History VideoGame / DragonBallZBudokai

* BlindIdiotTranslation: The PAL version of the first game is known for this. Also invokes {{Narm}} like Vegeta screaming "Shikushoooou!!" being subtitled as "Oh you Aunt Sallies!" when Cell kills Trunks.

* CombinedEnergyAttack: The Spirit Bomb is present and usable by Goku and ''Perfect Cell'', following on from a bluff he made in the series despite that OnlyThePureOfHeart can use it, though fans theorize that Cell can use it since his heart is pure (Albeit pure evil.) He also seems to be taking it forcefully in '2'' onward where he shouts "Okay, planet, gimme that stupid energy!" ''3'' also added Omega Shenron and his "Minus Energy Power Ball" formed from all the evils committed through Earth's history.

* CombinedEnergyAttack: The Spirit Bomb is present and usable by Goku and ''Perfect Cell'', following on from a bluff he made in the series despite that OnlyThePureOfHeart can use it, though fans theorize that Cell can use it since his heart is pure (Albeit pure evil.) He also seems to be taking it forcefully in '2'' onward where he shouts "Okay, planet, gimme that stupid energy!"

* BlindIdiotTranslation: The PAL version of the first game is known for this. Also invokes {{Narm}} like Vegeta screaming "Chikushoooou!!" being subtitled as "Oh you Aunt Sallies!" when Android 18 breaks his arm.

* RegionalBonus: The Japanese version of ''2'' had extra costumes for some characters and an extra level. The PAL version of the same game got a few of the costumes, as well as the PAL versions of ''2'' and ''3 having the opening theme tunes with the vocals left intact.

* {{Fanservice}}: Not just the cast of characters (Which soon includes guys like Broly in ''3'') but what attacks they have, such as Tien having his Dodonpa and Volley Ball Fist, which he never uses in the Z series, not to mention costumes. Its quite fun being able to transform Vegeta into his Super Saiyan 2 or Majin form in his old Saiyan Saga armour.

* EasterEgg: The Saibaman's [[TakingYouWithMe SelfDestruct]] technique is a fairly useless attack that kills you instantly whilst doing moderate damage to your enemy, and is more or less used as a sort of spit-in-the-face or flashy ender. When its done on Yamcha, however, its an instant kill and a win awarded to the Saibaman, complete with Yamcha [[MemeticMutation lying in his classic foetal position.]] There's also a lot of special intros when pitting one character against a certain opponent, the cutest being Goten versus Omega Shenron:

* AllJustADream: The ending of Cell's WhatIf story in ''1''. [[spoiler:It was just a nightmare he was having during the 10 day waiting period of the Cell Games.]]

''Budokai 1'' and ''2'' have received ports for the NintendoGameCube as well and there is also a HD collection featuring ''Budokai 1'' and ''3'' for the PlayStation3 and Xbox360.

A series of fighting games primarily for the PlayStation2 and PlayStationPortable based off of the ever popular [[DragonBall Shonen fighting manga series]] by AkiraToriyama, developed by Creator/{{Dimps}}.

Whilst the first two ''Budokai'' games were considered alright if nothing special by gamers, the third is considered the best for having an improved fighting engine and a robust cast of characters. ''Budokai 3'' is notable for being one of the first DBZ games released overseas to feature playable characters from the movies and TV specials (Such as Bardock, Broly, Cooler and Gogeta.) as well as ''DragonballGT'' (Omega Shenron and the Super Saiyan 4 versions of Goku, Vegeta and Gogeta) and even the original DragonBall (Kid Goku and some versions of the game having a King Piccolo costume for Piccolo.)

* EarlyBirdCameo: More or less. [[DragonBallGT Pan]], Bee and Giru appear on the load game menu in ''3''. Then Pan becomes playable in ''Infinite World''.

* FusionDance: All fusion characters are in this as well starting from ''2'' onward. Unlike in ''Videogame/DragonballZBudokaiTenkaichi'' though they're not immediately selectable from the menu but are instead capsules you equip to have certain characters fuse. FusionDance types such as Gotenks and Gogeta last for a limited time whilst Vegito and Kibitoshin last for the entire match. Furthermore you can ''fail'' the dance fusions resulting in a brief helpless moment of playing as a fat Gotenks or Veku. The only exception to this is Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta whose fusion is done automatically. You can even fail the Potara fusion resulting in the enemy catching the thrown earring and breaking it, preventing you from re-initiating the fusion again for the whole match.

* PowerCreepPowerSeep: Unlike in the ''Videogame/DragonballZBudokaiTenkaichi'' games, Hercule/Mr. Satan's attacks cause the enemy to flinch, so you can have him soundly thrash guys like ''Omega Shenron''.

* ShoutOut: Goku's semi-hidden Dragon Fist Ultimate from ''Budokai 3'' onward is the same technique used in the 13th movie ''Wrath of the Dragon'' as well as DragonballGT. To add to that when he tries to do a Spirit Bomb first and realises its fading, he absorbs the bomb into himself for a power boost much like he did in ''Super Android 13''.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The unlockable "Memories of" voice files in ''3'''s Dragon Universe mode hint at stories that never made it in, including a possible alternate outcome to the final fight with Kid Buu having Vegeta wish for Goku's tail to grow back and Goku reaching Super Saiyan 4 as a result, as well as a story for Kid Goku involving him travelling through time or being wished back into a kid (ala GT though the Kid Goku here is DragonBall-era Kid Goku.)

* EasterEgg: The Saibaman's SelfDestruct technique is a fairly useless attack that kills you instantly whilst doing moderate damage to your enemy, and is more or less used as a sort of spit-in-the-face or flashy ender. When its done on Yamcha, however, its an instant kill and a win awarded to the Saibaman, complete with Yamcha [[MemeticMutation lying in his classic foetal position.]] There's also a lot of special intros when pitting one character against a certain opponent, the cutest being Goten versus Omega Shenron:

* FusionDance: All fusion characters are in this as well starting from ''2'' onward. Unlike in BudokaiTenkaichi though they're not immediately selectable from the menu but are instead capsules you equip to have certain characters fuse. FusionDance types such as Gotenks and Gogeta last for a limited time whilst Vegito and Kibitoshin last for the entire match. Furthermore you can ''fail'' the dance fusions resulting in a brief helpless moment of playing as a fat Gotenks or Veku. The only exception to this is Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta whose fusion is done automatically. You can even fail the Potara fusion resulting in the enemy catching the thrown earring and breaking it, preventing you from re-initiating the fusion again for the whole match.

* NoExportForYou: The ''Dragon Ball Z 2V'' version of Budokai 2 is Japan only and is notable for featuring Cooler as an alternate costume for Frieza. The Japanese version of the same game also had a story stage based off of ''NekoMajinZ'' as well as Kuriza being an alt costume for Frieza.
* PowerCreepPowerSeep: Unlike in the ''BudokaiTenkaichi'' games, Hercule/Mr. Satan's attacks cause the enemy to flinch, so you can have him soundly thrash guys like ''Omega Shenron''.

** You can get KOed if you fail the very first part of a Dragon Rush with low health (Wherein your opponent dodges your punch and kicks you to the ground.)

** ''3'' counted as partly this for the overseas audience, partly MarthDebutedInSmashBros for Gogeta, who debuted in Fusion Reborn which would not be aired in the US until a year after the game's release. The same foes for Omega Shenron and Super saiyan 4 Vegeta and Gogeta, as 3 was released before GT had ended its run in the US making ''Budokai 3'' a bit of a spoiler.

* BeamOWar: A gameplay mechanic in ''3''. You can even pull these off with Piccolo's Destructive Wave which appears as a fireball rather than a beam, though strangely, Future Trunks' Buster Cannon can't pull them off.

* CharacterCustomization: You can equip different capsules on characters that can give them upgrades to their stats or items to use mid battle. Notably though you also have to give them capsules to let them use some of their specials and infamously in the original trilogy, for some characters, many slots had to be used up for Transformation capsules, of which Goku had a ''lot''. ''Infinite World'' consolidated this to one single capsule aptly named "Transform!"

* EasterEgg: The Saibaman's SelfDestruct technique is a fairly uselesss attack that kills you instantly whilst doing moderate damage to your enemy, and is more or less used as a sort of spit-in-the-face or flashy ender. When its done on Yamcha, however, its an instant kill and a win awarded to the Saibaman, complete with Yamcha [[MemeticMutation lying in his classic foetal position.]]

* WhatIf: One of its most popular features is having WhatIf storylines in all it games, the most famous being a what if wherein Cell accidentally absorbs Krillin and turns into a pint-sized, orange, massively depowered version of his Perfect form who has trouble beating ''Yamcha''. ''Budokai 2'' went beyond even that and had ''what if Fusions'' (Tien and Yamcha becoming Tiencha via FusionDance as well as featuring the hypothetical Gokule/Gotan fusion of Goku and Hercule/Mr. Satan) as well as what if absorption forms for Super Buu (Consisting of Vegeta, Tienand Yamcha at the same time, Frieza and Cell.)

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Budokai 1''. Transformations increase attack gradually at the cost of HEAVY ki drain (Just look at Goku's ki drain in Kaio- sorry, King Kai Fist x2 form in comparison to his Super Saiyan form.), all beam attacks like Kamehameha are instead large fireballs (Thekamehameha itself being coloured yellow), characters can revert back to their first forms if hit with low enough energy (Yes, this counts for ''Frieza and Cell as well.'') and having to buy Dragon Balls in Mr. Popo's shop rather than finding them ingame. On the other hand it is also the only game in the original trilogy to actually feature cutscenes in its story mode.

* FusionDance: All fusion characters are in this as well starting from ''2'' onward. Unlike in BudokaiTenkaichi though they're not immediately selectable from the menu but are instead capsules you equip to have certain characters fuse. FusionDance types such as Gotenks and Gogeta last for a limited time whilst Vegito lasts for the entire match. Furthermore you can ''fail'' the dance fusions resulting in a brief helpless moment of playing as a fat Gotenks or Veku.
** ''2'' added WhatIf fusions as well, sucha s Tiencha/Yamhan (Tien and Yamcha fusing via the dance) and a follow-through on the Potara fusion of Goku and Hercule/Mr. Satan, named Gokule/Gotan. They all have combined versions of both parties' signature attacks (Such as Dodohameha) as well as Gokule having an ULTRA SpiritBomb.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: A version of ''Budokai 3'' exists that allows players to select either English or Japanese voices as well as 3 extra costumes for Goku, Piccolo and Trunks. There was a bit of a snafu wherein vanilla ''Budokai 3'' discs were shipped with Limited Edition packaging.

A series of fighting games primarily for the PlayStation2 and PlayStationPortable based off of the ever popular [[DragonBall Shonen fighting manga series]] by AkiraToriyama, developed by {{Dimps}}