Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 : Review

Initially, the fighting game Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 was a Playstation 2 only game which was published in 2004.
Also known as Dragon Ball Z3 in Japan, Budokai 3 is still, two decades later, one of the best Dragon Ball games and this is why a HD version of it was made later for the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 consoles.
The game has "only" 38 characters (without counting the fusions and the transformations).

Budokai 3: What's in the game

The characters of Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3

Most characters included in the game are from the Z sagas but there are also two characters from Dragon Ball as well as two transformations, one fusion and one villain from Dragon Ball GT.

You can see all the characters from Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 in this video :

All the characters (including their transformations)

The Saiyans

- Goku (Base, Kaioken, SSJ1, SSJ2, SSJ3 et SSJ4)

- Kid Goku.

- Kid Gohan.

- Teen Gohan (Base, SSJ1 et SSJ2).

- Adult Gohan (Base, SSJ1, SSJ2, Mystic Gohan).

- Great Saiyaman.

- Songoten (Base, SSJ1).

- Vegeta (Base, SSJ1, SSJ2, Majin Vegeta, SSJ4).

- Future Trunks (Base, SSJ1 et SSJ2).

- Kid Trunks (Base, SSJ1).

- Raditz.

- Nappa.

- Bardock.

- Broly.

The humans

- Kurilin.

- Yamcha.

- Mister Satan.

- Videl.

- Uub.

The Aliens

- Piccolo (His secondary costume is Neil).

- Tienshinhan.

- Captain Ginyu.

- Recoome.

- Frieza (Form 1, 2, 3, final form, Mecha Frieza).

- Cooler (Final form, form 5, Metal Cooler).

- Saibaiman.

- Majin Buu.

- Super Buu (Normal, Buutenks, Buuhan).

- Kid Buu.

The Gods and Demons

- Supreme Kai.

- Dabura.

- Omega Shenron.

The Androids and robots

- Android 16.

- Android 17.

- Android 18.

- Dr Gero (Android 20).

- Cell (Unperfect, Semi-Perfect, Perfect, Super Perfect).

- Cell Junior.

The fusions

- Gogita (SSJ1, SSJ4, Veku).

- Vegito (Base form, SSJ1).

- Gotenks (Base form, SSJ1, SSJ3, Fat Gotenks).

- Kaiobito (Fusion of Supreme Kai and Kibito with the potaras).

Like you can see, Budokai 3 contains way less What-if fusions and absorptions than Budokai 2, but it has Super Gogeta and Gogeta Super Saiyan 4.

The non-playable characters of Dragonball Z Budokai 3 :

They are the characters who are used only as enemies, who appear during cutscenes or costumes which were scrapped during the game's developpment :

- Kibito (He is seen in the cutscene where where Supreme Kai becomes Kaiobito).
- Babidi (He is used in the cutscene where Vegeta becomes Majin Vegeta).
- Dinosaure (If you throw the opponent out of the arena in the Plains map, he will land on the back of a dinosaure who will then angrily throw him back in the combat zone).
- Ginyu in Goku's Body / Goku with a detector (This character is used in the game as an enemy only).
- Bulma (She is seen briefly in the mission 10 of the training mode).
- Gotenks and Buu Ghosts : They are used in the Ultimate technics of Gotenks and Buuhan.
- Frieza in a hoover chair (this costume for Frieza was scrapped during game developpment).

For example, in this video the costumes 2 of Videl, Nappa, Uub, Ginyu,... have been replaced with Bulma, Kibito, Babidi, Goku with a scouter, etc.

The arenas of Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3

The game has 12 arenas but some of them have an alternate version and there are also 3 destroyed maps.

The environmental attacks in Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3

In some arenas, if the player manages to throw his opponent out of bounds, then a special cutscene will plays and his attack will deal additional damage points.
The cutscenes are the following ones :

- In the arena "Plainss", if the opponent is thrown out of bounds, then he will go through a hills and fall on the back of a dinosaure who will angrily attack him and send him flying back to the zone where the fight takes place.

- In the arena "City", when a character is thrown out of the map, this will cause a chains reaction which will half destroy the city and the two fighters will them resume the fight in the Ruined City Map.

- In the Planet Namek and Isles arenas, when a character is thrown out of the map's limits, he will hit a hill which will then fall to pieces and then he will fly back to the fighting zone.

- In the arena "Grandpa Gohan's house", if a character is thrown out of bounds, he will hit a rocky pit and then fly back to the area where the fight is taking place.

The different versions of Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3

	The normal European version of Budokai 3 (EU-PAL) In this version which was published in 2004 on the Playstation 2, only the english voices are availables but the menus have been translated in 5 languages : English, spanish, french, italian and german.
	The american version of Budokai 3 (US-NTSC) This version, also a Playstation 2 exclusive has only the english voices and the menus in english and spanish.
	Dragon Ball Z 3 (JP-NTSC) Dragon Ball Z3 is the japanese version of Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3. Only the japanese voices are availables and the menus are written in japanese.
	Budokai 3 Collector Edition (EU-PAL) The Collector Edition of Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 is a special version of the game, also on Playstation 2, which adds the following features : The japanese voices are added as an option as well as additional difficulty mods and 3 bonus costumes for Goku, Piccolo and Trunks.
	Budokai 3 Greatest Hits (US-NTSC) The Greatest Hits version of Budokai 3 is identical to Budokai 3 Collector Edition, only it is for the US market.
	Budokai 3 HD Collection The Collector/Greatest Hits Editions of Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 have been remastered in HD for the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 on a DVD named Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection which also contains a remastered version of Dragon Ball Z Budokai 1. This remastered version of Budokai 3 has textures in higher definition, beautiful cell shading and reworked HUD icons but it has some downsides as a few super moves (like Broly's ultimate) have been slightly censored.

So, are the PS2 versions of Budokai 3 still worth it two decades later ?

The answer is yes because the Playstation 2 version of the game can be emulated on PC and Android Phones in even higher resolution than on the PS3 (even in 4k) and with graphical tweaks which improve the visual effects too, all thanks to emulators like PCSX2 and AETHERSX2.
Also, with the pnach system included into the emulators, many funny cheat codes can be used.
That said, the PS3 version can also be emulated on PC but no cheat codes have been made for this version yet (if it is even possible).

The features added into the Collector and HD version of Budokai 3 :

Budokai 3 Collector and Budokai 3 HD Collection contains theses 3 costumes :

- Goku with a halo.
- Trunks with long hairs in armor.
- Demon King Piccolo (Additional costume for Piccolo, but he is huge).

The 3 passwords to unlock the bonus costumes for Goku, Trunks and Piccolo.

The japanese voices.

The Collector, Greatest Hits and Budokai 3 HD versions of the game all add the japanese voices as an option in addition to the english voices.

Budokai 3's Cut Content

In the game's files, there is an impressive numbers of pictures, icons, voice acting and texts which were cut from the game before it was released.
Also, before they were cut, more characters were supposed to be included in the game, like Cui, Dodoria, Zarbon, Android 19, the Super Buu absorption characters who were included in Budokai 2 and also the Gokule fusion.

	In addition to this, if in the game only 11 out of the 38 playable characters have a story mode, the developpers had, at one point, the project to make all characters have one. And with cheat codes, it is possible to enter the Dragon Universe (DU) mode with many characters who had their story mode cut.
	Any ways, it is a shame that the story mode of some characters like Trunks or Dr Gero was cut out of the game because the voice acting, the texts and the icons which were supposed to appear in them had already been made. Even the japanese voices had already been dubbed in english when the decision was taken to cut the story mode of theses characters out of the game.

Budokai 3's gameplay

What to expect, combat wise in Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3

Budokai 3 is a 2,5D fighting game : The characters and the arenas are fully in 3D but the fights are in 2D.
Super moves (like the kamehameha) can be performed at will providing you have enough ki, the characters can fly freely and fight in the air but it isn't possible to fight underwater.
Also, it is possible to avoid attacks and to teleport behind the opponents and last but not least, Budokai 3 is famous for the gameplay mechanics called as "Cancel", which consists of starting a move and then interrupting it to do another move.
Used correctly, the cancel style can be used to perform (very) long combos.
The characters can also equip capsules which will give them more abilities (like additional super moves, more transformations, plus attack, defense and ki bonus or even life regeneration).

The game modes

The Story mode of Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3

Budokai 3 has an excellent story mode but it doesn't contains any cutscenes : The story mode is separated in eras (Saiyan saga, Namek Saga, Android Saga, Buu Saga) and before each sage, a text is read by the game's narrator and then the player is free to fly over the World map to discover capsules and non-playable characters.

The Tournament mode

There are two types of Tournament modes in Budokai 3 :
- The Budokai Tournament which takes place in the Tournament Ring and where it is possible to win either by KO or Ring Outs.
- The Cell Games where it is only possible to win by knock outs.

The Dragon Arena

The Dragon Arena is some sorts of Ranking mode where the player can level up his characters up to the level 99 by fighting stronger and stronger versions of the game's characters.
But this is not all : In the arena mode, it is also possible to have duel fights against leveled up characters and it is in this game mode that passwords can be entered to unlock the bonus costumes for Goku, Trunks and Piccolo in the Collector and HD versions of Budokai 3.

The training mode

Budokai 3 has a training mode to learn the game's basics and where the player can test his skills.

Ball Z Budokai 3 tips and secrets

How to start a fight in the alternate version of the arenas

To start a fight in the destroyed or semi-destroyed versions of the arenas (Devastated Earth, Planet Namek in fusion, destroyed island and Ruined City, start a duel match in Duel or in the Dragon Arena and when it is time to select the arena where you want to fight, select it with Square instead of Cross.

	The map Devasted Earth is the secondary version of most maps, with the exception of the maps Archipelago, Urban Area and Planet Namek.

How to unlock the Dragon Arena

To unlock the Dragon Arena, you have to finish the Story mode with the 11 characters who have one (so, including Broly and Uub).

The Cheat codes for Dragonball Z Budokai 3

Here is a list of cheat codes, mods and combos for Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3. The codes work with the PCSXC2 (on PC) and AETHERSX2 (on Android Phones) emulators via the pnach file system.
To play with cheat codes on the Playstation 2 is also possible with special PS2 DVDs like Action Replay Max, Codebreakers and Gameshark (after having converting them to theses formats with Omniconvert).