The Budokai series combines the gameplay elements of both Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout and Dead or Alive 3.
The controls includes regular punch and kick buttons, as well as the ability to unleash ki blasts as standard projectiles, which can also be used in specific special moves via input codes.
The special moves are mainly taken directly from the anime, including Son Goku's Kamehameha, Vegeta's Galick Gun and Frieza's Death Beam.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, released as Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ, Doragon Bōru Zetto) in Japan, is a fighting game released for the PlayStation 2 on November 2, 2002, in Europe and on December 3, 2002, in North America, and for the GameCube on October 28, 2003, in North America and on November 14, 2003, in Europe.
It was developed by Dimps and published by Infogrames and later by Atari as a Greatest Hits title for the PlayStation 2 in North America.
The story mode also includes a few "what if" episodes to play with the villains of each saga, retelling iconic Dragon Ball events with different outcomes.
The North American versions feature English voice acting from the North American Funimation dub, while the European versions feature the original Japanese voice acting and several European languages text translations.
Unlike its predecessor, Budokai 2's story mode, called Dragon World, introduces a unique retelling of all four chapters of Z and plays like a board game as the player assembles a team of Z-fighters alongside Goku to challenge the series' villains.
The game has 31 playable characters, including fusions of different fighters, and Majin Buu's various absorbed forms.
This version was also released in Europe as a re-release of the game under the title Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 - Collector's Edition.
[citation needed] The game's story mode is based on the events of the movie Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn.
[citation needed] The game features an original story that tells the tale of Majin Buu being released in Future Trunks' timeline.
[citation needed] Dragon Ball Z & Z 2 Original Soundtrack (ドラゴンボールZ & Z2 オリジナルサウンドトラック, Doragon Bōru Zetto ando Doragon Bōru Zetto Tzu Orijinaru Saundotorakku) is the official licensed soundtrack of the first two Dragon Ball Z: Budokai & Budokai 2 for PlayStation 2 and GameCube video games.
Easily giving the impression that the soundtrack producer anticipated a big demand of importing the album by fans in English-speaking countries.
Coupled with the soundtrack is a bonus DVD featuring the intro and music videos of the opening theme "Kusuburu heart ni Hi o Tsukero" performed by Hironobu Kageyama, and montage game footage.
Many critics who reviewed the first Budokai game assumed that the music, like the voice talent, was Faulconer's compositions straight from the anime.
[11] Mr. Nash of the Armchair Empire first says that it doesn't hold up but then goes on to say "The music works just fine for adding atmosphere to the fights".
However, many compositions that were featured throughout the trilogy's story modes yet were left out of the previous soundtrack were still overlooked, prompting many disappointed fans to rip copies of the tracks straight from the game itself.
Like the previous soundtrack, the back of the album's jewel case feature track listings in both Japanese as well as English.
[21] However, Jeremy Dunham of IGN thought the music sounded terrific[22] and Tony "Zing" Tomas of WHAM!
[25][26] Many critics complained about the GameCube version's simple interface and the fact that combos weren't worth the payoff.
[citation needed] However, more complex combos were possible due to an oversight in the move canceling feature but were rarely known at the time.
[citation needed] These oversights were turned into an important part of the system in the later games and were what high level play tended to revolve around.
Its fighting and graphics have also been praised, with IGN stating that Budokai 3 was "One of the few instances of cel-shading done right", and that it "also offers a healthy amount of special effects and pyrotechnics and they all look great.