Is Dragon Ball Z: Budokai REALLY That Good?!

With a Dragon Ball focused panel at NYCC in the rear view, I found myself in a DBZ mood. Naturally, I wanted to go back to where it all began for many of us as Dragon Ball transitioned into a 3D fighting game. It was during an era where DBZ retelling the same bundle of arcs wasn't tired out. So, is it still as good as we remember? Let's find out.
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#DragonBallSuper #DragonBallZ #PlayStation

[@retrorebound8887]

Dragon Ball Daima is real! What do you think of the newly announced series for 2024?

[@SSJ491]

It's look good. I am planning on watching it in 2024.

[@lssjgaming1599]

Love the art, a bit worried about the writing a bit since it has surface level similarities to GT, but since Toriyama is pretty involved it'll prolly be pretty good. Seeing Goku using the Nyoibo again was pretty hype tho ngl

[@vladimirovna2478]

someone's on top of the release timing as usual I see. Dragon Ball Daima looks pretty neat. I wonder if its gonna be like a kind of GT 2 in the sense of it being a return to its more childish roots. Whatever it is, I'm always down for a change in pace when it comes to Dragon Ball.

[@TramiNguyen-oi3kp]

I’m so exciting about new Dragon Ball anime next year 2024!

[@gracekim25]

Series?😅

[@lanewallace2024]

This was the first game I ever played on the ps2. Absolute gem!

[@brianmckinley2058]

Same it was a magical Christmas and my introduction to DBZ 😁

[@SP-ie6nq]

Same!! I remember my mom getting me an incompatible memory card so I would continuously start the game new and beat it. Or leave the system on to keep all the unlocked characters 😂

[@brianmckinley2058]

Haha I remember those days. I had to do the same for sonic adventure for Dreamcast. Kids today will never know that pain 😅

[@troyrowlett5225]

Got it Christmas of 01 or 02. What a way to start

[@SSJ491]

Mines as well. I got this very first Dragon Ball Z game when I was a kid in the early 2000s. It was amazingly fun.

[@Universemasterj]

That goddamn Raditz mission man. As a kid I almost gave up on the game because of it lmao, I tried it a few years ago and it’s upsetting how easy it is now

[@JCREDFANG]

Dude, I sweat so hard on that part as a kid, and the fact that it shows raditz just brushing off Goku if you failed made it that much more humiliating

[@OsamayaMomma]

Same here. I couldn't get past it for a week and fortunately my older cousin beat it for me with ease. I was so impressed

[@thejongshow8821]

Final form frieza woooooped my ass

[@boltthunder2061]

that was one of the banes of childhood gaming i never even had a memory card back then so i had to keep repeating that one segment over and over again even time i swapped games

[@J.Skyler]

dude budokai was the very first game i ever paid for myself. i was 6 years old. was absolutely heart broken that i couldn’t get past it. had to have an older cousin do it for me

[@makisbizarreadventure4669]

ITS OVEeEeRRR FRIEZAAAAA!!!! That line alone still lives rent free in my head. This really was the absolute best delivery of this line.

[@JCREDFANG]

I remember at the time (2002) A neighbor of mine had this game when it came out and we had done some versus on the world tournament stage. Those ring outs were BRUTAL, and I attribute this game for getting me into fighting games as a whole. The Music, Voice acting, and even the Toy Story like plastic looking characters are a treat for me. If you weren’t a fan of DBZ by this point this game MADE you a fan

[@justchan2443]

This game is so nostalgic to me. It has a type of charm and art style that I can't describe, but you don't see it in the other DBZ games.

[@renerivera9715]

Ah yes dragon ball budokai trilogy my childhood games

[@YomiNoYuzuriha]

The original game also came with a poster, in addition to the manual, that had SSJ Goku on one side, and the 3D sprites with a short bio and preferred move for each character on the other side.

[@otisl.1422]

My poster was only 1/4 of the artwork 😂

[@gamerplayer8882]

I got that poster up on my wall!

[@webbiefade14]

Lmao I remember I took my poster to school for show-and-tell in 3rd grade 😭🤧

[@Munn1bagshib]

I remember fighting cell was soooo hard. This was my favorite budokai

[@CaptainSunnyD]

i’ll never forget this game. i used to struggle so hard against full power perfect cell. amazing times i wish they still made dbz games like this. budokai 4 or infinite world 2. give us a roster like tenkaichi 3 which also includes dbs and dbgt. throw in a what if and give us sdbh i can’t be the only one who feels this way. let’s start a petition or something please guys. fyi i don’t count fighterz in the budokai realm cause it’s like marvel vs capcom. i love the cut scenes in budokai 1, and love the free roam of budokai 3. not many people do but i like budokai 2 also the game board play through is interesting to me.

[@rickowen6010]

My first ever DBZ game. I picked it up at a swap meet with my dad when I was like 8 man those were truly the good days

[@SamuraiSam]

The Gamecube version has a special cel-shaded look which is pretty cool. The manual is in black-and-white though, probably because it released at $30 and they wanted to cut corners

[@ic3_115]

I never played these games until recently. Budokai 1 is pretty barebones but it just gets better after each sequel and Budokai 3 is still easily one of the best Dragon Ball games of all time.

[@twall91]

Completely agree. I remember playing every one of them from 1 to 3 as they released and really deconstructing how they had progressed. 1 was where I was so happy just to finally have a good DBZ game in general to play. (They weren’t really a thing Stateside until this came out.) And 3 was where I felt like they finally perfected the formula! Every character had just about all of their forms to that point in time. All the way up to SSJ4 Goku, Vegeta, even GOGETA!!! As well as pretty much all of the other fusion characters. And the actual fights/combat had EVERYTHING I could’ve wanted. It was such a blast to have things like the dragon rush, burst zone, and the one thing where it was like a rock paper scissors mechanic. As well as just the normal defensive maneuver of the quick teleport thing you could do at any time by pressing block and towards your opponent. If you both went back and forth it was JUST LIKE THE SHOW! seriously Budokai 3 was perfection

[@alexandrebelair4360]

Budokai 2 kinda sucked tho. The 4 one is totally horrible.

[@Clockworrk66]

This game got me into dbz. Will always love it.

[@RetroVGs]

Budokai series is still amongst the greatest DBZ games, along with the gba legacy of Goku games! I want to play those again when I get my retroid pocket portable! Great review!🍄🎮

[@michellepatino8733]

Loved these games so much, the what if stories were awesome with cell absorbing krillin was hilarious. The cool intro screens depending on what saga you were on was really cool to.

[@Rabbitearsblog]

Oh man!! I used to play this game all the time as a kid and I remembered having so much fun with this game!

[@JustSendMeLocation]

This video brought a tear to my eyes, as a child my first games console I ever owned was a ps2 and the first game I ever played was budokai, my father bought it for me and he died a few months ago, watching this video unlocked a few memories.

[@Reptar2099]

These thumbnails getting crazy 🔥

[@retrorebound8887]

Simon cooked!

[@that_deadeyegamer7920]

This is how me and my brother were introduced to the android/cell saga. Growing up our only exposure to DBZ was Saturday morning cartoons, so seeing Gohan go ssj 2, Trunks killing Frieza, it's truly one of the best anime games

[@michaelmunns]

This game was my introduction to the dragon ball franchise.

[@TheGreatOne93]

Glad you're reviewing this game

[@Gunnumn]

Dbz budokai got me into Mortal Kombat. When the game play changed after Budokai 3, my art teacher referred me to Mortal Kombat and havnt changed since.

[@kingkarrot9304]

The character portraits for the tournament mode is just so damn good

[@Chronoflation]

What a nostalgia trip. When I saw you made this video I was hoping you'd mention the alternate stories like Vegeta going super saiyan after killing Goku and Cell absorbing Krillin. That's my favorite. Also, all the cutscenes being in engine was super cool and unique among the entries in this series. I also love the unique art style. Not the best entry, but truly special and full of heart, making it my most nostalgic one for the single player experience

[@zaidabraham7310]

I bought a modchipped PS2 with 5 "fake" (burned DVD copies) games in 2005. This was one of them.

[@__td4712]

This game is so symbolic to me I could beat the raditz part with special beam cannon. I have a picture of me 5 years old playing this game before I was moved away from my grand mom to stay with my mom and we struggled in St. Louis for years and this game is just a reminder of my old life as a kid and I am in the market to buy again

[@alexandrebelair4360]

Emulation is key honestly.

[@coolkid1597]

Beautiful video 🙏

[@evclayton8760]

That thumbnail though!!!

[@MegaMrAlexis]

This game was my first introduction to dbz and i am still obsessed to this day

[@bounceycake1]

First DBZ game I've ever seen on the PS2, cause keep in mind, I had only played Legacy of Goku on the GBA so the graphics from that to the PS2 blew the mind for the time

[@brandoncabiness1163]

Definitely a iconic title. I still love the original art style as apposed to it other two counter parts

[@MeshTheSnake]

I had no idea mecha frieza was even a thing, super sick!

[@LordWafflestomp]

I remember renting this from the video store for weeks at a time as a kid and playing the world tournament and what if story scenarios over and over again. Wasn't the best game ever, but damn I have many fond memories of it.

[@yullu65]

Budokai was actually my first contact with dragon ball. It made me absolutely enamoured with the universe. I played it religiously for a couple of months and then went out to buy the first volume of the manga. The journey through DB+DBZ is some of my favourite childhood memories

[@eazy2klean]

Had this as a kid and I bought it recently again along with many games from my childhood.. but this one is special🔥 I’ll never forget this game

[@dragoon1090]

This game got me obsessed with dragon Ball.

[@beastlyawesome72]

this was the game that got me into dbz, before i watched the show or movies this was my introduction to the dbz world

[@CFLaughs]

First Dragonball Z console game for me! I especially remember getting the new installment in the series each time and seeing the progression!

[@AliFOJ5]

I’ve been playing Budokai 2 on my GameCube recently and I’ve been loving it. Played it on PS2 originally back in the day

[@Josephlokzz]

It was great experience in PS2 and the music that budokai had made the experience great

[@harlandenham]

Haven’t even watched the video. Just stopped by to say YES. IT’S THAT DAMN GOOD.

[@gioc7960]

this is the first dbz game i played. It blewed my mind, I saw it on TV when I was little and absolutely needed it to be mine. The first, proper, 3d game of dragon ball. Although it misses the buu saga, is still not so short to complete and was nice to play story and do tournaments. The style was very different from the other dbz 2000 era games, because it tried to not be cartoonish, unlike obviously did budokai 2, 3 and so on. It wasn't THAT good, but back in the day it was pretty good.

[@thejongshow8821]

I still remember the first time I got this game. It was Christmas back when it first came out. I also got my perfect cell action figure. Life was so simple back in the day

[@Nomad]

Same. My people let me pick it out but said I couldn't have it until Christmas. I had this shit in my PS2 that very same day lol.

[@juancarlosdealba4647]

The timing on this vid!!

[@ryanjoanette]

What an OG game... I remember when I was a kid and begged my parents to buy it. They took me to all the stores, "Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal Mart, EB Games, Game Stop and no one had the game... Last store was K Mart and sure as shit, they had it! Good old day's...

[@ososick7186]

I remember I got this game for Christmas as a kid I fell in love with this game I love it it gave me happiness it was the best Christmas ever my family and I had an amazing Christmas that year I was so excited to get this game

[@jfitnesshealth]

was in high school, turned 17 that year. Was an amazing game. Fighting wasn't too deep or too simple . was good. The Ultimate moves were explosive and in many ways better than b2 and 3. such as recoomb blast. I remember a dragonball fan site I use to follow update with the japanese trailers (dragon ball z is not for wimps) the narator would say. At the time all we had were GT final bout and DB Legends for psx and saturn. They were imports and not in english

[@Josephlokzz]

I remember the myths and hints about any game when I was a kid

[@Metalkake]

The Budokai series had some fucking awesome music 🤘 Lol the burst zone was hell on my controllers 😂 Thanks for covering these ❤

[@calvinmatthews1527]

Wow, I'm surprised with how well this game holds up. But, I guess that's the case with most six generation console games. Game developers went hard with quality back then.

[@dinosoid2000]

That Cell/Krillin scenario still grinds my gears. That's literally not how fusions and absorptions work.

[@alphamagnum13]

Not even gonna lie i look forward to every upload

[@retrorebound8887]

I appreciate that a ton. Thank you :)

[@dochallah1721]

Some things retro didn't mention: Legend of Hercule mode is a challenge mode that puts different modifiers as you fight as Hercule through the entire Cell Games tournament. This is the only DBZ game where you can freely play as Super Vegeta. This was the only DBZ game with legitimate pre-rendered cutscenes until DBZ Ultimate Tenkihichi.

[@pedrosantana245]

2 is also my favorite as it was the first one I ever played! Glad to see other budokai 2 enjoyers!

[@bruh.moments1984]

The SSJ4 part reminded me of how my cousin told me that I could unlock Sonic in Melee by defeating a bunch of enemies in Cruel Melee

[@webbiefade14]

What separates this game from the rest is the overwhelming amount of *LOVE* that was put into it. Tho it did not have much content, it made up for it in quality and detail. Not only was the story mode cinematics still unbeaten til this day (Kakarot being the only contender that rivals it), but look at all the subtle detail like all the artwork put into it. There's unique artwork for everything: The character selection portraits, the character selection thumbnails, the world tournament VS screens, even the health bars for each character had their own unique artwork. The layout was beautiful, menus beautiful, Mr. Popo's model being used for the skill shop a total thing of beauty, everything about it was just memorable. Its a thing where that kinda quality would gradually decrease with every installment, but the Budokai series still holds the highest qualities in dbz games. It made a game with 5 modes and only 23 characters each with extremely limited movesets and extremely limited/poorly aged gameplay that much memorable and enjoyable.

[@Pretendo27]

Got this game day one and it was AMAZING at the time, considering all we had was GT final bout 🥴

[@statesminds]

Budokai was great for when it came out bc of ultimate battle 22 and final bout left a lot to be desired in the west but it’s not the best by far haha

[@Drums_of_Liberation]

That was because Ultimate Battle 22 and Final Bout each were near 10 years old when they came Westside. And all those who went through the 90s drought had already played them with Legends on chipped PS1s

[@schristie777]

Bro the sound track to this was the GOAT idc if it was stolen or not, this and the faulkoner score for the anime are majority what dragged my ass into these series not the stupid dun-dun-dun stupid ass classical music we have now 😂

[@papaniiiko1587]

You’re missing the poster for Budokai to have the complete in box experience!

[@luliby2309]

I still remember how my brother always maintained for the longest time that Budokai 1 had the best graphics he had ever seen. Granted, this game did look good for its time and those graphics do still look nice now, thanks to the good art direction and such. But...he maintained this for quite a while. So long that there were clearly better looking games at this point. I remember myself and friends pointing out that the shadows were those circles underneath the characters like in those old days and didn't even directly match the character and how the shadows would realistically look. It's still just funny to me to remember all that. Edit: Oh, and it looks like your audio isn't lining up with your visuals in this vid. Really threw me off.

[@stephenthedude4383]

Hey Matty is it just a coincidence that you upload this the day a new Dragon ball anime was announced????? Crazy timing

[@KingJonez_]

You can get frieza spaceship with the dragon balls too

[@BagKingBrian]

Can't lie, that thumbnail goes hard af

[@spiritteddy9393]

Some copies came with a poster of every in game character and the combo for their strongest moves on it. Honestly shocked I got lucky enough to get one of those.

[@venomsnigle44]

This was the only dragon Ball z game I had for my GameCube and it was awesome and I unlocked Cyber-Frieza

[@twall91]

I have sooo goddamn much nostalgia attached to this series and Budokai 1 in particular. Literally the best Christmas of my life as a 6th grade kid. This bad boy just dropped and I FINALLY convinced my parents to get me a PS2 for Christmas. At least I found out I did on Christmas Day lol. Along with my very own copy of Budokai 🥲… and ratchet and clank/atv off-road fury lol. Those two came with the ps2 back when bundles were worth a fuck. Even a second controller so I could force my sister to let me stomp her at Budokai over and over lmao

[@3DKing200]

Playing this game without a Memory Card was a bitch and a half. I almost made it through the entire story in one sitting as a kid but couldn’t finish it.

[@TramiNguyen-oi3kp]

I love this Dragon Ball Z game!

[@Yeeterora]

Dude who makes your thumbnails and how! 🔥🔥🔥

[@andrawos1276]

Being a 5 year old when I played the game I never passed the Raditz mini game of trying to stay in the center, then I scratched the disc so I never finished the game when I got older.

[@petersmith9138]

Goku giving u tha work in the thumbnail 👀

[@RetroCadeo]

About destroyed my controller 20 minutes ago trying to beat the final battle after my 25th time i finally got it and the relief came

[@adamcontreras7915]

I remember i was the kid they called to beat the final frieza battle on namek. Shit was hard asf lmao.

[@fwobebe5164]

Really loved the soundtrack on this game, especially the Stratovarius one.

[@fanofmetal1]

Shame most of the music cant be used due to obvious copyright problems. The sound track was awesome.

[@ComicBooksandVideoGameNerd96]

I never had the Budokai HD Collection never bothered to pick it up because I always felt like it was stupid that they left out 2

[@datboi81]

This had my favorite graphics in a Dragon Ball game until FighterZ. LOVE what they did with the 3D here.

[@knuxuki1013]

Yep, I agree on how you should gradually unlock other characters, it's fun, it shows progress, why should you get everything at the beginning?

[@LunaticKD1991]

Dragon Ball Z Budokai was my first PS2 game and yes it really was that awesome.

[@adamtv100]

I just got done doing the true 100% of this game and man did it take a while haha! You p much have to get all the breakthroughs and 9 of every capsule in the game but I love this game!

[@home9dog2blue199]

gotta do a "was budokai 2 really THAT BAD?" video next 😂😂😂

[@mangodango1733]

It might not look amazing today but I'm actually so extremely impressed that my first DBZ game ever ON GAME CUBE looks this solid And let's not forget when Goku says it's over Frieza it went SUPER hard

[@mangodango1733]

These games were also how I had to experience the story because I couldn't afford the manga and I couldn't walk to bookstores by myself so I really appreciate them for that I really thought I knew the story and when I was 18 i sat and watched the original toei dub (whichever one the falconer team comes in on) and I was blown away

[@cetospalis4784]

The funny thing about shang tsung being preorder only is i went to gamestop and bought MK1 since i didnt preorder, and it just came with a code anyway.

[@retrorebound8887]

I had the same thing with Best Buy. Never preorder! This is why lol

[@Dragon969Reviews]

Enjoyed the video, kinda hoped you'd discuss how different the Gamecube version looked instead of the censored trash HD port.

[@xaviergraves1130]

God I miss the the paperback manuals 😭

[@skysamfreeman]

On the topic of Smash Bros. unlock rumors. There were some crazy ones. Anyone else remember Butthole Bob?

[@retrogamerfan123]

I broke so many controllers back in the day due to this game lol

[@Mr.Genesis]

The Discoverability of video games is one of the very things that breathed life into this medium The Mew behind the truck where the SS Anne was.. was a complete myth but was talked about for years. The Konami Code was passed down through word of mouth and your friend's Nintendo Power Magazine..

[@aakashnair4092]

need a room tour asap

[@retrorebound8887]

We're thinking of a way to do a game collection video. Given that the collection is fat, that's been the challenge.

[@TheDarkSage]

🔥

[@Gellus-C]

Yes

[@dpglounge4900]

I wonder if I was the only kid who got confused that the va in the game was different then the show then through the years thought that 90s dbz was very different maybe mendula effect until I was reminded of the ocean dub now on rematch first 53 eps in ocean dub rest early funi dub with Bruce Falconer score

[@sonicsega1699]

have you done the super famicom games yet?

[@Farman_110]

Bro the Super Saiyan 4 rumors i beat this game on hard without dying once not only that right after that i remember the guide said that you gotta do the advance world tournament as well with EVERY character it was insane. But i did it disappointed i didnt get Super Saiyan 4 Goku but an achievement non the less

[@SuperCabrito14]

Remember the Oolong rumors. Lol

[@Farman_110]

@@SuperCabrito14 tried thinking about it lol cant remember what it was haha could you refresh my memory? Lol

[@SuperCabrito14]

@@Farman_110 you had to change the difficulty to very hard and the ai to very strong and beat story without dying. After achieving that you could unlock oolong as a playable character. 10 year old me quit so fast 💀

[@Farman_110]

@@SuperCabrito14 lol i have unknowingly done that but didnt know about Oolong lol but im sure i died a few times as well

[@harrison2406]

Always wondered, why wasn’t the buu saga included in this game? Had it not aired in the US at that point or something?

[@marquezisag]

I could never beat the part with holding radditz so my cousin would come over and beat it for me but I didn’t have a memory card yet so I’d have to leave the ps2 on so i didn’t lose my characters 😭

[@kableguy8975]

Game use to give me seizures when i was young, and I still couldn't stop playing it! It they were amazing! 😅

[@dochallah1721]

I've been 100% this recent my favorite DBZ game ever. Just a simple arcade fighter with so much soul.

[@dochallah1721]

omg I had the strategy guide for this. Retro just unlocked a memory holy

[@retrogroovtv]

classic game 🔥🔥