Your First Dragon Ball Video Game

[SaiyanBlood102]

Good ol' Budokai 1 was my first. I remember buying it from a GameStop near me, and I think it was 2004 or 2005 when I got it. My brother and I used to play it so much back then. I don't have it anymore since I gave it to my cousin around 2008. I might buy it again, just for nostalgia's sake, that is.

[sintzu]

Not only was this my first game, it's what got me into the franchise.

[SuperKamiGuruofNamek]

My first Dragonball video game was, DragonBallZ Budokai


When I was about 8 or so, I found out about Dragonball through watching DragonballzKai on Nicktoons Network. The only known knowledge or experience with the series I had before then was of catching an uncut broadcast of DBZ, where Cell drinks a guy. I had no idea what it was at the time, but of course I found out years later; it did leave a reasonable impression on me though. Now, back to the experience with Budokai. I was a huge fan of the show at the time, and I happened to find Budokai at a yard sale with my mother, if I remember correctly. I played it a lot, but I wasn't really very good at it . I didn't even have a memory card for my PS2, so I had to try all of the story mode in one shot. I remember that I did beat the Saiyan Saga, and always got to a preview of the next saga. I did know that DBZ was made before Kai, but I didn't actually know how they were different( with all the voice changes and stuff). So, it was really jarring whenever I heard Freeza talk in the preview in the game. I thought, "Why the heck does Freeza sound like a grandma?". It was a super fun time though, and the game may have even lead me to discover more about the franchise. As cheesy as it is to say, those times playing that game and watching Kai were really some of the happiest times in my childhood. Really, anything involving Dragonball has aided me get through some of the harshest times in my life so far. It's just so comforting to remember all of those times of my childhood involving the franchise. I know I haven't been a fan since the Toonami days like most people, but Dragonball has honestly been one of the most important things in my life.

[AlexFili]

I think the first ones I played were actually for the NES. I did manage to play quite a few others including gameboy, gamecube and the ones on Wii.
The NES ones were a JRPG in the style of a card game. In the first game your power level actually increases after every single fight which is pretty interesting... since normally you increase dramatically after each level, whereas like this, every single victory gives you a little bit more power!

[z_cherub]

Final Bout.

Picked up a game shark or similar to play it on my NA PS. Never understood why the NA release titled it with "GT"... There were more Z characters IIRC...

Anyway, me & a buddy of mine WAY over-levelled our characters (me SSJ Son Goku, him SSJ4 Son) and had a 3 hour fight because we had so many health bars, lol.

[Kanassa]

It was 2005 or 6, I was in Northen Ireland staying at my cousins house along with my parents, it was a boring day. But as I half laid on the makeshift bed with my tounge pushed forward and a entitled whine ready to burst from my lips, my cousin turned on his PS2 to play this strange game called 'Budokai 3', it must of been some french term. Soon I became entranced as I watched a plant monster fight a bubblegum man and launch hi across the world. That was my first DBZ game, and my first introduction to DragonBall.

[ShadowBardock89]

The first Budokai was my first DB game I've played and owned.
I remember my friend, who was older than me, was telling me that Raditz was garbage and I could not beat tournament mode with him. I set out to prove him wrong.
I was not familiar with the PS2 controller, so I failed. Years later when I bought the game for my Gamecube, I rectified this in spades.

[Son Gara]

First Dragon Ball game I ever played was the Japanese version of Ultimate Battle 22 at a friend's house at a sleep over party on Halloween. Incidentally, this was also the first time I heard the Japanese voice actors speak thru their characters during the pre-fight cut scenes. We all had a great time playing it, each taking turns playing characters that we knew and a lot that we didn't know (I believe the series had just started the continuation of the Namek saga on Toonami why back in 1999, so most of us had know idea what a lot of these other characters were; although we were aware of the concept of Super Saiyans). Years later when I heard that it was getting imported to the US, I got super excited. Unfortunately, as I'm sure a lot of you know, the US version was down-right deplorable compared to the Japanese version. I was really looking forward to seeing all the pre-fight cut scenes dubbed in English, so that I could finally know what they had been saying when I first saw them all those years ago, but sadly that wasn't the case.

[Viewtiful Jess]

This was not only my first Dragon Ball game, but my first GBA game! I had a love-hate relationship with this game because, once I got to Namek I was fucking lost.

I didn't get unlost until I came across a Prima Strategy Guide at Dimple Records, which told me how to beat the temple puzzle. Once I got to play the game properly, I loved it! In fact, I have two copies of it because my dad found another in my childhood school soccer field.

[THEGOKU]

DBZ Legends for me. I remember going to a convention in Boston for electronics with my father back in 98 maybe or 99 and this guy had a table with that game and ultimate battle 22. I remember the cover caught my eye and I was like idk who this green dude is or this pink dude but I know that's Goku and Vegeta and I need it in my life. He bought it for me with the adapter for the ps1 to play imported games and I played all day. First time I had ever seen any of the Buu arc stuff so I was blown away by all of it. I even cut out all the artwork from the booklet and taped it to my walls. Maybe it's the nostalgia and the fact that I have two copies of it now but that game will always be the best DB game i've played.

[PelicanDynasty]

Tenkaichi 1. I never had any of the playstations, and I never remember seeing any DB games for the systems I owned. Eventually I played Tenkaichi 1 at a friend's house, and man was it awesome. Since then the only other DB game I've played is Advanced Adventure which is also pretty awesome.

[NECPS]

Played emulated snes and nes games.

It was on psx gen.

I really liked that Legends game, but it didn't make much sense for me.

Back then everything was jap you all know

[Mr. Frog]

My first DBZ games were the PS1 trilogy (GT: Final Bout, Ultimate Battle 22, & Legends), and since it was 1998, you had to import them somehow. My poor parents lol... I had them order the games and an adapter from one of those Japanese import companies in the back of Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine.

I remember looking at what they offered and thinking it was like a whole world had opened up to me. So many interesting things we were only just learning about in the States. Heres some scans of those 1998 ads for a fun slice of history.

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As for the games, I felt about the same as others here have said. Final Bout & UB 22 were kindof stiff and didnt entertain me for long, but the cool animated intro videos really added value to them imo. Legends was much more playable, and was what my friend & I mostly gravitated towards.

Oddly, what I remember most is the striking simplicity of Toriyama's cover art. It was quite different from late 90's American box art, and as a creative type it really fascinated me.

[Thanos]

I emulated Legend of the Super Saiyan on Super Famicom back in... shit, 2000? That, the Super Butouden games and Hyper Dimension were how we got our DBZ fix in video games back in the day . I remember playing Bid for Power, the old Quake 3 mod and being amazed by it. Before Budokai and Legacy of Goku came out, Infogrames (now Atari, former publisher of DBZ titles) gave the team a cease and desist letter. I remember being pissed, because I didn't think they could top BFP. It's funny in retrospect, but it's practically unplayable and goddamn awful, and we've had countless games that blow it out of the water.

It's pretty crazy to think about how ubiquitous and embedded DBZ games are, given how back then there was NOTHING stateside and we had to resort to emulating bad translations of ten-year-old games.

EDIT: Damn, I just realized my ten year anniversary on the forums is three months away!

[bigray]

ok i am not sure what my first dbz game was so I'm really hoping that someone here could help me to identify it.

it was around the year 2000. my friend gave me a floppy disc of a dbz game that was in full chinese. i cant even remember the gameplay of it but i remember struggling to play it. the floppy disc was a copy of the game, not a legit one. so it may have been a PC release CD or Floppy disc. I'm not sure.

would love some help with this!