Comparing The Budokai Trilogy Games

In this video, we're going to be taking a look back at the original Dragon Ball Z Budokai games
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[@ProjectGamerYT]

I cannot express how excited child me was when a new Budokai was coming out. Budokai 1 blew my mind when it first released.

[@AllStarKingD]

B1 Still has the most cinematic and engaging story mode imo. When I was like 4/5 and saw Gohan Vs. Cell I was completely engrossed in it. The atmosphere of that storymode was just so perfect.

[@miles6120]

Dude I used to think Dragon Ball Z Budokai was stand-alone fiction. My tiny child mind was blown when I found out this masterpiece of a game was a full on anime.

[@damondriver6363]

Yeah but it's coming out in a different time in the gaming industry. Cookie cutter bare minimum Characters with the rest being paid DLC, just watch. Half assed story, etc inbound

[@Dr._Doppietta]

True, it was a mania back then I couldn't wait for my cousin to come back home with his copy of Budokai 1 to play that bad boy into our PS2.

[@HollowRick]

I remember seeing it all over the cartoon network at the time

[@drinkwwwaterrr]

You have my respect for understanding the difference between cel shading and outlines

[@Accrovideogames]

@@Carnage-Pepe You mean it's not called perfect cell shading?

[@MarioHernandez-mi8dv]

​@@Accrovideogames*Mr perfect cell shading*

[@juliusfilms]

IF Infinite World was called Budokai 4 it would have done really well IMO

[@Gamechamp3000]

Absolutely; I didn't know Infinite World existed until years after the fact, and didn't know it was actually Budokai 4 until within the last couple years. The entire time I was thinking "Jeez, it's a shame they never made a fourth Budokai game"

[@Crowens]

Yeah I found out like last week lol@@Gamechamp3000

[@Kerunou]

Totally. Infinite World was essentially a maxed out and slightly improved Budokai 3. But it was more of the same to reviewers, general fans didn’t know what it was, and it came toward the end of the PS2 life cycle; all those things culminated in all around poor sales. The audience that was built in for that game, didn’t and pretty much couldn’t show up for it for those reasons.

[@geo-305]

Yea but infinite world is so fucking hard

[@SSJ491]

While I had the first three original Dragon Ball Z: Budokai games, I didn't even know there was another Budokai game on the PS2 (referring to Infinite World) when I was at the Target store. So I pick it up and bought it like $40. I played it and it looks very similar to Budokai 3, but they've added features in the game like Aura Burst. But some of the features like Hyper mode, Dragon Rush, and beam clashes were taking out in the game. Even the World Tournament mode was not appearing in the main menu, and I was absolutely shocked.

[@pemo01]

Will always love Budokai 2! I remember vividly playing hours and hours of the story mode to unlock every capsule possible :)

[@Vulpas]

Same, it was very cool

[@supervegito2277]

Budokai 2s story mode is so damn unique... Id love for another game to mix genres like that.. imagine larger maps, units on the same slot fight as a team, fusions lasts X amount of turns and so on.

[@Soulintent95]

I actually really loved 2s board game story. People hate on it but they love b3s story which is literally 80% unvoiced text and crappy pics. At least the board game is more interactive than the mostly empty world you fly around in b3.

[@kaizoku8087]

FAX

[@Omega_1998_]

FACT: The reason Budokai 2 was not remastered as part of the HD collection is because the developers knew that most gamers didn't like Dragon World.

[@MichaelMeaden]

Powerful memories of trying to beat Kid Buu in the campaign on the harder difficulty (to get the last few unlockable capsules) and constantly backing in and out of the capsule shop to get the ones you wanted to appear! Great video. Please do BT series next!

[@bornonmany2sdays]

i just 100% the game after all these years the other day . the shop is brutal

[@kaizoku8087]

Oh god Budokai 2 days 🙃

[@JoeNayDoh]

Budokai 3 is not only my favorite game of the series but my favorite DBZ game of all time. As someone who sucks at fighting games I actually got kind of decent at it I think. Not to mention I even had not playing the game and just creating some Com vs Com "dream bouts" like Frieza vs Cooler or Dabura vs Future Trunks.

[@kaizoku8087]

I liked Budokai 2 the most due to its story mode and there are more moves to pull off with different button combinations. If everything was combined in Budokai 2 & 3 it’d be perfect.

[@pablocasas5906]

The Budokai games were very popular in Latin America, especially the Tenkaichi ones. Since Dragon Ball arrived here in the mid 90s most the only DBZ games we used to play before Budokai were one from the Mega Drive and Final Bout for the PSOne, but the Budokai felt more like the anime Something interesting is the amount of mods that people mananaged to make for the games, especially the ones that try to add voice clips from the famous Latin American Spanish dub

[@VagaMundos.]

Mario Castañeda and Rene Garcia 😉

[@gregoryrodriguez5621]

Cañada de la Cumbia 😂

[@Dr._Doppietta]

Y'know, rewatching these games and analyzing their history after all these years, I feel like B1 & B2 were basically a Budokai prototype and a Budokai alpha, with B3 being a beta, especially when you consider how much content that game was supposed to have. All in all, good analysis!

[@boskifigueroa]

When the GOAT Doppietta speaks, we listen 👏💯

[@Millacatt]

The best memory I had with Budokai 1; I was having issues with charging Piccilo's Special beam Cannon, The one where you have to rotate the stick(s), I was struggling all day, then my mom noticed i couldn't get past it, then she put her hand on both sticks, and moved them both at the same time, bypassing the whole challenge, I was blown away.

[@cpthuggyface2011]

What worked for me was just rotating the sticks back and forth keeping in the middle, essentially not giving raditz control

[@whiteraven1992]

Yes, I was that friend who loved using Freeza’s spaceship in Budokai 3 whenever I “lost”, just to annoy them.

[@terrytibbz6820]

I just used to use kid Buu as he was easily the best (and most annoying) character. My friend would spend hours learning all the combos thinking he was great and id just obliterate him with my button bash technique lol

[@muddymikedd]

I didn't get to watch the show much growing up (just because of bad televised timing), so the Budokai games were actually how I first experienced the story. I didn't get to watch it until my house got an iPhone and all the episodes were just illegally uploaded to KZbin. The good ol wild west days of the site.

[@TheWolfSharp]

I loved Budokai 3, I remember being fascinated by the transformations in real time when you've played matches agains your opponent; by the time Budokai Tenkaichi 3 got announced, I couldn't be happier, I read about all its details, and how the stages would influence what transformations you could have, how it was going to be the biggest roster they had. It was great.

[@OmegaS-117]

I know for a fact that some of those fights in Budokai 1 took me ages to beat like the last Gohan vs Cell fight took me a entire weekend to beat

[@chieflancewaiters7034]

There was a training on the way to namek fight against fake vegeta where you get 1 bar of health and he gets 3, that suckkked

[@lucsparrow8804]

Please do cover more dude! Many controllers... The stalks of the thumb sticks looked like they were nored down by beavers

[@XJ0461C]

I love these chill nostalgia trips so much, your channel is a gem. Thank you for bringing content that matters.

[@tibocool1328]

dude your channel is making me so nostalgic its amazing.

[@DBZdude95]

Thank you Flandrew. This was a great trip down memory lane and your reviews are unbiased which I love. Would love to see you cover the spin offs and the Tenkaichi series especially.

[@Blitzer45Z]

I admire the amount of detail you go into this and would love to see the Budokai Tenkaichi series comparasion as well :)

[@Phillylove100]

To ask the obvious question are you going to cover the tenkaichi trilogy?

[@mwax3124]

I would love to see you do the Tenkaichi games! I’ve recently discovered this channel and over the past month or so have binged most of your videos. Great content! Can’t wait to see more!

[@Sakubo]

Thanks for the video. Budokai trilogy and especially the first one was a big favorite of my childhood! I would love to see more videos about the series like Tenkaichi!

[@alexmott507]

I just replayed these for the first time in over 15 years! What perfect timing for this upload

[@Leonhearth0]

The first Dragon Ball game I've ever played was Final Bout... So needless to say the first Budokai, while lacking a lot from its successors, bring me back so many fond memories. As a kid, I couldn't pay for the game but I had a magasine talking about it and I was dreaming about it at night until my parents gifted it to me.

[@mattfick5502]

Great video! I have too many Budokai memories to list, it's such a huge part of my childhood

[@parhelio___]

Fun fact, the Freeza ship capsule was in in the first game as well.

[@DryRamen]

Fantastic video! Me and my buddy in HS loved these games. Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi carried our after school gaming sessions.

[@razumtazum3246]

Would love to see you do a similar video about the Budokai Tenkaichi trilogy as well.

[@sasuke082594]

When my dad bought me my PS2 back in 2002, I got two games with it, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, and Budokai 1…. I spent so many hours on both games. Eventually Budokai 2 came out but I never really got to play that one… in 2004 the adverts for Budokai 3 were playing on TV around the holidays so my parents got me the game for Christmas and it was honestly the best Christmas ever. Pretty much I just wanted to say my parents gave me the best childhood and I never really asked for much.

[@joecal77]

Budokai 3 is so good, and is one of my favorites in the franchise. I prefer the non HD version for the"borrowed" music.

[@KodyCrimson]

Having played two of the Budokai Tenkaichi games already, I'd be so down to see a comparison.

[@juancho5419]

Oh, yess. I need one for the Budokai Tenkaichi series, please. My childhood was pretty much done with budokai Tenkaichi 2 and 3...

[@lotus1117]

Great video! Just a Pandora Box of nostalgia for me. Hope you make one for the Tenkaichi games, as well as the XBOX 360/PS3 era games.

[@madladsdabs]

Why is flandrew so underrated? The quality and topics are amazing

[@TheAntiburglar]

My god...Krillin with a Machine Gun and that brief clip of that Super Saiyan Goku with Launchable Kamehameha just hit me in the nostalgia so hard that it knocked the Super Saiyan out of me 😵

[@MattwosRandomNonContent]

2:34 That's the Buu Saga version of Saiyaman who wore that towel on his head so his helmet didn't fly off when he went super, which sounds backwards to me and some games do have a Super Saiyan form for the helmeted version anyway.

[@eduardorickrot4763]

I love the story mode and fun what if scenarios of these games. Growing up in a relatively poor country and neighborhood, I didnt actually have a Playstation 2 until the Playstation 3 was already out, and I never had a single game that wasnt pirated. However, I have very fond memories of playing the Budokai games in the early to mid 2000s together with neighbours and friends, at places you would pay for your game time, my eyes glued to the biggest CRT screen available.

[@thecrazycapn]

I loved the "board game" aspect of Budokai 2 as a kid, although I knew it was only kinda half-fleshed out. When I picked up Budokai 3 at GameStop for $15 a couple years later, I expected to find a new, fully developed board game, and was disappointed.

[@jeuryrabassa4724]

Budokai 3 and Infinite World are my favorite DBZ:Budokai games. There were so much fun to play on the PS2.

[@OdinTheUniverseTraveler2003]

Great video. Idea for next video: comparing every version of Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2005)

[@Nocc2991]

Loves these games growing up. I have so many good memories.

[@smilingsaiyan8357]

The Budokai games all blew me away in the day :) so many great memories with them all :) :) Budokai 3 i found the most addictive back in the day Budokai 1 was the first game i spent my own pocket money on :) would love to see you cover the rest :)

[@bigw725]

8:35 “and we all have that one friend” pfft yeah ok mr prom queen

[@kazuhirokawamoto7213]

finally the budokai series love your comparing videos

[@johnashiru3952]

Being born and growing up in the UK as well I also remember looking at the front cover Budokai 1 like “This is some bollocks” 😂

[@SylvesterAshcroft88]

I played Budokai 2 and i absolutely loved it, i especially liked how closely it followed the anime up to the Buu saga, even with an insane boss fight with kid buu, who had four health bars, from what i remember! xD

[@yobro6053]

I loved the board game campaign too, it was unique. And the intro is goated

[@Kerunou]

Yeah Budokai 2 is amazing. If Budokai 2 was exactly the same but covered all movies and GT? It would’ve been perfect in my child eyes.

[@bobdole776thegreat]

@@yobro6053 Same. The board game was actually really unique and it had it's challenging moments too, like trying to save characters before the boss tokens got to them and destroyed them. 3 was obviously peak but sometimes I get that urge to go back to 2 just for that board game.

[@rickdaniel7341]

Budokai 1 was a big part of my childhood. I would play the cutscene of the final beam struggle between Gohan and Cell with the volume all the way up. Drove my mom nuts.

[@VLikaru]

I remember the GC version of the 1st game was sold for 20 bucks at Sam's Club, which is the reason I traded it away some time later for a Pokemon Colosseum, which I knew was more expensive. I still regret it somewhat but these games were a great part of my childhood.

[@TheGodofweak]

I loved all the budokai games but man Budokai 3 was special. That opening song and animation got me so hyped and as a kid who never had access to the extended DBZ universe like the movies, seeing Gogeta and Broly got me so excited to see that there was more Dragon ball content to discover beyond the shows. Not having the internet at the time, I remeber so vividly stumbling across the diverging path in the story mode to fight Broly, which blew my mind. My dad sense my joy in that moment and watched me fight and unlock Broly, its a memory I don't think I'll forget. Budokai 3 had this magic I've only seen FighterZ emulate in brigning people together, even years after Budokai's release friends would want to battle it out, there's just something about the artsyle, the music, the teleporting, how all the mechanics came together that told us this is THE Dragon ball Z game. Others had more characters, FighterZ is probably the best combat system, but Budokai 3 had the most heart.

[@AdriElric]

It's funny how I never watched any dragon ball series, any dragon ball games, and still I love watching my favorite youtubers talk about it. I love to watch people talk about what they like or grew up with.

[@Niosai]

Whoa! Great video! You HAVE to play Burst Limit, it's legally required

[@Flandrew]

Thank you. My friend and I put many hours into Burst Limit back in the day. The should have just called it Budokai HD

[@Niosai]

@@Flandrew The cutscenes are still my favorite in any Dragon Ball game ever (not counting FighterZ, which is cheating)

[@dmaster5556]

I used to love setting up scenarios in Budokai 2 to experiment with the different Buu & fusion forms.

[@dcortes92]

I remember seeing the PSP ports for these games and was blown away on how good they looked. I eventually played them and had a lot of fun with them.

[@derekknowles5805]

Dbz budokai 2 was the 1st Dbz game I owned on my 11th birthday, Kid Buu was the hardest to beat but liked the fusions and the Buu transformations. Then in 6th grade my friend let me borrow his budokai 3 and I was a amazed by it, the soundtrack was different and Goku ripped clothes also the planets explode. I didn't play Budokai 1 till years later when the HD collection came out

[@ShogunGin0]

Something to mention about the NA re-release (the Greatest Hits version) of Budokai 3, among those features from the Japanese version, it also has the original Japanese voices as an option. However, the first batch released had none of those features, and was just a reprint of the vanilla NA release, meaning that if you want a physical copy with the additional content, I believe it's a gamble since I'm not aware of any differences between the two. Maybe the UPC was different, I don't remember.

[@Dr._Doppietta]

B3 had 2 different names, "Greatest Hits" in America and "Collector's Edition" in Europe, so it's easy to tell if it's a vanilla or enhanced version of the game.

[@YoshiTheOreo]

The funny thing about the loading screen minigames and the controllers at that time is the quality of those controllers were so good that I still have mine and they still work. And that was me playing competitively with friends after school.

[@Abishek97]

Absolutely loved the budokai series! Great video!

[@muchamore321]

DBZ B3 intro was 👌 (chef's kiss) at least in my copy, PAL You did spike my interest on the second game's op

[@lucashoffmannn]

Please make a video on Budokai Tenkaichi trilogy! Great content as always

[@Zack-xu2zw]

PLEASE cover the "other" budokai games. So underrated

[@LDragon2000]

You must be living in my house because I literally just started playing Budokai 3 last week. another great video would love to see more videos about the Dragon Ball Z games but I think the series peaked with Budokai 3.

[@Makoto03]

God i loved the Budokai series on PS2. Very nostalgic. Enjoyed the remaster on PS3 too. Wish they would port it again so i could play it on my PS5.

[@vexzel5550]

Budokai 2 not getting a HD UPDATE will always be one of the most confusing things ever. Like an entire game. Missing.

[@seanflagstaff]

more budokai content! love the channel!!!

[@yesmanyrangel9328]

Budakai 1 and 3 are forever cherished for me personally. Fantastic experiences.

[@Vulpas]

I loved Budokai 2 the most, the quest mode was very fun.

[@yobro6053]

That quest mode was the best feature in the trilogy , budokai 3 was the best imo but 2 had the most unique campaign

[@Gridlock3]

Budokai 3 will always be my favorite DB game ever.

[@TeamBelmont91]

Please by all means, continue this series of Dragon Ball/Z games! I am also curious for you to compare regional localization differences in games like Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure if possible!!

[@bobdole776thegreat]

I didn't break any controllers, but I had a few heated moments when going through that one secret mode for DBZB3. There were 3 secret extra hard cpu levels you could set to with z3 as the max, and man getting through all those tough fights on z3 really was a challenge! Went back to it many years later and holy crap I couldn't even beat cpu's set to hard, where very hard was a breeze for me back in the day, ha!

[@RetroBrax]

love the budokai games, PLEASE do a vid on Legendary super warriors, that game and its localization is a gem 😂

[@RandomCitizen014]

Loved playing these as a kid. Budokai 1 has a special place in my childhood, I'd rank them 1, 3 and 2. Also loved the legacy of Goku games and Buu's fury.

[@josesosa3337]

I'm half convinced the stick abuse for the beam clashes was a way to sell more controllers. I don't know what they were thinking.

[@SardonyxBlackstar]

Budokai always had a special place in my heart. I essentially took over my dad's copies of the trilogy and spent countless hours playing them, especially 3. I actually once made an attempt to create a tournament scene for Budokai 3 at my local comic book store. Whiiiiiiich did not work out because I ultimately learned through this just how unoptimized for tournament play Budokai 3 was. An amazing game to play casually, but from a competitive sense, the game is *littered* with broken characters, cheap tricks, and unfair advantages to the point where it just wasn't worth the effort. Still, Budokai 3 remained my favorite Dragon Ball game for years up until Dragon Ball FighterZ released, and I hope someday we get some form of Budokai 4. Tenkaichi is also great, but it just never held a candle to the OG Budokai in my opinion.

[@ryuk65]

I wish i can talk about these but i just had, besides the gameboy ones which i would like a vid on, i had Budokai Tenkaichi 3 which was great cause you had move physically with the wiimote/ nunchucks do to your special moves. So pulling back and thrusting the controllers towards to do charge beam moves like the Kamahamaha and raise the controllers over your head then throwing down for the Spirit Bomb. Loved it so much.

[@AliFOJ5]

I just got the HD collection for the PS3 and have been playing Budokai 2 on my GameCube. It is so much fun

[@Kerunou]

Burst Limit was really the next gen continuation/spiritual successor of the Budokai line. It was Budokai cranked up to 11. It had so much style and looked great, felt good to play too. Beam clashes and transformations have literally never been done better than in that game. It sadly only goes up to the cell saga and the story progression felt bare bones, which was just unacceptable at the time and especially is now, but if it had been given the chance for a sequel or a trilogy? With fine tuning and more story/characters, I have no doubt it would’ve been Budokai levels of popular by the end. Would’ve loved to see the Buu Saga and GT (there was no super back then folks) done in the visual style of that game. It just got so much right, it’s a shame it had some missing pieces overall. I wish we lived in the reality where games like Budokai, Budokai Tenkaichi, Burst Limit, or Raging Blast just got to continue and keep getting bigger and better looking. Instead we got Xenoverse and in my opinion, we’ve never fully recovered. Hopefully Budokai Tenkaichi 4 is awesome and gets Dragonball games back on track because they’ve been ROUGH for a while now (excluding FighterZ which was actually dope). Which is crazy, with all this tech, they should be better than ever.

[@jailcatjones3250]

Master Roshi killed boss carrot and gang during his fight with goku. 3 was like crack, the insane roster and the way you can level them up was quite a treat.

[@user-ok7kz8ru2q]

Yes please continue to cover dragon ball games

[@burnout713]

Budokai 1 was one of the first T games I ever got and, as someone who had never (and still has never) seen the show, I remember being absolutely horrified by the first shot of Goku's bloody face hurtling toward the ground, which was one-upped about 15 minutes later with him taking the Special Beam Cannon straight through the stomach complete with a gaping hole rendered in his body. I made sure my mom never saw a second of that game. But even though my memories with the first game are special, I actually had a lot more fun over the years playing through the second one. It makes for a really fun pass the controller co-op game if you have different people control different characters. We actually did exactly that on my old KZbin channel from college and it made for a fun series. After spending time with the first two, I never ended up getting the third; I guess I just kind of thought I had gotten what I needed to out of the series and was evolving into a much more mature gamer with the many superior options available on PS2 at the time. Still look back fondly on those first two games, though, even though I know mechanically they really aren't that great.

[@Chun-believable]

Budokai 2 is such a big part of my childhood and it was the best game ever. Until Budokai 3 came out. That game is still a masterpiece to me. The opening alone, especially the song, brings me such nostalgia that I could cry. Budokai 3 is the best game in the series. Yes, that includes Tenkaichi. I don’t know if Infinite World counts.

[@boomerpatrol2838]

i loved budokai 2 and 3 as well as Infinite World and the Tenkaichi games as a kid. stoked for the new Tenkaichi game.

[@swempytimes]

I loved these games so much growing up, It's interesting that they put the buu saga stuff on the European version I didn't know that

[@Terriblyexplainingcomics]

Yes please cover the tenckaichi games

[@davidnotonstinnett]

3:35 *Vegeta was overcome with intense empathy*

[@YAH2121]

3:56 this unlocked a traumatic memory i forgot i had

[@kumisenpie]

I'm amazed as much as I spun the analog sticks I didn't brake them. Love the 3 one the most over any of the games besides fighterz

[@Vexiarla]

as a nintendo household I have so many memories of playing budokai 2 on my gamecube and that damn board game of a world map lol

[@andrewjanzen6460]

Budokai 1 will always have a special place in my heart as it was my first 3D DB game. My poor controller took a beating.

[@NDSIser]

In Australia we had this game released with both covers and they had the Japanese dub too

[@hiruma4142]

It's wild how Dimps cemented themselves in Bandai (now Bandai Namco)'s Dragon Ball department with these, to the point this engine is STILL ALIVE WHY At least 3.

[@NirvanaPhoenix]

Surprised you didn't mention the subtitles of PAL Budokai 1, with Vegeta brutally insulting the heroes by calling them "you aunt-sallies!"

[@Imperatrixxy]

"The [first Budokai] game opens with an in-engine recreation of the first DBZ opening"... unless you were living in Europe. We got a weird montage of in-game cutscenes with one of the game's BGM songs playing in the background.

[@goranisacson2502]

I only ever played the first one when it was brand new, and yet for some reason what I remember most is the Satan-solo mode. Something about taking the worlds savior and giving him a jetpack that was just so memorably silly in my mind, I guess.

[@isnull_or_empty]

Budokai 1 for me, that game drove my childhood along with DBZ episodes on Toonami. The best times, man.

[@davidnzlabour2659]

Great video, could you do the same with the Tenkaichi saga?

[@Julian-bs6ds]

Budokai 2 was the most fun out of the bunch. The classic story mode board game, the simple finishers, and my favorite spamming victory cannon with gotenks

[@DocVolteer]

Man that is a trip my best friend was a huge Dragonball Z fan he got the trilogy

[@thunderousmastermind]

Y'all are sleeping on Budokai 2. Their story mode had many hidden dialog depending what character encountered the villain. That was very unique...All voice acted too!!

[@MattwosRandomNonContent]

Budokai 2 was easily my favorite of the three.

[@infernoking887]

I grew up playing the hd collection for budokai it was a pretty amazing game at the time

[@MattwosRandomNonContent]

0:40 New partners? Bandai had been a part of the franchise since it first started.