Budokai 3 turns 20 this year

[90sDBZ]

Thought I'd make this topic now, as the game got its first trailer at E3 in summer 2004.

https://youtu.be/xWPH8bUpFVY?feature=shared

Its been my favourite DBZ game since it came out, I've sung its praises many times on here, and soon it'll be 20.

The hype I felt for this game was unlike anything I'd felt before, as I'd only just got internet access in summer 04, so it was my first time following an upcoming game online.

I'd played the first 2 games religiously, and everything I read and saw online for Budokai 3 indicated it would be on a whole other level. GT and movie characters, teleportation, dodging, free flight, and a story mode that let you fly around the earth. I would go online everyday after school, hoping there would be new screenshots/info.

There were all sorts of rumours going around about the roster, some of which was true and others not. There was even the infamous fake image of Golden Oozaru fighting Cooler, which looked pretty genuine at the time. Even after the game had been out for several months, the fake rumours would persist. I distinctly remember some guy on a forum swearing up and down that Baby was in the game, and could be unlocked by fulfilling certain conditions in Goku's Dragon Universe.

Speaking of Dragon Universe, I had a blast with it. Flying around the world with the plagiarised Kenji Yamamoto BGM felt incredible. Being able to unlock certain characters on a 2nd playthrough gave it replay value, and also gave the game a certain mystique.

You could unlock the likes of SS4 Goku and Broly by flying to the right areas at the right times for example. This is part of the reason why false rumours of characters like Baby and Janemba being in the game felt plausible. Like you could find them if only you could fulfill a bunch of extremely specific criteria. The internet was different back then. These days all the info on a game is readily available before it even drops, and fake rumours are quickly debunked.

Budokai 3 may not have the depth of FighterZ, nor the roster of Tenkaichi, but it is a happy medium for many people. It's easy to pick up and play, provides a fun and rich single player experience, and also has a surprising amount of depth with its cancel combo system.

Happy 20th anniversary to my favourite game in this franchise.

[budokaifanatic007]

Well said, I remember playing Budokai 3 back in 04/05 when it first came out. With the reboot of the Sparking! series, its only a matter of time before we get a Budokai reboot or HD collection port. IMO I think Sparking Zero is a test to see if these old games if given a fresh take, will actually sell and be received well. A new Budokai could fill in the gaps that all the other Series lack.

Also for funzsies, "Budokai4.com" is registered by Bandai Namco LOL: https://whois.gandi.net/en/results?search=budokai4.com

[Xeogran]

Happy 20th Anniversary!

There is so much to talk about when it comes to Budokai 3, it's actually insane. First of all, The Opening is still top of the top
So good that it's main fight (Gogeta vs Broly) made it into one of this franchise's most popular movies.

I also love the Dragon Universe atmosphere (IMO no other game {maybe other than LoG2/Buu's Fury} managed to replicate this feel that well). There's lots of hidden what-if scenarios when you go off the road, which increases this game's replayability a hundredfold.

When I found out the passwords for King Piccolo, Long Hair Trunks and Goku with Halo, inputted them and they worked, I was absolutely amazed!
An entire set of 3 new costumes out of nowhere! (Though I recall it only worked for the Collector's Edition, which was a full game compared to the initial release.)

B3 has such a lively atmosphere, great soundtrack and superb cinematic finishes. There's also so many secret storylines found inside of the game's files, ones that I gotta say aren't discussed enough. I only wish we could have gotten the Ultimate Edition of Budokai 3 with all of this implemented in the game, but oh well.

On a side note, I really like the Hoverchair Frieza model which is also hidden in the files. Back in the day I've always wanted to make it playable at any cost, and bought like 3 different Action Replay/Codebreaker/Gameshark PS2 addons for it

[90sDBZ]

Well said, I remember playing Budokai 3 back in 04/05 when it first came out. With the reboot of the Sparking! series, its only a matter of time before we get a Budokai reboot or HD collection port. IMO I think Sparking Zero is a test to see if these old games if given a fresh take, will actually sell and be received well. A new Budokai could fill in the gaps that all the other Series lack.

Also for funzsies, "Budokai4.com" is registered by Bandai Namco LOL: https://whois.gandi.net/en/results?search=budokai4.com

I really hope it happens too. For a long time the idea of a new Sparking game seemed extremely unlikely, but here we are. If that series can make a comeback after so many years, there may be hope for Budokai yet.

Even another collection would be a great start. This time they could include Budokai 2, Infinite World, and maybe even the Shin Budokai games.

There's also so many secret storylines found inside of the game's files, ones that I gotta say aren't discussed enough. I only wish we could have gotten the Ultimate Edition of Budokai 3 with all of this implemented in the game, but oh well.

Yeah I remember a few of these. There was one with SS4 Goku talking to 17, implying Super 17 was planned to be in. And there was that scrapped storyline of Kid Goku travelling to the Z era in Trunks' time machine. And another with Future Trunks encountering Broly in his timeline, and going back to warn the others about him.

The way some of the alternate story paths play out is interesting. Like when Goku ditches the Kid Buu fight to go deal with Broly instead, it makes you wonder how Vegeta handles Kid Buu.

[FPSSJ4_Goku]

As someone who was more of a Tenkaichi and Xenoverse guy - I only ever played Budokai 1, a bit of Budokai 3 on the Steam Deck, and a lot of Shin Budokai 1 - I think it's only right that we play Budokai 3 on the 20th anniversary of its release, in its honor. I play Budokai 3 on my Steam Deck since my PC's weak as hell and I don't own a PS2 or a thicc PS3, and I'll admit, it's harder than I thought it'd be!

[Vhanos]

I played it when Budokai 3 came out back then. So it's 20 years now?

[Hellspawn28]

I remember the hype for the game and following it very closey on the web. You had a lot of fan sites reporting fake info on what the roster was going to be. With characters like King Vegeta and Hirudegarn being reported on the main roster. There was the good fake image of Golden Oozaru which fooled a lot of people for a day or two.

[budokaifanatic007]

Budokai 3 released in 2005 in Japan so lets see if they acknowledge it next year.

[Kokos]

It had its first release this week on the 16th of November, happy birthday to the game!

I didn't follow the hype of the game back then, it wasn't something I did. I just bought whatever looked cool, got a good score on magazines and that had previous games I liked. I only vaguely remember an ad showing Piccolo's Destructive Wave & Vegeta's Galick Gun beam struggling and thinking it was awesome. I ended up getting the game as a gift for good grades back then, during the Christmas season.

Some memories I have, no real order:

• SSJ Gogeta vs Gotenks on higher difficulty levels in Dragon Universe. No fusion time limit so infinite Ki, infinite Hyper Mode, absolutely mental! Gotenks teleports everything and does so much damage if he hits you. I ended up beating him by winning his Ultimate Minigame every time, pure cheese!

• I remember thinking it played and controlled so much better compared to Budokai 2, it felt so much more fluid. Those capsule physical skills from the predecessors were gone, but I didn't miss them

• Exploring in Dragon Universe, not so much the items you found because I never used them, but the dialogues here and there and potential side stories, it was cool!

• SSJ Goku vs 100% Frieza on Destroyed Namek with Evil Power playing, so epic!

• On that note, using an planet destroying ultimate, watching the cutscene, seeing the explosion and then have Evil Power or Night of Tempest playing. The soundtrack added a lot to the game

• Unlocking SSJ4 Goku without using a guide, trying him out and seeing 10x Kamehameha do so much more damage compared to the other Kamehameha

• Nappa got an ultimate here and it was unexpectedly awesome, it's two attacks from the series in one ultimate, which one you got depended on who won the minigame. It also had this badass line. "He's still alive, now that's what I want to seeeeeeeee!"

• Having friends and family come over, seeing them not vibe with Tenkaichi at all (mostly in terms of learning the controls) and wanting to play Budokai 3 instead. The game was really accessible

• The thicker auras, they looked really good. Kaioken looked great in the game too, made me excited to use this form instead of seeing it as just a stepping stone to the SSJ forms

• Trying to beat Z3 difficulty, thinking Yamcha would be the easiest way to do that since he has few fights, only to get crushed by Dr Gero

Budokai 3 may not have the depth of FighterZ, nor the roster of Tenkaichi, but it is a happy medium for many people. It's easy to pick up and play, provides a fun and rich single player experience, and also has a surprising amount of depth with its cancel combo system.

I think that's a great summary of the game. I'd add that it has a cool soundtrack and the game does a good job creating a fun atmosphere. It's a nice total package, that's perhaps what I like the most about the game.
I still watch some Budokai content too occasionally, I don't play the games myself but it's interesting to see people get so much out of the systems of this game and the other Budokai games after.

Even though I have different tastes, I still had a good time, I respect this game for what it did well and how it raised the bar for DB console games!

So yeah, happy birthday to Budokai 3!