A New Dragon Ball Game will be announced on January 25, 2026

[The Dark Knight]

Someone made a waterfall shitshow of business and management decisions with this game and went with "it looks nice and it's playable, let's release it ASAP and fans will eat it because it's dragon ball". Wouldn't be surprised, if the developers would come out and say, well, we knew it's crap, but we had to release it anyway, because stupid executive pressures and quick cash grab. But that only happens in the west, where people are more vocal and open about such things.

The game was in development for 4 years, so it wasn't a lack of time from Bandai, but rather a lack of understanding of what makes a good game by Spike. The developers put all their eggs in the character roster and neglected pretty much every other aspect of the game. A smaller roster would've resulted in tighter gameplay, a more polished story mode, and likely other game modes from the previous Tenkaichi games making their way in. This game's base roster should've focused exclusively on the "Z" part of the franchise (both series and movies), as that would've kept the base roster at around 100 characters, with DLC bringing over characters from DB & GT. Once you've got that solid foundation set in place, then you can proceed with Super and Daima in the sequel, which would make up nearly as many characters as the classic trilogy combined. This is basically what Bandai did with the Naruto series when they made the switch from the PS2 to the PS3 era of games.

[PhantomSaiyan]

Yeah I have no idea why anyone is even taking the Budokai 4 idea seriously, like it has any chance of happening

Did a Tenkaichi 4 have any chance of happening prior to 2023 ?

More than Budokai for sure, yeah.

Budokai being 2d holds it back significantly because we already have a 2d game in Fighterz, and you're not gonna get better than that with a new Budokai, it's just gonna end up as an inferior game, and Bandai sure as hell knows it.

Meanwhile the Budokai Tenkaichi formula is not only different enough that it has its own niche in DB games, it's also the most beloved style of fighting for a Dragon Ball game for the majority of fans, and it doesn't have strong competition like Budokai has with Fighterz.

So yeah, a Tenkaichi 4 was ALWAYS gonna be more likely then a new Budokai game, because a 2d fighting game that doesn't hold a candle to Fighterz will not be financially profitable in 2026.

[Mr Baggins]

Meanwhile Kakarot and Sparking Zero both have lackluster ones.
Kakarot tried making new variations of Anime BGMs, but they're rearranged in such a boring way, especially when you listen to Raging Blast's Japanese OSTs and hear how well they were rearranged there.

SZ's OST is an interesting one for me because while some of the main themes are forgettable as hell, so many of those optional/less-played ones you can buy via the in-game shop are incredible. Monk-in-Training? Hope for the Future? Awakened Child? Nothing to Lose? Slapstick Heroes? That shit slaps, son!

But yeah, Kakarot's soundtrack (especially during the cutscenes) is dogwater. Mimicking Kikuchi at this point is so far beyond rote and played out. Do something original, and consider including some emotionally resonant leitmotifs for once.

[The Dark Knight]

Budokai being 2d holds it back significantly because we already have a 2d game in Fighterz, and you're not gonna get better than that with a new Budokai, it's just gonna end up as an inferior game, and Bandai sure as hell knows it.

If we're getting a FighterZ 2, then I agree that a Budokai 4 will come of as kind of pointless, even though I think there's enough differences between them to justify a 4th game in that series.

[JulieYBM]

In between Dynasty Warriors Dragon Ball happens before sequels to other game series

FighterZ would be huge, though. The character reveal trailers for the first game always had the most hype reveals at events.

[budokaifanatic007]

Yeah I have no idea why anyone is even taking the Budokai 4 idea seriously, like it has any chance of happening

Did a Tenkaichi 4 have any chance of happening prior to 2023 ?

More than Budokai for sure, yeah.

Budokai being 2d holds it back significantly because we already have a 2d game in Fighterz, and you're not gonna get better than that with a new Budokai, it's just gonna end up as an inferior game, and Bandai sure as hell knows it.

Meanwhile the Budokai Tenkaichi formula is not only different enough that it has its own niche in DB games, it's also the most beloved style of fighting for a Dragon Ball game for the majority of fans, and it doesn't have strong competition like Budokai has with Fighterz.

So yeah, a Tenkaichi 4 was ALWAYS gonna be more likely then a new Budokai game, because a 2d fighting game that doesn't hold a candle to Fighterz will not be financially profitable in 2026.

I hope you’re wrong come Saturday:)

[funrush]

Budokai and Fighterz overlapping is not really a problem IMO. Fighterz is kind of a dying game at this point. They'll update it every few years and they're throwing in Daima Goku soon, but that happened basically out of nowhere.

Plus there are fewer similarities between these two than say, Xenoverse and Tenkaichi, which are both still running right now. Fighterz is a 2D fighting game based on MvC/Guilty Gear while Budokai is a 2.5D game because it's got the sidestepping mechanics, seems to be based on Tekken. Budokai's got straight up 3D graphics, Fighterz tries to emulate 2D graphics using 3D models.

[PhantomSaiyan]

I hope you’re wrong come Saturday:)

I hope I am too, I just don't have a lot of faith in it, but I'd be pleasantly surprised and happy to be wrong if it happens

[MCDaveG]

Someone made a waterfall shitshow of business and management decisions with this game and went with "it looks nice and it's playable, let's release it ASAP and fans will eat it because it's dragon ball". Wouldn't be surprised, if the developers would come out and say, well, we knew it's crap, but we had to release it anyway, because stupid executive pressures and quick cash grab. But that only happens in the west, where people are more vocal and open about such things.

The game was in development for 4 years, so it wasn't a lack of time from Bandai, but rather a lack of understanding of what makes a good game by Spike. The developers put all their eggs in the character roster and neglected pretty much every other aspect of the game. A smaller roster would've resulted in tighter gameplay, a more polished story mode, and likely other game modes from the previous Tenkaichi games making their way in. This game's base roster should've focused exclusively on the "Z" part of the franchise (both series and movies), as that would've kept the base roster at around 100 characters, with DLC bringing over characters from DB & GT. Once you've got that solid foundation set in place, then you can proceed with Super and Daima in the sequel, which would make up nearly as many characters as the classic trilogy combined. This is basically what Bandai did with the Naruto series when they made the switch from the PS2 to the PS3 era of games.

Thanks for the update… OK, so this took 4 years to deliver?!
Holy Dende!

[budokaifanatic007]

I hope you’re wrong come Saturday:)

I hope I am too, I just don't have a lot of faith in it, but I'd be pleasantly surprised and happy to be wrong if it happens

Yea ultimately I’ll be satisfied with whatever gets revealed as long as it has some soul like the older games.

[Bardock God of Time]

I'd be cool with some sort of HD Collection of Dragon Ball games.

A new Budokai HD Collection that includes Budokai 1-3, Infinite World and Burst Limit.

They can use Xenoverse's soundtracks for Budokai, I think the OG HD Collection had horrible replacements.

---

What else can they do? A Dragon Ball collectathon game?

There are many genres besides fighting.

[90sDBZ]

I'd love it to be either a new Budokai game or even a collection of the old ones.

Whenever people talk about the best games in the franchise, Budokai 3 is often still mentioned alongside BT3 and FighterZ. There's absolutely an audience for it, and it would obviously have the power of nostalgia going for it.

FighterZ is the game for the hardcore FGC crowd. While the later Budokai games had hidden depth to them, they've always appealed to the casual audience because they're easy to pick up and play.

All the Budokai games also hold up as a fun single player experience, with tons of unlockables and replayability of the story modes. A new entry absolutely needs to lean into that.

FighterZ is a great competitive fighting game, but is sorely lacking as a single player experience. The story is brain dead easy and repetitive to play through, and offers zero incentive to revisit.

If the game revealed on Sunday isn't Budokai related, then I guess a BT/Sparking HD collection would be the next best thing. Considering how highly regarded BT2 and BT3 are, it's a real shame they've never had a re-release of any kind. I'm a bigger fan of Budokai, but a BT collection would also be something I could get excited for.

[Mr Baggins]

I don't see it being mentioned here, but Bandai Namco recently registered a trademark called WORLD FIGHTERS.

Sounds pretty DB-ish, I dunno. Could be The Mystery Game™ or something completely unrelated.

[budokaifanatic007]

I don't see it being mentioned here, but Bandai Namco recently registered a trademark called WORLD FIGHTERS.

Sounds pretty DB-ish, I dunno. Could be The Mystery Game™ or something completely unrelated.

Dragonball-Z Budokai:World Fighters


No but seriously, I think this may turn into the CC2 game that is to be announced in February.

[funrush]

I'd love it to be either a new Budokai game or even a collection of the old ones.

Whenever people talk about the best games in the franchise, Budokai 3 is often still mentioned alongside BT3 and FighterZ. There's absolutely an audience for it, and it would obviously have the power of nostalgia going for it.

FighterZ is the game for the hardcore FGC crowd. While the later Budokai games had hidden depth to them, they've always appealed to the casual audience because they're easy to pick up and play.

All the Budokai games also hold up as a fun single player experience, with tons of unlockables and replayability of the story modes. A new entry absolutely needs to lean into that.

FighterZ is a great competitive fighting game, but is sorely lacking as a single player experience. The story is brain dead easy and repetitive to play through, and offers zero incentive to revisit.

If the game revealed on Sunday isn't Budokai related, then I guess a BT/Sparking HD collection would be the next best thing. Considering how highly regarded BT2 and BT3 are, it's a real shame they've never had a re-release of any kind. I'm a bigger fan of Budokai, but a BT collection would also be something I could get excited for.

I went through Budokai 1's story mode with my brother a few years ago and to this day it is probably still my favorite story mode in a Dragon Ball fighting game. Lots of awesome nostalgia and the graphics were awesome at the time and still don't look half bad 20+ years down the road. If there is a Budokai 4 I would love to see them do a direct sequel to Budokai 1's story mode, with Buu/Daima/Super/GT/EoZ. Unfortunately the graphics would probably be a whole different style and Yamamoto's out of the picture so the "vibe" might be gone. I miss Yamamoto.... he may be a thief but he had the bangers.....

The actual plot parts of Fighterz weren't terrible but it was pretty much just fighting a bunch of random teams. I liked seeing the little interactions between the characters but that was basically the main appeal of it. Pretty graphics.

Sparking Zero gets dunked on a lot but at the end of the day it seems like it's exactly what the devs set out to make. An oldschool Tenkaichi game with a zillion characters. And it sold like hotcakes. Does the online not work very well anytime I try to play it? Yes! Is the gameplay shallow? Yes! Is there a reason to play it every day? No! And I'm pretty much okay with all 3 of those things. I think the fighting game community is very used to fighting games with a great online scene and lots of live service content to keep you tuning in, but this is not one of those games. This is a "You beat it and you're done unless you want to test out some different combinations of characters against each other in couch vs." and as long as they keep adding more and more characters it will be very good at being that thing.

Not to say it shouldn't be better. It should have better online, they should add more stages, they should add more what if scenarios. I have yet to be in a situation where I've wanted to play this game online vs. a specific person but they should make it simple and as lag-free as they can get it. Get the online responsive and add a zillion more characters.

I don't see it being mentioned here, but Bandai Namco recently registered a trademark called WORLD FIGHTERS.

Sounds pretty DB-ish, I dunno. Could be The Mystery Game™ or something completely unrelated.

Dragonball-Z Budokai:World Fighters


No but seriously, I think this may turn into the CC2 game that is to be announced in February.

And the Budokai Tenkaichi is referred to as the World Tournament in the dub.

[WittyUsername]

Budokai and Fighterz overlapping is not really a problem IMO. Fighterz is kind of a dying game at this point. They'll update it every few years and they're throwing in Daima Goku soon, but that happened basically out of nowhere.

Plus there are fewer similarities between these two than say, Xenoverse and Tenkaichi, which are both still running right now. Fighterz is a 2D fighting game based on MvC/Guilty Gear while Budokai is a 2.5D game because it's got the sidestepping mechanics, seems to be based on Tekken. Budokai's got straight up 3D graphics, Fighterz tries to emulate 2D graphics using 3D models.

The Xenoverse games are extremely simplistic in terms of combat, though. They function more as MMO games than fighting games. I’m certainly not saying that the Budokai style offers nothing different from FighterZ, but whatever appeal it might have just seems too niche at this point.

[MCDaveG]

I'd rather not have Budokai, or I wouldn't mind re-releasing "remasters" again for current gen. Many games, like Jedi Power Battles or Bounty Hunter from SW franchise, did upgrades to gameplay, tweaks and quality of life improvements to slightly improve on the past.
This is mainly thanks to Sparking!Zero. I did love the OG Sparking Series, I did play hours upon hours of Infinite World as it came out (crazy to think back to those times), but I don't wanna get hyped up for a nostalgia revival, only to be left with broken promises and sour taste afterwards.

On the other hand, Budokai, if kept in the constraints of limited but highly customizable roster, might be more feasible to revive, as they could focus more on actual gameplay and story/modes content. And if it is Dimps, they have great track record, except for Xenoverse, that for some reason plays like shit. IMHO, I don't think that Dimps can do good arena fighters, but based on their work on Street Fighter or Budokai titles, I am less afraid.

[mecha3000]

It’s nice to see that the BT4 movement refuses to die. It’s always cool to see fans doing better job and with better care, than official releases… on their own on their free time, but it also brings in some fresh talent into industry at times.

I see the BT4 popping up quite frequently among community and with the state of Sparking!Zero, I am not surprised.

Unless they will do some groundbreaking updates, they should rather kill and abandon SZ and focus on something else, as the game is running joke and meme material, mostly on reddit. I can’t see it being salvaged in realistic a doable way from studio’s point of view and if some of the costumes and few accesories come in, it will be late, as the interest is pretty much gone for a long time already.

It's funny how when Sparking Zero was first announced, people were mocking Team BT4 and saying their version was now obsolete. But now, it's the other way around. I was always supporting both until Zero came out and was pretty disappointing. When I play Zero, I just feel empty. It just feels like corporate trash and a cheap way of using nostalgia to sell a game. It doesn't even feel like a Sparking game to me. The music sucks for the most part, the UI sucks, the story mode is lackluster. I could go on. The only way to save the Sparking brand at this point is to make a sequel called "Sparking! NEXUS" or something that is the Tenkaichi 2/3 of the Sparking Zero era.

As for the game announced this weekend, I'm going to take a guess that it's a completely new game not related to anything. Apparently, Xenoverse 3 is still far off and maybe they want to wait until the Super anime returns and reaches the Moro/Granolah arcs by 2028 (when XV3 is rumored for release). Assuming the anime is the rumored DBS remake, of course.

[MCDaveG]

It’s nice to see that the BT4 movement refuses to die. It’s always cool to see fans doing better job and with better care, than official releases… on their own on their free time, but it also brings in some fresh talent into industry at times.

I see the BT4 popping up quite frequently among community and with the state of Sparking!Zero, I am not surprised.

Unless they will do some groundbreaking updates, they should rather kill and abandon SZ and focus on something else, as the game is running joke and meme material, mostly on reddit. I can’t see it being salvaged in realistic a doable way from studio’s point of view and if some of the costumes and few accesories come in, it will be late, as the interest is pretty much gone for a long time already.

It's funny how when Sparking Zero was first announced, people were mocking Team BT4 and saying their version was now obsolete. But now, it's the other way around. I was always supporting both until Zero came out and was pretty disappointing. When I play Zero, I just feel empty. It just feels like corporate trash and a cheap way of using nostalgia to sell a game. It doesn't even feel like a Sparking game to me. The music sucks for the most part, the UI sucks, the story mode is lackluster. I could go on. The only way to save the Sparking brand at this point is to make a sequel called "Sparking! NEXUS" or something that is the Tenkaichi 2/3 of the Sparking Zero era.

As for the game announced this weekend, I'm going to take a guess that it's a completely new game not related to anything. Apparently, Xenoverse 3 is still far off and maybe they want to wait until the Super anime returns and reaches the Moro/Granolah arcs by 2028 (when XV3 is rumored for release). Assuming the anime is the rumored DBS remake, of course.

I dunno, I had different experience. On european Bandai channels, people were always shouting for BT4 and the modders had quite a cult following. Sure, it winded down a bit when they announced Zero, but all the Zero lacked the team was praised for even more.

I also believe it won't be Kakarot sequel (does make the least sense) or Xenoverse 3 (The Future episodes are still far from over, if the promised 6 in total are still a thing.).
There were also rumors of an RPG game, but I wonder how that would be different from Kakarot for example, which is RPG kind of or XV that is basically MMO type of game with RPG elements.
I wonder, if those card games might still be a thing as well, probably not, but almost every DB game from NES up to Supersonic Warriors on Game Boy were this kind of RPG played through cards and it felt like a huge trend back then beside 2D fighters.

[Xeogran]

but almost every DB game from NES up to Supersonic Warriors on Game Boy were this kind of RPG played through cards and it felt like a huge trend back then beside 2D fighters.

Legendary Super Warriors*
Supersonic Warriors was a fighting game