Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 1 : Review

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 1 is the first episode of the Tenkaichi game series and it is known as Dragon Ball Z Sparking! in Japan.
The game was published in 2005 and is a Playstation 2 exclusive.
It is a full 3D fighting video game where the characters are free to go anywhere on the maps and they can even lose tracks of each others.
This was very new back then when it comes to a Dragon Ball game and very well made as well.
Also, Tenkaichi 1 is the only game in the Tenkaichi series where Ginyu can change his body with the opponent during the match and the first Dragon Ball Z game ever where giant characters (like Goku and Vegeta in their Great Ape forms) are playable.

Now, when it comes to the flaws, Tenkaichi 1 like all games have some, especially since it is the first game of the series.
The biggest flaw is probably the fact that in Tenkaichi 1, the characters can't transform during the matches, a feature which was added only in the second episode of the series: Tenkaichi 2.

The characters and maps of Tenkaichi 1

The characters of Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi 1

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 1 has 56 characters (counting the fusionned characters who in the game stands as independent characters, but not the characters transformed states).

There are a few characters from the Dragon Ball Saga (like Kid Goku and Tao Pai Pai), from the Dragon Ball movies (Like Janemba) and from Dragon Ball GT but most of the characters are from the Dragon Ball Z sagas.

The arenas of Tenkaichi 1

The game has 11 playable arenas and they are :

- Earth Wasteland. - Earth Rocky Area. - Namek. - World Tournament Stage. - City (Ruins). - Mountain Roads. - Islands. - Cell Games Arena. - Kami's Lookout. - Hyperbolic Time Chamber. - Supreme Kai's World.

It is worth to note that theses arenas were quite big for the time when the game was published and allowed to fight in the airs and underwater.

The game modes of Tenkaichi 1

- Z Battle Gate.
- Ultimate Battle.
- World Tournament.
- Dueling.
- Practice.
- Evolution Z.
- Characters Illustration.

Amongs theses modes, Z Battle Gate is the story mode of Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 1, Ultimate Battle is a Ranking Mode where the player has to choose a character and fight opponents in order to become the character at the top of the list.
Evolution Z is a customization mode where the character put Z items (which are materialized by potaras of different colors) into the characters skill tray in order to make them more powerful.
Also, the Z items can be combined together to make them more powerful or to create new items.
And finally, Characters Illustration is the biography mode of Tenkaichi 1 and at first, it is an hidden menu.
The game has also a password system which can be accessed in the Dueling Mode and which is initially hidden but can be unlocked through playing. With it, it is possible to obtain characters with full stats.