Sparking! NEO / Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is too underrated.

[Xeogran]

Dragon Ball Z Sparking! NEO really lacks of the fame that Meteor gets. The second Sparking game actually takes the spot of best Spike game for Dragon Ball, atleast in my opinion.

Why is that?

•The Story Mode - Seriously, it's pretty fun. You fly around the map instead of just selecting battles, like in BT1 or BT3. The animations are also pretty well done, especially the cutscenes (Bardock vs Freeza's army, C18 vs Vegeta or Goku and Vegeta's fusion in GT)

•What IFs, - Zarbon's mini-arc was really a nice development for his character, and it was pretty entertaining too.

•The Gameplay - BT3 has this one obviously improved, but the "searching" scouter was actually a pretty nice touch that got removed in the later series.

•The Voices - Yes, this is actually the game where the VAs put a lot of more effort than to any other. Why, might you ask? The World Tournament mode is a pure example of this. In Sparking! NEO, you can hear World Tournament Announcer, Cell or Mr. Satan actually shouting out every fighters name. If you select Hirudegarn VS Garlic Jr. - Cell will say their names. Turles vs Raditz - same. In Meteor, this was removed (Maybe because there was too many characters already)

Overall, the little things are what make the game fun. When it comes to DBZ Games - Budokai 3 or Budokai Tenkaichi 3 are the most mentioned ones. The fanbase sadly, just looks at character count and nothing more.

Also, if there will be a Tenkaichi HD Collection someday, i hope they won't skip BT2 like they did with Budokai 2. That would be really pathetic.

[DBZ Mick]

BT2's story mode while certainly commendable for it's detail was way too long and got boring after a while IMO.

I did like aspects of BT2 like being able to put more energy into your beam when in a beam struggle, watching your Genki Dama grow in the sky and also cancelling.

[Darknat]

Dragon Ball Z Sparking! NEO really lacks of the fame that Meteor gets. The second Sparking game actually takes the spot of best Spike game for Dragon Ball, atleast in my opinion.

Why is that?

•The Story Mode - Seriously, it's pretty fun. You fly around the map instead of just selecting battles, like in BT1 or BT3. The animations are also pretty well done, especially the cutscenes (Bardock vs Freeza's army, C18 vs Vegeta or Goku and Vegeta's fusion in GT)

•What IFs, - Zarbon's mini-arc was really a nice development for his character, and it was pretty entertaining too.

•The Gameplay - BT3 has this one obviously improved, but the "searching" scouter was actually a pretty nice touch that got removed in the later series.

•The Voices - Yes, this is actually the game where the VAs put a lot of more effort than to any other. Why, might you ask? The World Tournament mode is a pure example of this. In Sparking! NEO, you can hear World Tournament Announcer, Cell or Mr. Satan actually shouting out every fighters name. If you select Hirudegarn VS Garlic Jr. - Cell will say their names. Tullece vs Raditz - same. In Meteor, this was removed (Maybe because there was too many characters already)

Overall, the little things are what make the game fun. When it comes to DBZ Games - Budokai 3 or Budokai Tenkaichi 3 are the most mentioned ones. The fanbase sadly, just looks at character count and nothing more.

Also, if there will be a Tenkaichi HD Collection someday, i hope they won't skip BT2 like they did with Budokai 2. That would be really pathetic.

The story mode of BT2 gets quite boring after a while. I do prefer how the story is told in BT3. The problem of course being that BT3 didn't have all the important battles. In the end the best option would have been a combination of both. A map with the battles being told in the BT3 way.
The cutscenes in my opinion lacked impact. They weren't very good for the most part. I remember the ones with actual fighting that were the worst of the bunch.

The what ifs are usually boring too, but I consider that a problem for the entire franchise, not for BT2 only. The good part of BT2 is that it tried to flesh it out a bit.

I agree with you about the gameplay, there are a few things I miss from BT2 in BT3.

About the voices, for the most part BT3 has the same voice overs as BT2. Taking in consideration the story mode of BT2, it has way more voice overs for the cutscenes. I didn't miss the tournament part, but it sure would have been a nice addition.

[Xeogran]

I do prefer how the story is told in BT3. The problem of course being that BT3 didn't have all the important battles. In the end the best option would have been a combination of both. A map with the battles being told in the BT3 way.

BT3's story mode was pretty bad, because there could be only 2 characters max on the map, so when Goku battled against Omega Shenron and talked to Vegeta, Vegeta wasn't there. Most of DBZ Battles weren't on a big map with only 2 people. And like you said, they missed the important battles and the sagas were short.

[Jaruka]

It also had the best way of unlocking characters with those Potara items

[InfernalVegito]

I liked BT2's story mode also better than BT3's because it was more like B3's.

[dbboxkaifan]

The music in Tenkaichi 2 was far better than in Tenkaichi 3, it had variety and it was upbeat whereas T3's very repetitive and annoying to listen to. If I play Tenkaichi 3 then the music's muted.

Raging Blast 2 - 2011 Edition won't mind the replacement because the alternate soundtrack was an excellent choice done by Namco Bandai or whoever in charge.

[Michelle91]

I like how Bojack and Cell play apart in the Fusion Reborn story. I like when video games will be a bit creative with the story and throw in something fun.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

Yeah, Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is likely my fav in the entire series.

[FlpShimizu]

I played that Story Mode more than 10 times. If they launch a HD Collection I would totally play it again, it was so much fun watching the cutscenes and the huge amount of dialogue was boring sometimes but overall a nice touch.

[Thanos]

To me, the story mode in NEO was an underdeveloped concept that would've been good had it been fleshed out more. You'd fly down, there would be a character stood there, and all you could do, literally was talk to the one person. If you had actually been able to explore the areas and there had been more characters around, it would've been a lot more interesting. But as it stands it would get quite repetitive.

[Saimaroimaru]

It also had the best way of unlocking characters with those Potara items

Wasn't BT3 the same way(haven't touched the BT series in years)?

BT2 is under appreciated. It made greatest strides in the series. I hated how they changed the Lock-on feature in BT3 it was better in BT2.

[Big Momma]

I haven't played either of them in a long while, but IIRC, I recall having more fun playing BT2 than 3 back when 3 first came out. The only thing that kept me in 3 were the maps/characters not present in the second game.

[Insertclevername]

It also had the best way of unlocking characters with those Potara items

Wasn't BT3 the same way(haven't touched the BT series in years)?

BT2 is under appreciated. It made greatest strides in the series. I hated how they changed the Lock-on feature in BT3 it was better in BT2.

I believe you unlock characters by playing story missions or wishing them via the 3 sets of Dragon Balls (I think they vary too. So I think the Black Star balls can only wish for Mirai Gohan & Chi Chi).

[Xeogran]

To me, the story mode in NEO was an underdeveloped concept that would've been good had it been fleshed out more. You'd fly down, there would be a character stood there, and all you could do, literally was talk to the one person. If you had actually been able to explore the areas and there had been more characters around, it would've been a lot more interesting. But as it stands it would get quite repetitive.

Yes, but take notice that it was only a PS2 game. The console couldn't handle so much things. Now if a game with story mode based on NEO would be done on PS3/360, or even PS4/720, it would totally be a different scenario. Ultimate Blast kind of tried that, but in reality it was even emptier than NEO's.

[Brodes]

I prefer the controls for the third game, but I did enjoy 2 immensely. The only reason I really upgraded was just for the extra characters.

'What If?' stories should be mandatory for all Dragonball games, though.

[ZeroAnnihilated]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2LmKxx9DYA

This game is definitely underrated and very entertaining. Hope you all enjoy the show. Let me know what you think.

[TheMightyOzaru]

The music and story are better in Sparking Neo but the important part, the gameplay, isn't nearly as good from what I've seen or remember.

[TheGmGoken]

BT2 had the best gameplay of the Sparking series. It was the more realistic. You have to charge the Genki Dami rather than just randomly doing it like most games. When you launch an ultimate attack like Final Flash even if you MISS you planet will still blow up. Something that I missed greatly. You get to put more power into the beams in ki struggle. To me this was one of the best dbz games.

[TheMightyOzaru]

BT2 had the best gameplay of the Sparking series. It was the more realistic. You have to charge the Genki Dami rather than just randomly doing it like most games. When you launch an ultimate attack like Final Flash even if you MISS you planet will still blow up. Something that I missed greatly. You get to put more power into the beams in ki struggle. To me this was one of the best dbz games.

That Genki Dama is still in Sparking 3. Why is missing the planet and it blowing up more realistic? You can put more power into beam struggles with charged attacks in Sparking 3 too.