can usually be used as cover. Tapping Jump twice lets you float in the air--which is pretty much just like standing on air, rather than offering any unique gameplay situations. You can't simply dodge and jump around forever, because there's an "action" gauge that drains as you dash/sidestep/etc.

 

Combos can be performed via the standard two-in-ones (which can be started by the canned strings), juggles, and corner traps. Oddly, it seems supercancels aren't here.

 

 

Overall, a solid game that could use some improvements, but already is leagues better than the other DBZ fighters. I wouldn't say it's worth 40 bucks unless you're totally crazy for the series...maybe wait for Champion Edition.

[Guest Smues]

No Goten makes me sad, but it still sounds great. Although I was kind of hoping for a sequel to Budokai Tenkaichi, I liked the engine on that one a lot.

[AndrewTS 0]

Haven't played that one, but I did play Bodukai 3. Odd that one had super cancels and this one doesn't.

 

Neat thing about the juggles, too; the homing attack/dash lets you end them with strings with you in the air if you want. With Teena, you can dash in, uppercut, homing attack into the Violence Hold, driving an opponent into the ground. Some mags/sites are plugging this as being for "expert" fighting gamers but it seems to me pretty intermediate stuff, just more cerebral than DBZ games usually are.

[Guest Smues]

Does it have anything else of note besides Arcade mode?

 

Edit: Oh and is there online play?

[AndrewTS 0]

No online play.

 

Arcade Mode, Survival, Training, Dragon Summoning (getting the secret characters), Create (which is pretty much like Darkstalkers 3/Alpha 3's home edit modes--you just rename/build up one of the standard fighters), and options are your only modes

 

For a 2nd take, Gamespot seems to have the best overall review I've seen for it:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/superdbz/review.html

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I haven't even played the one from fall 2005 and another one is already out?

 

What exactly is going on here with the games? I seem to recall reading there is a sequel to the DBZ:BT game from last fall and this is a different game, or something.

 

And what about that one for the Wii (which EGM said sucked at E3)?

 

Confusing!

 

Edit: Ok, so after Wiki'ing it, I am of the impression Super DBZ is just a port of an arcade game, while Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 continues the "regular" console series this fall.

 

"Super Dragon Ball Z is a cel-shaded 3D fighting video game, originally released in Japanese arcades (December 22, 2005) running on System 246 hardware, and later for the PlayStation 2 (Japan: June 29, 2006; US, July 18, 2006; AU, July 21, 2006). The game was developed by Crafts & Meister, headed by Noritaka Funamizu (responsible in part for Street Fighter II). The game features 18 playable characters, destructable environments, and a game engine geared towards fans of more traditional fighting games."

[Guest Monty Burns]

I love DBZ.

[AndrewTS 0]

Budokai Tenkaichi is made by a different development team than the other Budokai games (and isn't even called Budokai in Japan, but "Sparking!") IIRC it's the same folks who made the GC Naruto games, but you need a damn chart to track who makes all the Naruto/DBZ games.

 

Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is in the works for PS2 and Wii.

[Guest Smues]

Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is in the works for PS2 and Wii.

 

Awesome

[Damaramu 0]

Does it have a Japanese language track? Because I'm not playing it if I have to listen to grunts and Freezers girly voice.

[AndrewTS 0]

Does it have a Japanese language track? Because I'm not playing it if I have to listen to grunts and Freezers girly voice.

 

"Having these balls makes me feel something that resembles joy , I want to caress them."

 

and i'm fairly sure no unless it's an unlockable

[Guest Smues]

Does it have a Japanese language track? Because I'm not playing it if I have to listen to grunts and Freezers girly voice.

 

"Having these balls makes me feel something that resembles joy , I want to caress them."

 

and i'm fairly sure no unless it's an unlockable

 

"Ooo I like this guy, he has ROOTbeer!"

 

Damn American dub. Although I don't mind them that much in the video games. It was really awesome having the Japanese voices in DBZ: BT, but I can live without them. What I'd really like is the Japanese music.

[AndrewTS 0]

I agree. Season 1 is ass, but they got better over time. I don't mind Goku sounding like a male, and 18 sounding like a frigid bitch instead of a giggly, ditzy airhead.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I can see their parachutes!

 

When my arm grows back...!

[AndrewTS 0]

"It's a shame it's a Sunday, or there would have been people in those buildings."

 

That 2nd line you mentioned is surely a Pic quote, right?

 

It seems that there's probably going to be plenty of die-hard Budokai/BT fans who will not like the game, because it is a vast departure gameplay-wise.

 

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/superdb...id=m-1-29452087

 

It's funny seeing some of the fan reviews, like the guy who gave it a 4/10 mainly because..."but some of the transformation button combinations are insane for example Vegeta's super sayian move is right, left, diagonal left down, down, diagonal right down, left then Square + X ."

 

HAHAHAHA! Cake. A Rising Storm would make that guy's head explode.

 

This one is much better though:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/superdb....html?id=342600

 

Oh, and it has a note about the voices:

"The European version uses the original Japanese voice actors and contains subtitles, while the American version has the cast of the English Dub doing the voices."

 

Funny quote:

"So while it's definitely not a 'Hardcore Fighter' like Atari would desperately want you to believe, Super Dragon Ball Z is still a pretty fun fighting game, especially for the more mature Dragon Ball Z fan."

 

Now there's a tiny minority...

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

It was a Tenshinhan / Tien quote, used because he lost his arm in battle and I guess it would have been too difficult to paint one on for the remainder of his screen time, before being sent to another dimension.

[AndrewTS 0]

Ha! The funny part is so many of those seem to just draw more attention to what happened.

 

I think somebody should take a look at Roshi's plumbing, considering all of those tall, frosty mugs of *water* he is always drinking.

[Guest Smues]

Oh god don't remind me of the tall frothy mugs of water. Such a damn waste of time and money. And I'd tried to repress the memory of Tien yelling JUST WAIT TIL MY ARM GROWS BACK. The first two seasons (where they managed to hack down 67 episodes into like 53 episodes, grrrrrrrrr) were the ones that had all the god awful "death isn't real shit". At least from then on they acknowledged that better. The absolute worst was all of that "next dimension crap". What the HFIL were they thinking? Oh and don't forget "Hercule!"

 

Oh and I haven't watched too much of the american dub of Dragonball (the full series one, not that pathetically awful first 13 episodes one) but it seems like they were a lot better about having more direct translations, except for all the sex stuff. EARTH FIRE SEA AIR I DECLARE A PINKY SWEAR!

[AndrewTS 0]

After playing Super DBZ I rented Budokai Tenkaichi.

 

Big mistake.

 

Or at least, I really hate it. I think the love for it comes from the bajillion characters...mostly ones you have to unlock.

 

And to unlock them, you go through the fun-fun-fun Z battle! Relive fights such as loser 1 vs. loser 2 and vice-versa as they train for their deaths to the Saiyans! Losers 1-3 vs. Saibamen! Or practice your skills at RUNNING AWAY FROM THE ENEMY 20 TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU!

 

And virtually every character plays exactly the same, just with different special skills, which you hit a couple buttons for and then watch them come out. Fighting strategy doesn't get much more complex than "hide behind rock while charging up ki."

[AndrewTS 0]

Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is in the works for PS2 and Wii.

 

Awesome

 

You might like seeing this then:

 

http://www.xradicaldreamers.net/scraps/

[David Blazenwing 0]

What the HFIL were they thinking? Oh and don't forget "Hercule!"

 

You son of a B, you leave the awesome Hercule out of this!

 

...

 

I'm sorry for my use of harsh letters. But don't funk with that Hercule. He's one bad mother father!

 

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I liked flying around the world searching for the Dragonballs in Budokai 3. That has nothing to do with this, but I thought I'd mention it. I didn't much care for the board game story mode in the other games.

[Guest Tsukuyomi]

Eh, this makes me want to kinda check it out.

 

And on Budokai Tenkaichi comment by Andrew:

 

The story mode sucks big-time. No doubt about it, it just blew in ways I couldn't imagine. But the game mechanics, imo, worked really well for the dbz style. I played against my brother and we had a ton of fun just running around bashing each other (especially after getting oozarus!) through stuff and firing off ki blasts.

 

I thought it was a great improvement on the other series. But yeah, the story mode absolutely blows ass.

[2GOLD 0]

Question for those that might know:

Which is the best of the Budokai series? My fiancee loves the show and she wants one of the Budokai ones but we have no CLUE which one is worth it.

 

I heard there was one in the series which was very enjoyable and I was wondering if any of you knew.

[Guest InuYasha]

Question for those that might know:

Which is the best of the Budokai series? My fiancee loves the show and she wants one of the Budokai ones but we have no CLUE which one is worth it.

 

I heard there was one in the series which was very enjoyable and I was wondering if any of you knew.

Boudokai I and II were the best, in my opinion. All the rest are kind of blah.

[Guest Tsukuyomi]

I'd say the second one or the latest one. If you plan on playing multiplayer a lot, I'd say this latest incarnation might be the best.

[AndrewTS 0]

Eh, this makes me want to kinda check it out.

 

And on Budokai Tenkaichi comment by Andrew:

 

The story mode sucks big-time. No doubt about it, it just blew in ways I couldn't imagine. But the game mechanics, imo, worked really well for the dbz style. I played against my brother and we had a ton of fun just running around bashing each other (especially after getting oozarus!) through stuff and firing off ki blasts.

 

I thought it was a great improvement on the other series. But yeah, the story mode absolutely blows ass.

 

Yeah, but translating the spirit of a show/movie/etc. doesn't necessarily make for good gameplay. However, DBZ fans are hardly discriminating with their tastes in gameplay. BT fans were swearing up and down how complicated or "lousy" SDBZ is, because they don't get the gameplay. Although the air combat is much chunkier than in BT.

 

As for the best of Budokai 1-3....it's like this.

 

If you care more about heated, competitive gameplay, the 2nd one is a bit better.

 

But B3 is more "cinematic" in it's approach--you get more mid-match cutscenes of people smashing into walls/through mountains, etc. Also, more people seem to prefer Budokai 3's quest mode.

 

Don't ask me at all about Sagas, though. I played like 2 minutes of it.

[Guest Tsukuyomi]

Yeah, but translating the spirit of a show/movie/etc. doesn't necessarily make for good gameplay. However, DBZ fans are hardly discriminating with their tastes in gameplay. BT fans were swearing up and down how complicated or "lousy" SDBZ is, because they don't get the gameplay. Although the air combat is much chunkier than in BT.

 

Im not like, the biggest dbz fan, and if I want a fighting game i guess i'd rather turn to something like marvel vs capcom. I guess i'll try super dbz, but i don't understand (outside of the very stupid 'survival!' battles), what was that bad with BT. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

[AndrewTS 0]

I didn't say it was "bad" exactly. I said I hate the game, that's all.

So while it probably plays more like the fights in the show, I'd rather play SDBZ.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

All you need to know: Sagas is awful.