Both Shin Budokais [are no longer] on PSN

[Super Sayian Prime]

Fiddled around the North American PlayStation Store recently, and noticed that DragonBall Z: Shin Budokai, and DragonBall Z: Shin Budokai Another Road were available for purchase. Both are going for $14.99. The first Shin Budokai will set you back 272MB of data, the second with 464MB.

Interesting to note, both were put on the store on September 30,2009 by Atari... DragonBall Evolution is no where to be found in the Games section.

Also, please note, this is only playable on PlayStation Portable. You can't download it on your PlayStation 3, and play it there, as you would a PlayStation game on the Store.

Update: As of June 4, 2010 both titles have been removed from the PSN. If you've purchased either title, they should still be in your download list. One could assume this is due to Atari being the publisher of the digital versions, and them no longer having rights to the franchise.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

They are doing it because of the PSP Go. Sony is transferring all of the PSP titles to digital download and releasing both UMDs and a downloadable version for newer games. It's strange that evolution isn't seeing a transfer but maybe it has to do with timing.

[Kaboom]

Oh, goody. I recently traded away my PSP-1000. Shin Budokai 2 was the only game I still owned, so it's nice to know if I ever wanna upgrade to a Go or 3000, I'll be able to easily re-purchase it.

[Kendamu]

Has anyone here played the first Shin Budokai? How is the story mode? Also, is there an Arcade Mode like the second one? I love the second one's Arcade Mode but I hate the Story Mode.

[ShadowDude112]

Has anyone here played the first Shin Budokai? How is the story mode? Also, is there an Arcade Mode like the second one? I love the second one's Arcade Mode but I hate the Story Mode.

From what I remember I'm pretty sure there's an arcade mode and I agree with you, I hated the story mode as well.

[Super Sayian Prime]

The first one's story mode follows Movie 12, and does a pretty decent job with it. A lot of filler fights to fill out the game though.

As with the other two DragonBall PSP games, it does have a arcade mode.

Also for anyone interested in playing online, all three PSP titles support the [recently released in North America] ad-hoc party application for PS3. Which allows you to play formerly local multiplayer only games online.

[Taku128]

But Atari doesn't hold the license anymore, how can these still be up?

[Kaboom]

Also for anyone interested in playing online, all three PSP titles support the [recently released in North America] ad-hoc party application for PS3. Which allows you to play formerly local multiplayer only games online.

Now THAT is intriguing. Definitely gonna have to pick up a newer PSP along with one or both of these babies eventually.

EDIT: Oh wait, you said PS3. Don't have one of those... yet.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

The first one's story mode follows Movie 12, and does a pretty decent job with it. A lot of filler fights to fill out the game though.

As with the other two DragonBall PSP games, it does have a arcade mode.

Also for anyone interested in playing online, all three PSP titles support the [recently released in North America] ad-hoc party application for PS3. Which allows you to play formerly local multiplayer only games online.

I have the PSP 1000, how would I set that up? Is it just with the new update?

[The S]

Has anyone here played the first Shin Budokai? How is the story mode? Also, is there an Arcade Mode like the second one? I love the second one's Arcade Mode but I hate the Story Mode.

Let my review do the talking:

I went into Shin Budokai not expecting much, but since I'm a fan of fighting games and DragonBall, and am pretty much a masochist when it comes to games involving the genre, I decided to pick it up alongside my PSP. Besides, it was relatively cheap.

While I wasn't exactly blown away, I was surprised at how much fun Shin Budokai is. I actually expected it to be just a shrunken down version of the PS2 games, but it's actually its own separate thing. The control is simplified immensely, but not to a point where it's merely dumbed down. The special moves are mapped to pressing the Ki attack button, plus a direction, in sort of a Smash Bros.-style. Instead of designated punches and kicks, there's two different melee attack sets that are mapped to two buttons that mix it up between punches, kicks, tail whips, et cetera. Battles sometimes still wind up being drawn out to who can launch their ki blasts off faster, but the CPU actually doesn't abuse this as much. The only major complaint I'd really have of the gameplay, though, is the fact that the computer can defend WAY too easily, while it requires Godly precision on your part. Hell, half the time I can't even tell that my attack has missed until after I realize that there is no impact, because the opponent will have moved so slightly that it still looks like the attack made its mark.

The story, instead of the same old Raditz-to-Cell or Raditz-to-Buu rubbish they repeat ad nauseam in other games, is a modified adaption of the fan favorite twelfth movie. This makes for interesting interactions by characters long-dead in the series' storyline, as it involves multiple villains returning from Hell. The additional time/space alterations that were slid into the story for this game get a little hokey, but it's overall not a bad presentation. It sure beats playing the same story for years on end like Shin Budokai's console brethren have forced on us. The writing, although at times sloppy in the grammar and spelling department, is genuinely funny and chock full of meta-references. It's better than the actual movie itself. There's also a surprising amount of profanity for an English language DragonBall game.

Shin Budokai isn't an amazing game like Super DBZ is, but it's worth having for any fans of the genre or property. It's a good timesink plowing through story or arcade mode, and it's well worth the time spent.

[Super Sayian Prime]

The first one's story mode follows Movie 12, and does a pretty decent job with it. A lot of filler fights to fill out the game though.

As with the other two DragonBall PSP games, it does have a arcade mode.

Also for anyone interested in playing online, all three PSP titles support the [recently released in North America] ad-hoc party application for PS3. Which allows you to play formerly local multiplayer only games online.

I have the PSP 1000, how would I set that up? Is it just with the new update?

You'd need a PS3 that isn't a 20GB model. First connect it to the internet via a wired connection, and go to the PlayStation Store, make sure your system software is up to date, find ahoc Party for PlayStation Portable in the store. Then download it, and follow the instructions.

It uses the PS3 as a router for the PSP, that's why the WiFi unequipped PS3 models (the 20GB) are not compatible with the service.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

You'd need a PS3 that isn't a 20GB model. First connect it to the internet via a wired connection, and go to the PlayStation Store, make sure your system software is up to date, find ahoc Party for PlayStation Portable in the store. Then download it, and follow the instructions.

It uses the PS3 as a router for the PSP, that's why the WiFi unequipped PS3 models (the 20GB) are not compatible with the service.

That's badass! (I have an 80GB so no worries)

[Super Sayian Prime]

Both titles have been removed from the PlayStation Store. If you've purchased either title, they should remain on your download list. I assume this is a rights issue between Namco Bandai and Atari.

[Taku128]

Not surprising, Atari lost the license not long after putting the games on PSN. These kinds of situations are why I'm against games going purely digital distribution. Most games are eventually going to be taken down for one reason or another, and once it's gone a game would for all intents and purposes cease to exist.

[sumpter360]

If Atari doesn't own the digital distribution rights, who does? And do you think they will ever put them back up? I really hope they do...

[Super Sayian Prime]

If Atari doesn't own the digital distribution rights, who does? And do you think they will ever put them back up? I really hope they do...

Namco Bandai should have the digital rights, unless their deal with FUNimation is as bad as their deal with Viz for Naruto is (where they don't have digital rights for their Naruto games).

[Taku128]

Atari holds the rights to any work they did on the American releases of those games though. If they wanted to release those games themselves Bandai Namco would have to re-translate and dub the games, and it's doubtful they make the money back that it would cost to re-translate and dub both titles. They could also work out some kind of deal with Atari, but I doubt they care about games that are several years old now and aren't likely to be bringing in many new sales.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Atari holds the rights to any work they did on the American releases of those games though. If they wanted to release those games themselves Bandai Namco would have to re-translate and dub the games, and it's doubtful they make the money back that it would cost to re-translate and dub both titles. They could also work out some kind of deal with Atari, but I doubt they care about games that are several years old now and aren't likely to be bringing in many new sales.

That actually shouldn't be the case, should it? Atari licensed these two games from Namco Bandai, so in theory, once Atari's rights had expired all of that lapses back to the original owner, in this case, Namco Bandai.

Didn't Atari just reuse the translation Bandai did for Final Bout all those years ago? I'd assume they licensed the translation, so I'd assume something like that would be true in this case.

[Taku128]

Atari holds the rights to any work they did on the American releases of those games though. If they wanted to release those games themselves Bandai Namco would have to re-translate and dub the games, and it's doubtful they make the money back that it would cost to re-translate and dub both titles. They could also work out some kind of deal with Atari, but I doubt they care about games that are several years old now and aren't likely to be bringing in many new sales.

That actually shouldn't be the case, should it? Atari licensed these two games from Namco Bandai, so in theory, once Atari's rights had expired all of that lapses back to the original owner, in this case, Namco Bandai.

Didn't Atari just reuse the translation Bandai did for Final Bout all those years ago? I'd assume they licensed the translation, so I'd assume something like that would be true in this case.

They licensed the games, they didn't license the translation or VO. Anything Atari did belongs to them. Final Bout isn't really the same situation because like you said, Namco Bandai holds the video game rights to the franchise. It makes sense for NB to give Atari the work they did on Final Bout because they have an investment in the situation, but Atari has nothing to gain from giving Namco Bandai the work they did on the Shin Budokai games.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Well, it wouldn't matter anyways, as Namco Bandai has a translation some where in house for the European release, no? (They did release those two in Europe, or is a hazy memory fooling me?)

I only mentioned that reasoning before because in the anime biz, if a title's rights lapse any work (subtitles, dubs, etc.) the licensee had done becomes the property of the IP owner for them to redistribute. Kind of a similar situation to Bomberman Fantasy Race on the PlayStation Network, the game was published in North America by Atlus, but their rights expired, and when Hudson (the owner of the Bomberman IP) decided to put it on the store, they used the old Atlus translation rather than making their own.