History VideoGame / DragonBallZBudokai

* NoCampaignForTheWicked: Averted in ''3'' wherein Broly has his own Dragon Universe story where he flies around the world blowing stuff up and killing Goku's friends. You can even get an alternate ending where he kills Goku and goes on to annihilate the whole universe. Also averted in ''1'' with the WhatIf episodes "Raging Frieza" and "The True Ruler" where you play as Frieza, kill Goku, achieve immortality and decide to go blow up Earth. While Cell's WhatIfs play it straight, the difference is he still loses pitifully, [[spoiler:and it was AllJustADream anyway.]]

** The Saibaman's Self Destruct special - does mediocre damage, but considering the Saibaman's tactic is to ZergRush an opponent, it's a great way to take a chunk of health off the opponent as one of them nears death.
** Tien's Neo Tri-Beam - If you fail it, you get to deal out an outstanding amount of damage, but you end up taking a good deal of punishment yourself. This is opposed to other characters where winning the power struggle usually increases the damage - in Tien's case, winning deals less damage, but doesn't hurt himself either.
*** Tien's Ultimate is infamous for being the easiest move to get a rare Double KO with.

** The Special Editions of ''3'' were also this as they included the Japanese voice cast as an alternate option as well as extra costumes for Goku (with an angel halo), Piccolo (King Piccolo), and Future Trunks (battle armor and long hair.) These features were later included in the ''HD'' version as well.

*** Vegeta kills the rest of the Dragon Team easily, withonly Yajirobe left alive. He offers Yajirobe a place at his side but Yajirobe makes the mistake of saying he doesn't want to end up like Nappa, who Vegeta killed earlier. This angers Vegeta enough that he turns Super Saiyan.
*** Frieza kills Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, and even Goku on Namek! He then gets his wish for immortality and heads for Earth. The End?
*** 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''.

* AdaptationalBadass: Mr. Satan/Hercule, who in the anime and manga's LovableCoward being weak to superpowered villains who could destroy a continent with a lift of a finger, can now fight at an equal footing with a ''Super Saiyan'', meaning you can have him legitimately defeat Cell in the Cell Games. In fact, in ''1'', one of the modes focuses on this aspect. His Tenkaichi incarnation is instead a LethalJokeCharacter with weak stats but can be a top tier if used legitimately.

* AnimeThemeSong: ''1'' used the original "Cha La HEAD Cha La" for the Japanese version and "Rock the Dragon" for the US version. Notably, the games from ''2'' all the way up to ''Infinite World'' and ''Burst Limit'' had brand new themes sung by Hironobu Kageyama himself.

** Going into Hyper Mode lets you pull off the cinematic and highly damaging Ultimate and Dragon Rush attacks. Too bad it also drains your Ki very quickly, making it easy for the opponent to wait it out, and failing to use either of those attacks by the time your Ki fully drains puts you into a dizzy state. Veterans will always tell newcomers to ignore Hyper Mode and focus on combos, as they are a far less risky way of dealing damage.

* TheBadGuyWins: The WhatIf stories in ''1'' have this for Vegeta and Frieza. Averted with Cell, who accidentally absorbs Krillin and loses (and it was AllJustADream anyways).

* 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 Cell kills Trunks.

** ''Budokai 3'' does what it can to adapt ''Dragon Ball GT'', but that proves to be difficult when the only aspects that made it into the game are Super Saiyan 4 transformations, Gogeta and Omega Shenron.

** Goku had a battle-damaged version of his orange gi available in ''Budokai 3'' and Infinite World.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: In Vegeta's What If story, he expresses great anger at Nappa's death, despite being the one who killed him. Goku pointing it out only makes him angrier for knowing nothing of [[ProudWarriorRace Saiyan pride]]. Unlike canon, where he killed him explicitly because [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he couldn't fight anymore after being paralyzed by Goku's beating]], he implies that being unable to fight is a FateWorseThanDeath for Saiyans. Yajirobe refusing to join him in light of Vegeta killing Nappa is the final straw that [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening pushes Vegeta's grief and anger to a Super Saiyan transformation]], [[WhatIsThisFeeling to his own surprise]].

** More or less. [[Anime/DragonBallGT Pan]], Bee and Giru appear on the load game menu in ''3''. Then Pan becomes playable in ''Infinite World''.
** ''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 goes 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. And in this case if you don't count GT, the presence of Goku's "Super Dragon Fist" as an ultimate move counts as one for the 13th movie.

** Speaking of which, Goku's Kaioken form was referred to as "King Kai Fist", a semi-correct translation of Kaioken in ''1'' and ''2''. Hilariously in contrast to Goku having a lot of Super Saiyan transformations in ''3'', he only has his first Super Saiyan form in the first game and instead has increasingly stronger versions of Kaioken. ''2'' shortened it to just "King Kai Fist x20" and ''3'' finally changed its name to Kaioken.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: In the first game, Cell finds sicking Yamcha on him, by himself, unfair to Yamcha in his WhatIf story. Possibly justified because [[spoiler:he had absorbed Krillin instead of 18, and Krillin's heroic heart might've had some influence]].

* GaidenGame: The ''Shin Budokai'' games for the PSP may look like the console ''Budokai'' games, but not only do they have changes made to the engine (such as the Punch and Kick buttons being replaced by Rush and Smash commands), their story modes are completely original stories based off ''[[Anime/DragonBallZFusionReborn Fusion Reborn]]'' and the aftermath of the Cell Saga chapter "The Other Outcome".

** ''Budokai 3'' has a lot of these in Dragon Universe mode, as certain WhatIf events and extra capsules and characters can be easily missed if you don't have a walkthrough of sorts (For example, in order to unlock Uub and his Dragon Universe story, you have to finish off Kid Buu with the Super Spirit Bomb in Goku's Dragon Universe, no excuses).

* ManaMeter: Ki gauges.

* MarketBasedTitle: The first three games are merely called ''Dragon Ball Z'', ''2'' and ''3'' in Japan. For ease of reference they got the ''Budokai'' subtitle overseas.

* NoCampaignForTheWicked: Averted in ''3'' wherein Broly has his own Dragon Universe story where he flies around the world blowing stuff up and killing Goku's friends. You can even get an alternate ending where he kills Goku and goes on to annihilate the whole universe. Also averted in ''1'' with the WhatIf episodes "Raging Frieza" and "The True Ruler" where you play as Frieza, kill Goku, achieve immortality and decide to go blow up Earth.

* 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.

** Some of the transformations are this. Particularly for characters that have several like Goku and Frieza. While it is incredibly satisfying to power up your ki and ascend through every super saiyan transformation up to [=SSJ4=], it limits your options in fights since equipping all those transformations means you won't have many spare slots for special moves or support capsules.

** ''Budokai 3'' does what it can to adapt Dragonball GT, but that proves to be difficult when the only aspects that made it into the game are SSJ4 transformations, Gogeta and Omega Shenron.

* BroadStrokes: ''Budokai 2'' '''very''' loosely adapts the Saiyan Saga up to the Buu saga, throwing in some curve balls like Majin Frieza and Cell, Tien and Yamcha fusing, Vegeta sending both Raditz and Nappa to Earth as a diversion while he takes on Frieza on Namek, Gero creating a modified army of Saibaimen dubbed the Saiba Rangers and so on and so forth.

[[quoteright:247:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/600x600_1299222144_8350.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:247: [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness The early years...]]]]

[[quoteright:248:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/350px-budokai_7397.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:248: ...[[GrowingTheBeard things eventually got better...]]]]

[[quoteright:249:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dragon-ball-z-budokai-3-ps2-1948_4391.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:249: ...[[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel MUCH better!]]]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dragon_ball_z_infinite_world_0.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[ContestedSequel and the Base-breaking game]] [[FanonDiscontinuity not accepted as part of the Budokai series]]]]

!!Each game provide examples of:

* AdaptationalBadass: Mr. Satan/Hercule, who in the anime and manga's LovableCoward being weak to superpowered villains who could destroy a continent with a lift of a finger, can now fight at an equal footing with a ''Super Saiyan'', meaning you can have him legitimately defeat Cell in the Cell Games. In fact, in 1, one of the modes is that. His Tenkaichi incarnation is instead a LethalJokeCharacter with weak stats but can be a top tier if used legitimately.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Majin Vegeta. His one non-ultimate move does ''massive'' damage and only requires half a ki bar but in order to use him you need to equip the "Babidi's Mind Control" capsule and get knocked down while on the last health bar. It's very possible to get to the last health bar only to not ever be knocked down due to things like Dragon Rush or long teleporting chains. And once you get your power-up you still have very low health, unless you're clever enough to equip a senzu bean.

* BoringButPractical: The teleport counter in ''3'' may not look flashy but it can save your life. Of course, the CPU likes to make use of it too.

* ClothingDamage: Each of Vegeta's outfits in ''3'' receive this when he turns into his Majin self.
** Goku had a battle damaged version of his orange gi available in Budokai 3 and Infinite World.

* 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!" (Which led to fans joking that he was drawing out and weaponizing the planet's stupidity) ''3'' also added Omega Shenron and his "Minus Energy Power Ball" formed from all the evils committed through Earth's history.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The cover of the European version of Budokai 1 has Majin Spopovich on it, despite the fact that Spopovich doesn't appear in the game and in fact wouldn't appear in a DBZ game until Buu's Fury and not playable until Tenkaichi 3. Not just that, but the back of the box has pictures of Majin Buu, Babidi, Dabura, and Majin Vegeta, none of whom appear in this game.

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

* HeroicRROD: Hyper Mode, done with a touch of the L2 button in ''3''. You get a red aura and provided you have enough ki, can pull off an Ultimate or initiate a Dragon Rush. Of course if you let it run out without doing anything useful, you're left stunned for a while.

* KamehameHadouken: But of course.

* MythologyGag: Goku's normal ultimate is the Spirit Bomb. Perform this move with any Super Saiyan transformation, and this becomes the Super Dragon Fist. This particular ultimate is a whole litany of references. On the surface its a homage to how he defeated King Piccolo, but the move as a whole is the same move he used to defeat Hirudegarn in ''Anime/DragonBallZWrathOfTheDragon'' as well as Super 17 with in ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' and the animation of him absorbing the Spirit Bomb for a powerup is taken right out of the climax of ''Anime/DragonBallZSuperAndroid13''.

* 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 Anime/DragonBallGT. To add to that when he tries to do a Spirit Bomb first and realises it's fading, he absorbs the bomb into himself for a power boost much like he did in ''Super Android 13''.

* UpdatedRerelease: The Japanese V-Jump exclusive ''Dragon Ball Z 2 V'', which contains everything unlocked from the get go, new alternate costumes for Goku (Battle Damaged), Frieza (Kuriza from ''Neko Majin Z'', Majin Frieza and Cooler, with the Frieza's Spaceship capsule turning Kuriza into his final form and Cooler into Meta Cooler), and Cell (Majin Cell), an altered World Tournament stage that includes the V-Jump logo, and an additional story stage where Goku teams up with Tiencha to take down past revived villains. The only downside was that saving was disabled, so you couldn't save your Dragon World progress or any of your character loadouts.

* WordSequel: WordOfGod confirm that Dragon Ball Infinite World is Dragon Ball Budokai 4, but they changed the name because it was said the fourth installment would have a different name.

* ComboBreaker: The series has a lot of variations, but uses up {{Ki}} and the opponent can counter ''your'' counter attack, to having a BeehiveBarrier sort of shield appear with a secondary ManaMeter that's ''not'' the {{Ki}} Gauge, but the delay is longer than the opponents recovery time, so you can't start a combo with it, and an easily executable knockback wave CastFromHitPoints that gives you a fair chance to counter attack and start a combo.

* KiAttacks: Yep.

** The Special Editions of ''3'' were also this as they included the Japanese voice cast as ana lternate option as well as extra costumes for Goku (with an angel halo,) Piccolo (King Piccolo,) and Future Trunks (battle armor and long hair.) These features were later included in the ''HD'' version as well.

* 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 (The Kamehameha 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.''), the story mode only goes up to the end of the Cell saga (though it has Great Saiyaman as a playable character) and having to buy Dragon Balls in Mr. Popo's shop rather than finding them in-game. On the other hand it is also the only game in the original trilogy to actually feature cutscenes in its story mode.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Vegeta in his WhatIf story in ''1''. He gets angry at Yajirobe mentioning the then-dead Nappa, so angry in fact it makes him go Super Saiyan...despite the fact that Vegeta killed Nappa himself for being weak and useless after losing to Goku.
** Though it might be a case of DeliberateValuesDissonance, since he calls Goku a fool for not understanding [[ProudWarriorRace Saiyan pride]], implying that being crippled for life and unable to fight is a FateWorseThanDeath. And when he finally snaps:
--->'''Vegeta:''' [[MercyKill I gave Nappa a noble warrior's death.]] It was what he deserved! ''HE WAS A'' '''''SAIYAN!!!'''''

* TheBadGuyWins: The WhatIf stories in ''1'' have this for Vegeta and Frieza. Averted with Cell, who accidentally absorbs Krillin and loses.

* MythologyGag: Goku's normal ultimate is the Spirit Bomb. Perform this move with any Super Saiyan transformation, and this becomes the Dragon Fist... A significantly more powerful {{Homage}} to how Kid Goku killed the original Piccolo.

* UpdatedRerelease: The Japanese V-Jump exclusive ''Dragon Ball Z 2 V'', which contains everything unlocked from the get go, new alternate costumes for Goku (Battle Damaged), Frieza (Kuriza from ''Neko Majin Z'', Majin Frieza and Cooler), and Cell (Majin Cell), an altered World Tournament stage that includes the V-Jump logo, and an additional story stage where Goku teams up with Tiencha to take down past revived villains. The only downside was that saving was disabled, so you couldn't save your Dragon World progress or any of your character loadouts.

* WordSequel: WordOfGod confirm that Dragon Ball Infinite World is Dragon Ball Budokai 4, but they change the name because it was said the fourth installment will have a different name.

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* WhatIf: One of its most popular features is having WhatIf storylines in all its 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, Tien and Yamcha at the same time, Frieza and Cell.) and Majin versions of Frieza and Cell.

* 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 Future Trunks. There was a bit of a snafu wherein vanilla ''Budokai 3'' discs were shipped with Limited Edition packaging. This is the version included in the HD Collection.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle:

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dragon_ball_z_infinite_world_0.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[ContestedSequel and the Base-breaking game]] [[FanonDiscontinuity not accepted as part of the Budokai series]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[ContestedSequel and the Base-breaking game]] [[FanonDiscontinuity not accepted as part of the Budokai series]]]]]]