After FighterZ comes out and is a success, what will come of the Budokai series?

[DBZAOTA482]

No doubt ArcSystem's upcoming game for Dragon Ball will be highly successful... if they play their cards right, but what I fear is Budokai's significance to DBZ games might be forgotten by the community.

After a long list of low-quality DBZ games before it, Budokai was a bit of revelation when it first came out in 2002... not for being a great fighting game that could compete with the likes of Virtua Fighter or even Soul Calibur but the first DBZ game in recent memory that wasn't a complete failure. The combat while limited was fast-paced and fairly close to the action depicted in the anime, the story mode made you really feel like you were immersed into the show itself, and there was bells n' whistles everywhere. It was like a love-letters to fans in top of being a competent fighter.

It's sequel Budokai 2 did improve several things (namely the graphics) but it wasn't till Budokai 3 where Dimps really started to step up their game. The game was a massive improvement from it's predecessors with the combat being greatly fleshed out, a story mode with far more longevity and replay value, gorgeous (for the time) cel-shaded graphics, and the spectacles was taken to a whole another level. It received accolades from gamers and critics alike... even by those otherwise disinterested in Dragon Ball. It also developed a small but devoted competitive following.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxUcXiNEzu4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78r2x7pCZ-8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AvuzucycDo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnBmqy8-VxE
http://wiki.shoryuken.com/Dragon_Ball_Z:_Budokai_3

However, ever since FighterZ's announcement the community has been more vitriolic of the 3D games and Budokai is not safe from them.

Now what do y'all think? Will Budokai still be seen as the series that revolutionized DBZ games or would it eventually go down as being just another "shallow DBZ stimulator" that the masses eat up? I would hate for that to happen.

[VegettoEX]

I see this as a huge "nothing" sort of situation.

The most competitive of the players will move from Super Dragon Ball Z (if they're still playing it at all; they were never stuck on Budokai 3 in the first place) to FighterZ, and everyone will still have their nostalgia for what they liked at any given point in time, be it Super Dragon Ball Z or DBZ / Budokai 3 or Sparking! METEOR / Budokai Tenkaichi 3 or anything in between.

There's really nothing to say here based on what you're proposing.

[Nickolaidas]

Budokai will be remembered in the US audience as the first DBZ game which wasn't flat out horrendous.

FighterZ will be remembered in the US audience as the first TRUE, solid DB fighting game.

And seriously OP, why do you talk like the Budokai series has any sort of relevance today?

[The S]

Yeah outside of the HD collection, the last Budokai came out 16 bloody years ago. I'm really not sure what you're going for, here.

[ShadowBardock89]

Infinite World was the send off to the series (though there was the HD Collection, but I digress).
There is nothing for the series to become of as it has been done since 2008.

[emperior]

If FighterZ is a success, I hope Dimps will consider finishing Xenoverse as a trilogy with XV3, and then start development for a spiritual successor to Budokai 3/IW with Xenoverse's customization and RPG-like features but 2.5D gameplay. Considering they probably wouldn't be using FighterZ's models, that could be the occasion for Dimps to make a semi-competitive game with tons of characters and a fast 2.5D gameplay similar to Burst Limit/Shin Budokai 2.
Hopefully they will at least improve Xenoverse 3 graphics, because I can't see many people liking its look after Fighter Z if it keeps XV2 style.

[DBZAOTA482]

Budokai will be remembered in the US audience as the first DBZ game which wasn't flat out horrendous.

FighterZ will be remembered in the US audience as the first TRUE, solid DB fighting game.

And seriously OP, why do you talk like the Budokai series has any sort of relevance today?

The FighterZ community are trying to be enemies with the Budokai community for some reason. They keep lumping them together with the Xenoverse community (despite having little in common) claiming how they would hate FighterZ because it requires "skill" and generally rubbing the games' name in the mud.

[Nickolaidas]

... there's a Budokai community?

Like, today?

[ShadowBardock89]

If anyone was thinking the HD Collection might have reignited interest in reviving the series, they have been sadly mistaken.
Dimps has moved on since then.

[bleed0range]

Budokai was great but it’s been over as a series for over 15 years. Fighterz has no real effect on that franchise other than probably ensuring that it has no place to be revived since Fighterz bests it in every way as a traditional fighter. But even so, the “Budokai” name as it related to say Budokai 3 died before the actual gameplay did as Burst Limit came out and was basically a sequel to Budokai in HD. So even if a game like that came out they probably wouldn’t even use the Budokai name anymore.

[Nickolaidas]

Budokai will be remembered in the US audience as the first DBZ game which wasn't flat out horrendous.

FighterZ will be remembered in the US audience as the first TRUE, solid DB fighting game.

And seriously OP, why do you talk like the Budokai series has any sort of relevance today?

The FighterZ community are trying to be enemies with the Budokai community for some reason. They keep lumping them together with the Xenoverse community (despite having little in common) claiming how they would hate FighterZ because it requires "skill" and generally rubbing the games' name in the mud.

Ah, how little things change. Remember where ten years ago, it was the Budokai fans vs the Sparking! fans?

Now it's FighterZ fans vs Xenoverse fans. *sigh*


As for the 'skill' part, I'd really like to see a pro Xenoverse player play against a mediocre Xenoverse player, and see how he will fare when compared to a pro FighterZ player vs a mediocre FighterZ player.