What era would produce the best tournament?

[Steven Bloodriver]

From the time of Majin Buu being born to Caterpie evolving into his ultimate fighting form, what Age would be qualified enough to create the very ultimate Tenkaichi Budokai?

[sintzu]

There aren't enough characters that can go up against the Saiyans after the Piccolo JR arc so that was the best time and one.

[FoolsGil]

Can't do Dragonball? I suppose the Otherworld tournament was the best one in that case. a lot of fighters with unusual techniques, our first glimpse into Super Kaioken decades before Super, fan favorite Pikkon who even went on to be in a movie even, and South Kai at the very least is manga canon after his appearance in this arc.

[DBS916]

To be honest once the Saiyans and Piccolo become very powerful, fighters like Tien, Krillin, and Yamcha would be outmatched. So I believe during the Saiyan saga it would be cool to have a tournament where the the three evil Saiyans can go against the heros of Earth.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

Everything pre Piccolo Daimao Arc, cause from that Arc onward it's made pretty clear that Piccolo and Goku have a clear edge over every other earthling on the planet.

[Desassina]

DBZ Hyper Dimension's special mode is the closest that I have seen to a cool tournament other than the ones that worked before. I would give it a change though: tag team fusion in a battle royale. SSJ & SSJ3 Gotenks, SSJ2 Vegeta, SSJ2 & SSJ3 Goku, Ultimate Gohan and Vegetto. If Vegeta deals with Gotenks before he gets to Super Saiyan 3, then he's on to lose against Gohan or Goku, and the latter might give him a chance to fight evenly, but not before fusing to dispatch of Gohan, and letting the timer run out.

[Beek King]

Everything pre Piccolo Daimao Arc, cause from that Arc onward it's made pretty clear that Piccolo and Goku have a clear edge over every other earthling on the planet.

I also miss the quirky fighters that fought using ingenious tactics before those were made irrelevant by the importance of sheer power (even if the current arc is trying to pretend it's supposedly not a thing after all).

[Lord Frieza]

I'd say the 21st was the best purely because the power gaps between Goku and everyone was not so large. All of Goku's enemies gave him trouble in their battles and it kept things interesting.

The 22nd and 23rd have a major problem. Goku has been off training and gotten so strong that really he could blitz everyone apart from his final opponent if he was really trying. That saps a lot of tension right out of the tournament because Goku is never really at risk of loosing until the end and even then there are hints that he is stronger then Tien and Piccolo.

The Cell Games is not really a tournament regardless of what Cell says. Its really just a take-your-turn boss fight.

The Otherworld Tournament was actually better then the 22nd and 23rd. While for the most part it suffers from Goku being more then powerful enough to wipe the floor with most of these guys if he tired, Pikkon dose not have the same problem Tien and even Piccolo had. Unlike those fights Goku clearly dose not have the edge in power, infact Pikkon comes off as being the more powerful of the two which puts this fight on a higher level then even Goku's fight with Jackie for me since Goku is not on equal footing ether. As a result there final match has a very real sense of tension as Goku is forced to pull every trick out of his bag to try and win.

The Universe 6 tournament I hold in a similar standing. Goku and Vegeta would win this easily however because of unique abilities and cheating on 6's part puts a certain level of uncertainty in this tournament which none of the others, save the 21st had. Hit also proves to be a pretty good final opponent since his power is equal to Goku's and has some unique moves up his sleeve.

[emi_b7]

The best tournament would be a couple of days before Vegeta and Nappa come to Earth IMO. Piccolo would win but then there's a 2nd tier with 4 fighters close to each other in power and Gohan as a wild card, with Yajirobe and Jackie Chun completing the field.
Tell me you wouldn't love this draw:
-Piccolo vs Yajirobe (with Yajirobe still thinking of Piccolo as an enemy and being afraid of him for the lols)
-Gohan vs Chiaotzu (Gohan having his first fight vs a somewhat legit enemy)
-Tenshinhan vs Yamcha 2.0 (Tenshinhan goes for the right leg this time )
-Krillin vs Jackie Chun (student surpasses master)
Semi finals:
-Piccolo vs Gohan
-Tenshinhan vs Krillin
Final:
Piccolo vs whoever wins the other SF (I'm not going into the dumb Krillin-Tenshinhan debate now lol)

I dare anyone tell me this wouldn't be great. I even kept the "Yamcha always loses in the QFs" and "Chiaotzu never wins a fight" things in there

[TenshinFan]

I'd love to see a better organised one in GT. Get Uub and Piccolo in there to show off, maybe elevate Trunks to SSj3 ad Goten to at least SSj2...

Maybe one pre-DB with King Chapa, Mutaito, Granpa Gohan, Akkuman, Gyuu-Mao