Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai Review

By Luke Albiges Published 10 April, 2006

Do not pass Goku, do not collect £200.

Version tested: PSP

It's hard not to love The Apprentice. Some things, though, simply do not lend themselves to the medium of video games. We can fully imagine a virtual Sir Alan Sugar telling us we're fired after we fail some half-assed coin-collecting mini-game and just thinking about this potential buggery of car crash television's finest hour makes us very sad. The worst part is that it'll probably happen, too. At the other end of the spectrum, though, there are shows that may as well have been created with licensed games in mind. Time, it seems, for this review to attain some degree of relevance then, as the long-running Dragon Ball series is just such a specimen. Over the years, games tied into the popular anime have ranged from borderline unplayable to pretty damn good and more recently, the Budokai series has evolved from tepid beginnings to become a genuinely entertaining fighting game by its third instalment. And so with the expected array of tweaks and refinements, the series now moves into a smaller and more portable new home with rather pleasing results.

The downscaling process hasn't harmed the look of the game one bit and Shin Budokai is as good an example of cel-shading as the PSP is likely to see for some time. Buttons map perfectly to the handheld and even though newcomers might be initially overwhelmed by the way battles zip around the skies and all over the place, the whole combat system is nowhere near as complex as it seems. In fact, it's hard to see how the game could be any easier to pick up and play. The Ki gauge plays a major part, allowing all manner of attacks and evasive manoeuvres - simple Ki Blasts (small fireballs, if you will), teleport dodges and attacks, transformations into more powerful forms and massive special attacks consume gauge proportionate to their usefulness. By holding the left shoulder button, it's possible to focus and charge the meter while the opposite trigger drains it in exchange for Aura Blasts that enable quicker movement, stronger attacks and guard breaks.

'Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai' Screenshot 1

While the sumptuous cel-shaded visuals might imply that Shin Budokai is a somewhat basic fighter, this couldn't be further from the truth. It's fair to say that the combo system itself - a traditional set of strings and chains - can be filed under S for 'simple' but even though the game can be enjoyed and played to a fair standard with just a strong grasp of the basics, you'll find as many advanced techniques here as you would in any traditional 2D beat-'em-up. Kara-cancelling (quickly cancelling a basic attack into a throw or special for increased range), buffering moves and all manner of cancels are present and correct and it really is a joy to see such detail in what could easily have been left as a simplistic fighting game. Using the guard button (defaults to X) to cancel charged moves can be tough, since the main basic attacks that can be cancelled are activated by holding the triangle button, so unless you have the world's thinnest fingers or a third hand, that combo is pretty tricky. Through practice or reconfiguration, it is possible but unless you're playing a human opponent, there's not much demand for such trickery anyway - it's unlikely to fool AI opponents as it would a real player.

'Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai' Screenshot 2

It's not all good news, though. With the capsule system that added longevity to the PS2 games (admittedly at the cost of balance) gone, just a couple of characters to unlock to complete the roster (not including the various transformation levels that can be opened up) and your bog-standard array of fighting game modes, there really isn't that much here to keep you coming back for more. The emphasis on unlockables is all wrong too - the only things to spend your hard-earned on are bits of art and such to make your profile card (which is only used in multiplayer) look pretty, which is basically pointless. But it seems wrong to dwell on the negatives when the game has so much going for it. This is a flashy and technically sound beat-'em-up and its drawbacks are largely overshadowed by what is the strongest interpretation of the Dragon Ball Z anime in years. Until Tekken and Def Jam roll into town (assuming that they translate well to the PSP), Shin Budokai can stand alongside Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX as one of the strongest fighting games the Sony handheld has in its catalogue. No need for anyone to get fired this week, then.

7 / 10

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About Luke Albiges

Read more articles from Luke by visiting the Luke Albiges archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MikeD #1 6 years ago

    "It's hard not to love The Apprentice"

    Somehow, I can manage.

  • Max_Powers #2 6 years ago

    Isn't Dragon Ball Z that cartoon with all the screaming? It's exhausting.

  • Blerk #3 6 years ago

    Dragon Ball Z is like someone turned a forty-hour session of Super Smash Bros into a cartoon.

    That is not a good thing, by the way.

  • #4 6 years ago

    You're fired!

  • Zuiyo #5 6 years ago

    Dragon Ball Z (the anime) does get exhausting, especially around the Namek fight with Freeza, but it all comes into play when watched with a bigger scope. It is a big saga, and the story needs to be followed properly.

    So please, do not try to make up your mind about what Dragon Ball Z is without having seen a good deal of episodes. Like a couple of hundred.

  • Blerk #6 6 years ago

    Or the same one 100 times. Which is exactly what the series appears to be.

  • Zero_ #7 6 years ago

    I agree with Zuiyo. Dragon Bal Z, is infact an extremely enjoying anime early on with amusing, and enjoyable little adventures. But when the creators realised it's phenominal success, they kind of dragged it on, forgetting the magic that was present in the first Dragon Ball and the early series of Dragon Ball Z. It basically declines after the Cell Saga. Regardless of the anime, this looks like an enjoyable fighter that I will pick up in a few days time.

  • jellyhead #8 6 years ago

    Do you get to stand around powering up, staring at the other player for 20 minutes per fight too?
    ;)
    I'm glad there's finally a decent DragonBall fighter out though.
    Edited by 1 at 10/04/06 @ 10:01

  • reality_cheque #9 6 years ago

    It all went wrong with DbZ after the Namek saga imo, they should have left it alone after Goku reached Super-Saijan level. One one person made it in the entire pre-history of Db, but yet by the end of the Cell saga there's like 5 of the buggers :(

    Dragonball and early Dragonball Z have me jumping around like a 5yr old on Sunny Delight however :)

    If I get a PSP, this will be on my list of games to get.

  • Zuiyo #10 6 years ago

    Blerk, I suppose it's good enough for you to judge something in its entirety after having seen disconnected bits and bobs of it.

    But you can take someone's advice also, someone like me who has seen the whole series (Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, movies, and read the original manga completely). As I said, some of the fights are stretched, narrative-wise, and this has been widely criticised even by the most dedicated fans. However, they do make sense when considered in the whole story continuum. It's only a very long one. As an example: a fight between two rivals can stretch for maybe 3 episodes, but there is also a preparation for it which lasts about one or two. It is a different narrative tempo. Do not expect each episode to make sense or be complete from a narrative standpoint. This is like a soap opera, designed to hook you from the start.

    If you have a chance, try to catch the story from the beginning. It will improve your perception of it, I'm sure.

  • Blerk #11 6 years ago

    I have to watch it all the time, man - my youngster loves it. :-)

  • tengu #12 6 years ago

    It really isn't a great show imo. It has some fun moments, but the amount of drawn out filler episodes, awful characters, and overall 'hugeness' of the whole thing really sour the bits of it that are fun quite heavily.

    The first two PS2 games were fairly fun, but the last two were terrible. I'm not too sure I want to chance this one.

  • drumbaby #13 6 years ago

    I quite like watching DBZ with t'nipper. I find myself wondering which of the screaming protagonists is going to survive the seismic explosions and live to scream another day...Dumb-ish pyrotechnic fun, and quite outrageous violence for a kid's cartoon. Nothing wrong with that. :)

  • Zuiyo #14 6 years ago

    Blerk - If you have a chance, check the first series (Dragon Ball) when Goku is just a kid. It's a smash. Your kid will love it too. ;-)

  • trav #15 6 years ago

    Do not pass Goku, do not collect £200.

    Can this joke be taken out to the field and be put out of its misery?

  • DDevil #16 6 years ago

    I AM ANGRY AND I WILL DESTROY YOU! YOU HAVE NOT SEEN MY FULL POWEEEEER!

    BUT FIRST I SHALL YELL MY LIFE STORY AT YOU OVER THE COURSE OF 6 EPISODES!!!

    RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

  • reality_cheque #17 6 years ago

    @trav: I thought it was quite funny :p

    I have to say one of my favourite things about DbZ is watching people get smashed through mountains. It's amazing they have any hills left on their planet...

  • Zuiyo #18 6 years ago

    There was a similar polemic with the stretching of narrative devices just for the sake of milking the popularity of a show with the Captain Tsubasa animation, which tells the story of a young Japanese kid who is extremely gitfed for footie and tracks his evolution from primary school to the Japanese national team and even Barcelona F.C. - it is just the episodic nature of the beast!

  • Dirtie #19 6 years ago

    "I just defeated the most powerful being in the universe! ...Oh wait, there's another one even more powerful. Oh well, I'll just kick his ass too! ...Oh wait, here comes another one even more powerful :| Well guess I'll just have to go Super Saiyan 51 and get all my buddies to do the same and kick his ass as well." etc.

  • Zuiyo #20 6 years ago

    You forgot "it's fine if we die because we can summon the dragon and get back to life so we can keep fighting, etc."

  • Genji #21 6 years ago

    Don't worry, I will fight you! I just have to charge up for a few episodes. And scream.

    HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGH

  • eviltobz  #22 6 years ago

    It all went wrong with DbZ after the Namek saga imo, they should have left it alone after Goku reached Super-Saijan level.

    but then we'd have missed out on the sheer unequalled brillance of when majin boo was freshly hatched, walked up to gohan and kai who were trembling in fear and in a cute baby voice shouted "booooooo" did a big back flip, landed on his arse, and giggled a bit. fucking genius :)

    ...One one person made it in the entire pre-history of Db, but yet by the end of the Cell saga there's like 5 of the buggers :(
    but, if you watch through to the end of dbgt you'll find out that they aren't actually quite actual proper super saijans yet.

    /wubs db, dbz, dbgt

    /wubs goku

    /really wubs videl when she still had bunches. mmmm ;)

  • The-Bodybuilder #23 6 years ago

    >"Or the same one 100 times. Which is exactly what the series appears to be."

    Much like J-rpgs, but that doesn't stop you getting excited.

  • Genji #24 6 years ago

    You've done it! You've become the most powerful fighter in the universe!

    /2 months later

    Oh, sorry man. I wasn't counting this guy, who's about 10 times more powerful than you. Time to start training!

    HNNNNNNNNNNGH
    Edited by 1 at 10/04/06 @ 14:01

  • ManicDrunkMonk #25 6 years ago

    Reviews that give high scores to clap-trap like this, make me wonder if i'm on the right pages.

    No wonder so many people think Video Games are for kids only when reviewers consistantly show the mental age of a 5 year old when it comes to Pokemon and DBZ.

    Sorry but the Japanese make some astonishing games, but this game is a cash-in, just like all those EA games everyone always moans about, nothing more.

    Also, no one should have to watch 100 episodes of something to get hooked on something, if it really was like a soap it should take 1-3.

    /Ducks
    Edited by 1 at 10/04/06 @ 14:34

  • Zuiyo #26 6 years ago

    I know I'm a pain in the arse, but just for you to be aware of the size of this deed,

    The manga of Dragon Ball was serialized in a magazine which sold, during its popularity peak, six million copies per week. And the animated show adapts this story almots perfectly (I mean the story in the animation is basically the same as in the comics).

    So it was never about getting more viewers or readers, but keep the ones it had watching/reading for as long as possible.

  • bloodflowers #27 6 years ago

    While DBZ does suck gigantic swinging donkeys gonads, it did bring ONE good thing to the world. See all those web forums? See the users with DBZ avatars and images in their signatures? Great - ignore all those people and you're halfway to a working bozo filter.

  • zErOb_cOOl #28 6 years ago

    Blerk:
    "Or the same one 100 times. Which is exactly what the series appears to be."
    Lol! True.

  • Zuiyo #29 6 years ago

    "Reviews that give high scores to clap-trap like this, make me wonder if i'm on the right pages."

    These are difficult games to review for Eurogamer, because all the animated license flair make the veteran, skilled writers stay away from them. It is extremely difficult to find a reviewer competent enough who is familiar with the license and the history of game adaptations yet is experienced enough to compare it to other titles and cool headed enough to not get carried away by fanboyism.

  • tengu #30 6 years ago

    "Much like J-rpgs, but that doesn't stop you getting excited."

    Why is it only JRPGs get criticised for being samey when it's a criticism that can be levelled at just about any genre?

    "Sorry but the Japanese make some astonishing games, but this game is a cash-in, just like all those EA games everyone always moans about, nothing more."

    Yeah, and a lot of people like those EA cash ins, and they usually get decent reviews don't they? Same goes for cash ins like this. Just because they ARE obvious cash ins doesn't mean they can't be good games at the same time. I for one wouldn't be without some of the Gundam games that have been released in the past couple of years, and they're every bit the cash in the DBZ games have been.

  • The-Bodybuilder #31 6 years ago

    >"Why is it only JRPGs get criticised for being samey when it's a criticism that can be levelled at just about any genre?"

    Why is it only DBZ that gets criticised for being samey when it's a criticism that can be levelled at just about any gaming genre, music genre, movie genre, sports, and heck even members that make the same similar posts over and over again? (last bit not aimed at you, but they know who they are).

  • ManicDrunkMonk #32 6 years ago

    Zuiyo, I agree that these games could be difficult to some extent. They are aimed at an audience familiar to the animated series.

    But I still think it comes under the category of cash-in, and anyone not excited by the idea of the DBZ universe brought to life in a video game will find it dull. I speak from some experience, my bro. being a DBZ game owner for his PS2.

  • Genji #33 6 years ago

    "Why is it only DBZ that gets criticised for being samey when it's a criticism that can be levelled at just about any gaming genre, music genre, movie genre, sports, and heck even members that make the same similar posts over and over again?"

    Because making fun of DBZ is grade-A entertainment!

    It (the TV series) is trash, you see. Disposable, implausible, filled with useless filler plots just to pad out the battles over more episodes, and as such horribly addictive. So are a lot of other things, but we're talking about DBZ here!

    And yeah, I've watched every episode :-(

    I'm past the DBZ-liking phase of my life now. I can look back on the series and and exclaim "Dear God! How did I ever like that crap?"
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/06 @ 09:55

  • Zuiyo #34 6 years ago

    @ManicDrunkMonk

    Very true about the real audience of the games. Like other game versions of cartoons or other popular phenomena, it is done for the fans.

    However, what is a cash-in? Because most of the entertainment and even a good deal of what you can call culture today has a commercial strategy behind. Does this negate its positive aspects? Some of these feats would be impossible without involvement of big companies who need to collect money in return for their investment... it's the old tale again.

    I don't particularly see Dragon Ball Z as being more evil or trashy than Friends or Eastenders...

  • ilmaestro #35 6 years ago

    Congratulations everyone who runs down DBZ for faults imparted on it by the TV production company behind the anime. The actual series in terms of characters, story and battles is very good, the pacing is an issue unavoidable when you have an anime series that starts to run too close to its manga counterpart. Naruto gets around this by having a burn-in-hell long run of filler in one go (still going at the mo) and the odd episode here and there, DBZ was sent down the road of drag out the fights and have a few short filler arcs here and there. It is not an easy thing to balance, and should not be the thing that forms the basis of your opinion of the show.

  • Genji #36 6 years ago

    Huh? So I'm not allowed to dislike the DBZ TV series because of all the filler crap? What would be a good reason to dislike it, then?

    I don't care whose "fault" it was that the show went too close to the comics. I watch the show, and I form an opinion based on my tastes. If I don't like it, I don't like it. I certainly, however, wouldn't try to insult people who shared different tastes to mine. Plenty of people like DBZ, and that A-OK with me.

  • reality_cheque #37 6 years ago

    @eviltobz
    but then we'd have missed out on the sheer unequalled brillance of when majin boo was freshly hatched, walked up to gohan and kai who were trembling in fear and in a cute baby voice shouted "booooooo" did a big back flip, landed on his arse, and giggled a bit. fucking genius :)
    Very true, one of my friends wouldn't have his nickname either (he's pink, fat, a bit dumb and so thick skinned you you hit him with a verbal kame-hame-ha he wouldn't even have noticed) and so I wouldn't be able to make him clap his hands like a retard and shout "buuuuu!"

    but, if you watch through to the end of dbgt you'll find out that they aren't actually quite actual proper super saijans yet.
    I never liked GT. Maybe I'll give it a go when I get cable TV again (as I've lost all my Db episodes in the Great Server Crash of 2002)

    /wubs goku
    I'm searching for a girl who will let me call my son Goku, if I ever have one.

    /really wubs videl when she still had bunches. mmmm ;)
    Shush, you'll get me started...

  • Genji #38 6 years ago

    I keep wanting to call Vegeta 'fajita'. His name always makes me feel like eating mexican food.

  • reality_cheque #39 6 years ago

    Well as long as you don't mock his pink shirt, you should be ok.

    *lives in a world where DbZ and Stickmen form a bizarre surreality*

  • dudefella #40 6 years ago

    "But I still think it comes under the category of cash-in, and anyone not excited by the idea of the DBZ universe brought to life in a video game will find it dull. I speak from some experience, my bro. being a DBZ game owner for his PS2."


    That's why you have to get a reviewer who, at the very least, doesn't hate the franchise but can still judge the game on its own merits. Just because it's a cash-in doesn't mean it is by default a bad game, and the games should, imo, also be reviewed with the target audience in mind whilst also judging it objectively. You could take a 1 off the score if you're not a DBZ fan, sure, but that doesn't change the fact that this is a competent game we're talking about, regardless of franchise, you just may not really get into it if you're not a fan.

  • ilmaestro #41 6 years ago

    Genji: No, don't dislike DBZ because of the filler, just ignore it. It's easy enough to find out which episodes are full of nothing and just pass them by. And I'm not quite sure where I insulted anyone, but if that's how you felt then I am genuinely sorry, I do get carried away sometimes when talking about DBZ, as it is the thing which brought me into anime and manga, an area of entertainment which is very important to me and I feel (overly) passionate about. There are too many people who I have met that just dismiss DBZ for all the obvious oft-repeated reasons, and that really annoys me. I appreciate that you don't seem to be one of these people and I can only apologize again if I came across as rude or ignorant. Sorry.

  • Bates #42 6 years ago

    I can't stand elitists who slag off stuff like DBZ because their tastes are apparently 'too sophisticated' for it. I watch a cartoon like this, I WANT to see guys knock the living shit out of each other for episodes at a time.

    DBZ is a great laugh, and I loved the whole thing. I'm so hardcore in fact, I actually have 'Head Cha La' on my MP3 player.

  • Genji #43 6 years ago

    @ilmaestro

    Don't worry about it. I didn't feel insulted by anything you said, but I have been by other DBZ fans, in other threads.

    I couldn't just ignore all of the stuff I didn't like. The series was screened every weekday, and I watched it every day before school. I liked it at the time, but now I think maybe I was just addicted. In each episode, not a whole lot happened. Even the fighting bits just went on and on. Goku gets beaten up, finds new strength to go on, gets beaten up again, runs away to power up while someone else fights, etc, etc.

    And Bates, I am really sick of the "elitist" tag being thrown around. I enjoy people beating each other up in anime, but in that respect, I much prefer something like Bleach. That reminded me of DBZ, but was infinately more condensed and compelling to watch.

  • ilmaestro #44 6 years ago

    Okay, that's good. At least you like Bleach. :)