DRAGONBALL Z SHIN BUDOKAI MOVIE
DRAGONBALL Z SHIN BUDOKAI TRIAL
DRAGONBALL Z SHIN BUDOKAI SERIES

Since you're usually fighting in wide-open areas and high above the ground, the environment doesn't have a whole lot of detail to be shown, but that's how it is in the series, anyway. The art style matches the show really well with great cel-shaded characters, thick outlines and all, and flashy power effects. Much of it is due to its capable graphics engine which renders the characters and their special attacks nicely.

DRAGONBALL Z SHIN BUDOKAI SERIES

Tossing giant balls of energy that resemble a small moon at your opponent's face is always funny, and the game does pull off this 'power' aspect of the series pretty well. Like the original anime releases, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai is most rewarding to see and actually land each character's Special Attack.

In either case, the main tactical aspect of each battle is knowing when to charge and when to unleash your attacks. Because of this, the two main tactics in combat are either to run away and charge your Ki or knock your opponent down with melee attacks and then charge while he's down. The Ki energy required to pull off these attacks comes from either being involved with close combat or by holding L to charge your Ki meter. Really, the main focus of the combat system here is the ranged attacks via Special Technique, Super Ki Blast and Super Attack moves. Luckily, sort of, the combat system doesn't rely on either of these too much, which means that while it isn't a problem for you while you're on the defensive, there isn't a whole lot to do on the offensive to put someone away. Part of the problem is that it's quite difficult to recover from any sort of juggle or block combos once you're caught. The melee aspects of battles generally devolve into simple tradeoffs between button-mashing and blocking, with much more emphasis on the button-mashing portion. That is, you have quite a limited basic attack system, and since each of these attacks play out largely the same (aside from slight damage or possible toss distance differences), there isn't a whole lot of strategy here. All of your main (non-power) attacks are tied to two buttons, and move variations are made by using the D-pad in any of the four main directions. The main combat system is a fair bit simpler than the most recent release on PlayStation 2, Dragon Ball Z Budokai: Tenkaichi.

DRAGONBALL Z SHIN BUDOKAI TRIAL

Adding in a Z Trial mode that pits fighters against certain conditions, like Time Attack or Survival play, 2-player Network Battle over Ad Hoc and unlockable goodies in a shop, there's plenty of stuff here for DBZ fans to fight over.

DRAGONBALL Z SHIN BUDOKAI MOVIE

Loosely following the story behind the DBZ movie 'Rebirth of Fusion' (or 'Fusion Returns!', 'Fusion Reborn' or 'Resurrection of Fusion', however you take the translation), Shin Budokai features nearly 20 characters from said adapted storyline and offers both a standard Arcade mode as well as a fleshed out Dragon Road story aspect. Z fans may finally rejoice however, for the fight has come to the PSP in Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai. Though it's hit nearly every platform to date, PSP DBZ fans have been chomping at the bit for a Saiyan fest since the handheld's release.

Granted, some of these releases are multi-platform and so really only count as one game, but even after you consolidate those you're left with what is easily one of the largest franchises in gaming's history. Holy crap there are a lot of Dragon Ball Z games - typing the name into our search engine returns no less than 44 results.

Dragonball z shin budokai