History YMMV / DragonballZBudokaiTenkaichi

** Zangya's line "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was tough like me? Don't cha?" It's an obvious reference to the Music/PussycatDolls' song ''Don't Cha'' that was popular at the time, and firmly dates the game to the UsefulNotes/TurnOfTheMillennium.

** Third Form Frieza has the High Speed Rush attack.

** Despite using the Chocolate Beam attack the most, Fat Buu does ''not'' have the Chocolate Beam attack.

** ''Tenkaichi 3'' also marks the first time the Classic ''Dragon Ball'' story became playable in a main-line ''Dragon Ball'' fighting game. Unfortunately, it was fumbled hard, as none of Goku's more interesting fights like his first encounters with Yamcha, Tien, Mercenary Tao or his climactic duel with Jackie Chun were adapted. What ''were'' adapted for ''Tenkaichi 3'' basically amounts to filler fights, like his fight against Nam and his brief clash with General Blue in Penguin Village. The only plot-important battle ''Tenkaichi 3'' included was the final fight with Demon King Piccolo, and even then, it still passes over the epilogue battle between Goku and Piccolo Jr. at the 23rd World Tournament.

* ThatOneAttack: "Mystic Combination", Kid Buu's Rush Attack, in ''Budokai Tenkaichi 2''; the length of time in which he charges at you lasts an absurdly long time (enabling him to use it even at a major distance), and it ''homes in'' on the opponent. Exacerbated due to the fact Rush Attacks in ''2'' are unblockable and costs no Ki if you did not land the attack, as well as Kid Buu being one of the game's many Buus, which means he can charge his Ki up quickly and ''start the attack all over again'' after knocking the player across the stage, while they're still struggling to get up. The attack was [[{{Nerf}} significantly toned down]] in ''3'', lowering the time of the initial rush, requires half Ki consumption for the initial blast, the amount of damage given, the way the character lands prevents it from being used as frequently, and characters being able to block Rush Attacks at the risk of losing Ki.

** In the ''Budokai'' trilogy and ''Tenkaichi 1'', Ginyu's Body Change ultimate was a GameBreaker, being able to switch positions with a stronger opponent to gain the upper hand. The Body Change fell into this come ''Tenkaichi 2'' and ''3'', where it was nerfed '''horribly''' to the point where it became useless, borderlining Ginyu in the JokeCharacter zone. Rather than switching bodies with the opponent, Ginyu will randomly switch with another character off the field (mostly from the Frieza Saga). However, not only are his stats worse than before, he looses access to all of his special attacks, even from his orginal body.

* UnexpectedCharacter: There are plenty of these to go around, given how big the roster is (''3'''s in particular is enormous) but the most notable is probably [[PosthumousCharacter Grandpa Gohan]] and Selypa/Fasha, with the latter not even having on-screen fight scenes in her only appearance, making the game's moveset original.

* AccidentalInnuendo: In ''Budokai Tenkaichi 3'', Babidi's strongest attack has him holding his lamp in front of him and... er... [[ADateWithRosiePalms rubbing it vigorously until a laser shoots out of it...]] Okay...

** Zangya's line "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was tough like me? Don't cha?" It's an obvious reference to the Pussycat Dolls song ''Don't Cha'' that was popular at the time, and firmly dates the game to the UsefulNotes/TurnOfTheMillennium.

* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: All three games are considered to be competent, if simple, fighters, with many considering their gameplay to be the most faithful to classic ''DBZ'' action, and the sheer amount of content helps add to their appeal. ''2'' and ''3'' in particular are in the running for the best ''Dragon Ball'' game ever.

* ShockingMoments: After nearly 13 to 16 years of silence following the last major ''Budokai Tenkaichi'' game, fans had rightfully came to terms that the series has long since passed, especially after it looks liked ''[=XenoVerse=]'' would be here to stay... then everything changed with a special announcement from ''Dragon Ball'' Games Battle Hour 2023. A teaser trailer showing gameplay footage from previous ''Tenkaichi'' games, before shifting to modern footage of Goku transforming into his Super Saiyan Blue form in the style of the ''Broly'' movie. The ending image warning us that '''''[[BackInTheSaddle "A New Sparking/Budokai Tenkaichi Begins."]]'''''

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: ''Budokai Tenkaichi 3'' is beloved in Latin America, so much that there is a huge modding commumity for the game.

* FountainOfMemes: The Latin American modding community for ''Tenkaichi 3'' is flooded with this. While there are some mods that are genuinely impressive, such as the fan-made ''Budokai Tenkaichi 4'', which overhauls the story mode to include ''Super'' content up to the ''Broly'' movie as well as ''Dragon Ball Heroes''-themed mods filled with characters from that series, a lot of them run under nonsensical CoolVersusAwesome matchups that takes RefugeInAudacity, with numerous {{Crossover}} mods adding in characters from other franchises like ''{{Franchise/Naruto}}'' and ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' as well as Main/SerialEscalation mods that lets you play as Super Saiyan 10 Vegito and the like.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: ''Budokai Tenkaichi 3'' is considered the best ''Dragon Ball'' game in Europe and America (specially in Latin America), whereas, in Asia, is the worst of the Budokai Tenkaichi series that even the score it get for fans of those countries don't reach 7.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: ''Budokai Tenkaichi 3'' is considered the best "Dragon Ball" game in Europe and America (specially in Latin America), whereas, in Asia, is the worst of the Budokai Tenkaichi series that even the score it get for fans of those countries don't reach 7.

** ''Tenkaichi 3'' also marks the first time the Classic ''Dragon Ball'' story became playable in a main-line ''Dragon Ball'' fighting game. Unfortunately, it was fumbled hard, as none of Goku's more interesting fights like his first encounters with Yamcha, Tien, General Tao or his climactic duel with Jackie Chun were adapted. What ''were'' adapted for ''Tenkaichi 3'' basically amounts to filler fights, like his fight against Nam and his brief clash with General Blue in Penguin Village. The only plot-important battle ''Tenkaichi 3'' included was the final fight with Demon King Piccolo, and even then, it still passes over the epilogue battle between Goku and Piccolo Jr. at the 23rd World Tournament.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: ''Tenkaichi 3'''s story mode is heavily condensed, often skipping fights entirely like Piccolo's first encounter with Cell and Ultimate Gohan's face-off with Super Buu, and whatever fights are included are often victims of BroadStrokes, thus featuring inaccuracies such as Goku killing Super 17 in his Super Saiyan 4 form (in the anime, he reverted back to his base form and killed him with a Dragon Fist before firing a point-blank Kamehameha). Considering the changes to the gameplay engine that allows for more dynamic transitions mid-fight, as well as the lack of unique in-game cutscene animations for certain interactions (Goku's thumbs up at the end of the Buu Saga being a more egregious example of this), it can make the entire story mode system feel underutilized and makes Dragon History more shallow compared to the Z-Battle Gate and Dragon Adventure modes.

* MemeticMutation: Outside of Japan, Chi Chi's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGj4yalC0uU commentaries in the third game]] became this due to her sheer overuse of the word "delinquent" thanks the localizers translating an idea in Japan where coloring one's hair blond indicates being a troublemaker. Because this idea was lost to many in the English speaking world, especially children playing the game, numerous comments roasted Chi Chi constantly saying the word delinquent and memed the idea it was just another word for "Super Saiyan", ''except'' for SSJ 4 where one can't use that word since there's no blonde hair.

** In ''Tenkaichi 1'' and ''2'', Goku has some... archaic conditions in order to use some of his attacks. In the first game, his Kaioken Attack was locked unless you were in Kaioken Mode... which requires 3 Blast Stocks and constantly drains your Ki at an alarming rate (which in turn, can make the battle with Nappa in Z Battle Gate more troubling than it's worth). In ''Tenkaichi 2'', you couldn't use his Spirit Bomb Ultimate at all unless you spend at least 2 Blast Stocks to do '''one''' "Please Share Your Energy With Me!" to charge it. Thankfully, these restrictions were dropped by ''3''.

* ContestedSequel: ''Ultimate Tenkaichi''. Some people consider it better than the previous ''Raging Blast'' games that filled the gap following ''Budokai Tenkaichi 3'', others consider it to be one of the worst DBZ games ever made with its Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic instead of combos and strategies. It doesn't help that the plot for Hero Mode, the main attraction of DBZ, feels like a bad DBZ fanfic.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: On the other hand, at the very long end of the developer's run with the ''Dragon Ball'' series was the infamous ''Dragon Ball Z: For Kinect''. Effectively a butchered version of ''Ultimate Tenkaichi'', using all of the same assets wholesale, it tried to sell the idea of fighting like the Z-Fighters with the Kinect's motion controls; instead you had a game that barely functioned and was just a literal exercise in frustration, on top of further mucking up a ContestedSequel in its mechanics.

** In the ''Budokai'' trilogy and ''Tenkaichi 1'', Ginyu's Body Change ultimate was a GameBreaker, being able to switch positions with a stronger opponent to gain the upper hand. The Body Change fell into this come ''Tenkaichi 2'' and ''3'', where it was nerfed '''horribly''' to the point where it became useless, borderlining Ginyu in the JokeCharacter zone. Rather than switching bodies with the opponent, Ginyu will randomly switch with another character off the field (mostly from the Frieza Saga). However, not only are his stats worse than before, he looses access to all of his special attacks, even from his orginal body. In ''Ultimate Tenkaichi'', his Body Change was restricted to a transformation, switching bodies with Goku and Goku only.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: If you play Future Gohan against Goten, he is baffled to find out that he has a brother since Goku died in his timeline before Goten was conceived. If Future Gohan beats Goten, we get this little gem.

* ContestedSequel: ''Ultimate Tenkaichi.'' Some people consider it better than the previous ''Raging Blast'' games that filled the gap following ''Budokai Tenkaichi 3'', others consider it to be one of the worst DBZ games ever made with its Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic instead of combos and strategies. It doesn't help that the plot for Hero Mode, the main attraction of DBZ, feels like a bad DBZ fanfic.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: ''Tenkaichi 3'''s story mode is heavily condensed, often skipping fights entirely like Piccolo's first encounter with Cell and Ultimate Gohan's face-off with Super Buu, and whatever fights are included are often victims of BroadStrokes, thus featuring inaccuracies such as Goku killing Super 17 in his Super Saiyan 4 form (he reverted back to his base form and killed him with a Dragon Fist before firing a point-blank Kamehameha). Considering the changes to the gameplay engine that allows for more dynamic transitions mid-fights, as well as the lack of unique in-game cutscene animations for certain interactions (such as Goku's thumbs up at the end of the Buu Saga), it can make the entire story mode system feel underutilized and makes Dragon History more shallow compared to the Z-Battle Gate and Dragon Adventure modes.
* UnexpectedCharacter: There are plenty of these to go around, given how big the roster is (''3'''s in particular is enormous) but the most notable is probably [[PosthumousCharacter Grandpa Gohan]] and Selypa/Fasha, with the latter not even having on-screen fight scenes in her only appearance, making the game's moveset original.

* ContestedSequel: ''Ultimate Tenkaichi.'' Some people consider it better than the previous ''Raging Blast'' games, others consider it to be one of the worst DBZ games ever made with its Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic instead of combos and strategies. It doesn't help that the plot for Hero Mode, the main attraction of DBZ, feels like a bad DBZ fanfic.