Anyone who's a DBZ fan should know that by reading this editorial, 4 DBZ games have been released on the Playstation 2, all rated "T" for teen, and all brought to the United States by Atari. I personally, from a collector's perspective, am proud to say I have ALL 4 DBZ games for the PS2 thus far (all the American released versions). Those games are what I, the humble SSJ Conan, have come here to review. The games are as follows:

Dragonball Z Budokai
Dragonball Z Budokai 2
Dragonball Z Budokai 3
Dragonball Z Sagas


BUDOKAI:
Let's start from the beginning, that'd of course be Budokai 1. In December of 2002, the first ever major platform DBZ game since the rare "Dragonball GT Final Bout" was released. For myself, I had actually waited out buying it and eventually did so when the price went down at the "red 'Greatest Hits' label". Budokai 1 had surprised me as being quite a fun and yet quite repetitive game at the same time. It used 3D polygonal graphics for the fighters, and this just looked awesome in the "Story Mode" cut-scenes, which all had to take a long time for "Dimps" (the designer company for the game) to finish. The "Story Mode" cut-scenes were simply amazing, when not fighting it was like watching a 3D recreation of the Saiyan - Cell Games sagas. Budokai 1 had also received a fair number of 23 characters from DBZ, from Raditz to Great Saiyaman, the designs were quite impressive for the time the game was released. A couple major downfalls to the game are outside each character's few death moves, they're all basic clones of each other mechanics-wise. Combine that with the fact that the "Story Mode" can get pretty old kinda fast after a few times playing through it (and this includes the unlocked chapters as well), it just gets very repetitive despite the awesome beauty of the cut-scenes. Other modes in the game included a pretty sweet "World Tournament" mode, a handy "Practice" mode, and of course the "Dueling" mode in which you can battle the Computer, or even duel it out with a friend in a 1P Vs. 2P fight. The arenas are all destructible and can be turned into a wasteland with the right ultimate move, and just wait till you play the unlockable "Legend of Hercule" mode. The "LoH" is quite hard to beat, and I honestly only beat it once out of a fair number of attempts. Other than all of that, I'd say 4 Toei executives supervising the game dubbing turned out to be most satisfying, unfortunately for whatever reason it was decided to replace "CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA" with an extended version of "Rock the Dragon" *ugh*. I'm pretty sure I've said what needs to be said about Budokai 1, and with that, it's time to move on...

BUDOKAI 2:
Huge improvement and also huge downgrade from the previous game. Released in December of 2003, Budokai 2 was a release very hyped up due to the excitement of the last Budokai. Now with 29 fighters, and including the aspects of fusion and absorptions, it's no doubt proved to have a fine amount of new things to enjoy. The graphics are now cell-shaded and thus, IMO, look a lot better since it's more anime of the features. All of the "Ultimate Death" moves have been revamped, and we've gotten some interesting new characters to say the least. The new story mode of this game is entitled "Dragon World" in which the player as Goku picks a partner or two and explore a 2D game board world to collect dragonballs, unlockable capsules, and zeni while still on the quest of defeating the enemies. The story mode has been DRAMATICALLY changed from the show as we know it, for example, you're capable of using Adult Gohan, Videl, Goten, and Chibi Trunks in the Saiyan - Cell sagas when originally none of them had existed at those times in the show. Also, Vegeta apparently meets Goku and the gang for the first time on Namek rather than Earth, and the Ginyu Force and Frieza actually come to Earth before the battle on Namek. Other changes include Dr. Gero creating Power Ranger-like Saibamen, Cell never creating his tournament, and Babidi bringing Cell and Frieza back to life. I'd say the ONLY sagas that could be considered truly accurate would be the Super Buu and Kid Buu boards. Other than the original badly accurate "Dragon World", the "Dueling", "World Tournament", and "Practice" modes make returns from Budokai 1, and the Practice mode contains quite a cool training section where you play out a mini-story mode of Goten. Capping off the playable options in Budokai 2 is the "Babidi's Spaceship" in which a player can have a lot of fun playing with a friend, but can get eventually repetitive playing the Computer in there. The FUNi VAs come back to show feature their "talents", which on the whole isn't much more impressive than Budokai 1 had been. Other than all of that, the characters are still just about clones of each other mechanics-wise, so their graphics and Ultimate Moves are basically some of the very few eye catchers for them. Other than mentioning the FANTASTIC digitally animated opening to the game, I move on...

BUDOKAI 3:
Incredible, just...incredible. Released on November 16th 2004, I'd say this game does a SUPERB job of taking all of the positives from Budokais 1 and 2, adding its own even better positives, and just comes up with the absolute BEST Dragonball game of all time, period. 38 characters, 5 fusions, improved cell-shaded graphics, and I'm not just blowing smoke. The graphics here really are truly breath taking, the auras are done to perfection while 16 3D arenas are suited to the fighters' battle needs. The all new digital animation opening is just slightly better than Budokai 2's, but only because of the awesome video quality of it. Moving forward, the all new story mode, "Dragon Universe", has left me with two words; AW YEAH! In "Dragon Universe", you can play out as 11 of the 38 Budokai 3 characters, all with their own unique story mode. The selectable characters are as follows: Goku, Kid Gohan, Teen Gohan, Gohan, Vegeta, Krillin, Piccolo, Tien, Yamcha, Uub, and Broly! The accuracy stays amazingly close with the original anime series, MUCH better than Budokai 2 had even tried to. You get a map and are capable of an extremely sweet free flight across the entire planets of Earth and Namek. I must admit, the designers did a A+ job on detailing each and every area of the Dragonball/Z world. From Grandpa Gohan's house to Mr. Buu's place, almost EVERY single place from the manga and anime of original Dragonball and DBZ is shown. Along the way, you can find dragonballs (to make a wish from Shenron at the end of the mode), zeni (to buy skills), and of course unlockable capsules. It gets even better with the story, however since it uses still-images with voice-overs and SFX for the cut-scenes, people whom don't know much about DBZ may get lost in the story. With each character, you can end their own story at least 2-3 different ways, and Goku's 4, and alternate stories you wouldn't believe involving the movies and DBGT can tie in awesomely if finding the right spot in free flight, would you believe you can kill EVERY single member of Goku's family in Broly's mode (even a certain loud wife)? In any case, there's also many more awesome playable aspects of this game. There's also a "Bonus" subsection in "Dragon Universe" that allows the player to check out voice archives of the VAs (English only), and even the Japanese version of Budokai 2's animation intro. Moving into the fighting aspects, there's also the returning "Dueling" mode, "World Tournament" mode (now with a Cell Games rule!), and of course the nifty "Practice" mode (which has a very nicely improved Training Mode that can teach any new players how to play the game). The final addition is the unlockable "Dragon Arena", in which you continue the leveling-up process set up by Dragon Universe's RPGish elemented style, and it seriously can be fun though also get tiresome on the quest for a 100% game capsules, though a cool aspect of DA is that you can upload your fighter to the Internet via game password and then get passwords from other players online and play their fighter. And just in case anyone isn't aware, I got a 100%!!!!!!! One last thing, for anyone whom doesn't know, you CAN fly in fighting simply by tapping back-back on the D-pad to dash and pressing up will make you go up, up and away, now, moving on...

SAGAS:
A purely made game in America, and by a new developing company (Avalanche), this release apparently is the FIRST action/adventure game to be released (despite Budokai 3 having plenty of action and adventure in it's "Dragon Universe" mode). Released in March 2005, this game highlights the Raditz through Cell arcs, and is sometimes impressive while MOST of the time disappointing. To say this game has a few flaws would be a HUGE understatement, but it certainly trys to give an RPGish feel, though succeeding pretty damn bad. Perhaps the best highlight of the game would have to be the narrated Chapter 1 FMV sequence, which has all new digital animation by Toei, definitely worth to check out. Then comes the story mode of "Play Sagas", it's a straight forward RPG, using a combo of cut-scenes from the DBZ series and full out adventure-styled traveling (on a pre-programmed single path) that includes fighting Saibamen, Prototype androids, and the main bosses (Raditz, Nappa, the Ginyu Force, Frieza, the Yardratean Soba, Future Androids 17 and 18, Androids 17-20, and Cell). Among the many adventures and quests includes an original subplot of Goku on Yardrat, as well as the "History of Trunks" special, which utilizes the Uncut version for its cut scenes, and "Play Sagas" can be done with 1 or 2 player (and they don't fly in this game, they hover for crying out loud). Once beating the full mode, you unlock Pendulum Room in which you can reenact any of the adventures with new unlocked characters, including; Goku: The Arrival, Goku: Saiyans Duel, Goku: Ascended, Goku: RIT Armor, Goku: Cell Games, Vegeta: Saiyan Elite, Vegeta: RIT Armor, Vegeta: RIT Armor Varient, Kid Gohan, Kid Gohan: RIT Armor, Teen Gohan: RIT Armor Varient, Teen Gohan: Namekian Uniform, Teen Gohan: Cell Games, Adult Gohan, Adult Gohan: One Arm, Piccolo, Piccolo with Cape, Trunks: No Jacket, Trunks: Dark Jacket, Trunks: RIT Armor, Trunks: RIT Armor Varient, Teen Trunks, Trunks: Light Jacket, Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, Bardock, and Broly. There's also the tutorial mode in which you can practice with Goku on Kami's palace in a pretty helpful training and practice mode, as well as the "Extras" mode in which you can watch all cut scenes in a 30 minute mini movie. Unfortunately though, there are too many flaws for the game-play, too few limited moves for the players (hell, they're COMPLETE clones mechanics-wise except for the ONE death move they each have), and too many of the same character in Pendulum Play. This game is a definite must-rent, most definitely for the 30 minute mini movie in "Extras", but you'll find yourself limited in some game-play aspects, as well as having to defeat all side characters to progress. Most definitely not the best DBZ game, and the VAs and music could have been a hell of a lot better.

I hope you guys enjoyed my two cents on the PS2's DBZ games, and keep in mind, this November: Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi hits shelves. The fifth and possibly final DBZ game for the PS2, and yours truly will most definitely go to pick a copy up. Until we meet again, later.

- SSJ Conan
<ShadowSilenter@aol.com>