), is a series of fighting games developed by Spike based on the Dragon Ball franchise by Akira Toriyama.

The series was published by Namco Bandai Games in Japan and Europe, and by Atari in North America and Australia until 2008.

The North American title is a rearranged version of Tenkaichi Budokai (天下一武道会, Tenka'ichi Budōkai, roughly "Strongest Under the Heavens Martial Arts Tournament"), a reoccurring tournament featured in the manga and anime series.

It has been speculated that Atari chose to market the games as part of the Budokai series in order to capitalize on its success.

[3] In battle, players can build up their Ki gauge to execute various techniques such as the Power Guard, which reduces the damage characters take by 1/4.

Blast 1 skills usually have a supportive effect such as allowing characters to regain health or immobilize the enemy.

The Tenkaichi 3 story mode has cutscenes integrated into the battles themselves that are activated by hitting a certain button.

Zero, the "Episode Battle", which is the first to include the story of Dragon Ball Super (2015–2018), features the perspective of eight playable characters: Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Frieza, Future Trunks, Goku Black, and Jiren.

The World Tournament mode could be played with several entrants, but if there is more than one human player, no prize would be awarded.

Zero introduces the Tournament of Power from Dragon Ball Super where characters are not allowed to fly.

It allows the user to get behind the opponent at high speeds for either a strike or to avoid a blast 2 attack.

Players can fight across the Earth Wasteland, the Earth Rock Area, Planet Namek, the Islands, the City Ruins, the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, the Cell Games Arena, the Mountain Road, the World Tournament Arena, and Kami's Lookout.

The Wii version was released in North America on November 19, 2006, in Japan on January 1, 2007, in Europe on March 30, 2007, and Australia on April 5, 2007.

The game originally featured 100 characters in 136 forms and 16 stages, though the Japanese and PAL Wii versions came with five additional characters (Demon King Piccolo, Cyborg Tao, Appule, Frieza Soldier, and Pilaf Robot with its combined form).

[6] The game was released for PlayStation 2 and Wii in Japan on October 4, 2007,[7] in North America on November 13, 2007,[8] and in Europe on November 9, 2007, for the PlayStation 2, while the Wii version was released in Japan on October 4, 2007, in North America on December 3, 2007, and in Europe and Australia on February 15, 2008.

[9] Tenkaichi 3 features 98 characters in 161 forms, the largest roster in a fighting game at the time.

[10] Several new notable features include Battle Replay, which allows players to record fights and save them to an external memory card; night and day stages, which allows certain characters ability to transform; and Wii-exclusive online multiplayer capability,[6] the first game in the series to have such a feature.

The PlayStation 2 version features the "Disc Fusion System", where inserting a Tenkaichi 1 or Tenkaichi 2 disc unlocks the "Ultimate Battle" or "Ultimate Battle Z" modes, featured in the respective games needed to unlock them.

It allows the user to get behind the opponent at high speeds for either a strike or to avoid a blast 2 attack.

"Dragon Walker" is the main story mode, following the events of the manga and anime series.

Other features include the ability to perform fusions, and upgrade characters using "D-POINTS", the game's main currency.

This list uses the majority of character names as featured in the most recent game in the series, Sparking!

[citation needed] Mark Bozon of IGN said of the controls, "The sheer speed and complexity of the controls may turn some people off, but the general combat will eventually come down to two buttons, making the game amazingly easy to learn, but nearly impossible to fully master.

[65] PC Gamer called it "the best Dragon Ball game we've had since the PS2 and a generous love letter to Toriyama's classic series."

On the other hand, GameSpot stated that "the frenetic fighting Dragon Ball fans expect is here, but it's marred by an overall shallow experience with more repetition than revolution.