Is the Budokai/Budokai Tenkaichi games bad?

[90sDBZ]

Budokai 1 still has the best 3D story mode in all of Dragon Ball games. The way the characters move and act is really detailed and it's impressive. There's no "stock animations", like in Budokai Tenkaichi/Burst Limit/Raging Blast/Xenoverse story modes.

Yes Budokai 1 still has the best cutscenes for sure. It's a shame, but many of the other games just didn't bother paying that much attention to detail, likely because they knew the games would sell well regardless.

It was always great when companies would go out of their way to make games extra special like that, not just to sell copies but for the sake of making a great product. It reminds me of the situation with Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike actually, where the previous SF3 versions had failed financially, yet they made 3rd Strike purely for the sake of making a great game.

[anubisj]

Even though I agree that the budokais story modes were the best, I still think Tenkaichi 3 captures the feel of a true dragon ball battle the best. I just feel like I´m a part of an anime scene whenever I play in a duel, especially now that I imported anime music to the game (replacing the original soundtrack).

I would love to see a Tenkaichi 4.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

As fighting games? Their awful.
If you're just playing the story mode their okay but combat is meh.

[Yuli Ban]

As fighting games? Their awful.
If you're just playing the story mode their okay but combat is meh.

Even their story modes are bad. Budokai 1 had the best presentation, but considering that was the start of the 3D Z games, that only means it was downhill from there.

Ever since I left the Sonic fandom, I've learned to never look at a licensed game/franchise solely from the perspective of a fan because what's acceptable for a franchise may actually be pisspoor for video games in general.
And that's the case for Budokai 1, overwhelmingly. I played Budokai 1 a while back, and then I returned it because it was one of the most barebones and uninteresting fighting games I'd ever played. When I say "a while back", I mean I bought it on Amazon in 2015. Then I pawned it the next year for about fifty cents. I derived no enjoyment from that game besides the Rock the Dragon intros, and to this day I have no interest in going back.
If I were a Dragon Ball Z fan in 2002, that would've been my shit. I remember seeing screens for that game in some old magazines and thinking "This looks awesome!" even though the reviews kept complaining about how there was no jump button. Just being able to turn Super Saiyan in a video game was enough to sell me on the concept. Thing is, I had also played games like Soul Calibur, Virtua Fighter, and Street Fighter 2 & 3 (Super Turbo and I don't even remember which version of SF3; probably Third Strike if the sprite work is anything to go off). Since I was a snotnosed kid, I didn't know any better and would've played Budokai just as much as any of them.

As a snotnosed adult, I can honestly say that Dragon Ball Z: Budokai is borderline shovelware compared to any of those other fighting games. Budokai 3's pretty good from a general perspective and fantastic from a DBZ fan's perspective. But there's no reason to return to Budokai 1 except for the nostalgia factor. I have nostalgia for Sonic 2006 since it was my first 7th gen game, but I'm not going to condone experiencing it except in the same vein as experiencing The Room or Ride To Hell: Retribution. I have nostalgia for an obscure PS1 game called "Fighting Force 2", and there's absolutely no reason to play it whatsoever. It's fine to have nostalgia for bad games.
Budokai 3, Infinite World, and YouTube exist, rendering Budokai 1 completely obsolete.


Budokai Tenkaichi/Sparking! is a game that was finding its root and I remember buying it over Budokai Tenkaichi 3/Sparking! Meteor because I saw it first. I still have never bought BT3 because the price for a PS2 copy was asinine. But I ought to just to have it.
I sunk hundreds of hours into BT2 and couldn't even bother to complete half of the story mode for BT1. It's not quite as big of a leap in quality as Legacy of Goku 1 to 2, but the whole feel of the game definitely improved. As a result, unless you like playing a slower, jankier game with fewer characters and fewer moves between those characters, there's not much reason to play BT1.
Even critically, Budokai Tenkaichi 2 got good scores. Just in the past month, I learned X-Play even gave it a 4/5, and I recall they spent the 2000s trashing everything related to Dragon Ball Z. I watched so much of that show back then and never knew they reviewed BT2. Just that Dragon Ball Z was basically shorthand for "bad anime games" on the show. If even they considered it a good game, it's probably worth something.


I mean, it's not like you're missing out on any important story details or losing the opportunity to play as a certain character.

[DBZAOTA482]

As fighting games? Their awful.

The first two Budokais and first Tenkaichi I can understand but Budokai 3+ and Budokai Tenkaichi 2/3 are actually pretty legit by anime fighters standards.

Not really tournament worthy but have plenty of depth and complexity to keep the semi-hardcore invested.

[WittyUsername]

As fighting games? Their awful.

The first two Budokais and first Tenkaichi I can understand but Budokai 3+ and Budokai Tenkaichi 2/3 are actually pretty legit by anime fighters standards.

Not really tournament worthy but have plenty of depth and complexity to keep the semi-hardcore invested.

The games can certainly be fun if you want to feel like you’re playing the show, but they’re not exactly deep. Budokai 3 had its moments, but for the most part, the Budokai games and especially the BT games were more fan service than anything. That’s a big part of why FighterZ was so appealing from the moment it was announced. It’s much more of a competitive fighter than what the franchise had given people in the past.

[DBZAOTA482]

As fighting games? Their awful.

The first two Budokais and first Tenkaichi I can understand but Budokai 3+ and Budokai Tenkaichi 2/3 are actually pretty legit by anime fighters standards.

Not really tournament worthy but have plenty of depth and complexity to keep the semi-hardcore invested.

The games can certainly be fun if you want to feel like you’re playing the show, but they’re not exactly deep. Budokai 3 had its moments, but for the most part, the Budokai games and especially the BT games were more fan service than anything. That’s a big part of why FighterZ was so appealing from the moment it was announced. It’s much more of a competitive fighter than what the franchise had given people in the past.

Well I did say they are good by anime fighter standards which needless to say isn't all that good in general as anime fighters are generally pretty bad. Budokai in particular could easily be adapted into a competitive esports game in this day and age considering the rushdown, mix-ups, zoning, spacing, and meter management that is already predominant in it's metagame.