New Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi Game Announced

Sparking!

by Robert Ramsey Mon 6th Mar 2023

At the end of this weekend's Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour finals, Bandai Namco revealed a new Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi title. All we have to go on right now is a teaser trailer in which Goku goes Super Saiyan Blue. We don't have any dates and no platforms have been announced, but it's fair to assume that this project will be targeting PS5 and possibly PS4.

The original Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi series spanned a number of titles on the PS2 and PS3. They were arena-style fighting games featuring large (sometimes huge) character rosters. "A New Budokai Tenkaichi Begins", says the reveal trailer.

Did you play the old Budokai Tenkaichi games? What would you like to see from a brand new instalment? Start putting your dream character rosters together in the comments section below.

Robert (or Rob if you're lazy) is an assistant editor of Push Square, and has been a fan of PlayStation since the 90s, when Tekken 2 introduced him to the incredible world of video games. He still takes his fighting games seriously, but RPGs are his true passion. The Witcher, Persona, Dragon Quest, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, Trails, Tales — he's played 'em all. A little too much, some might say.

1
GorosBat
Sun 5th Mar 2023

Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is the goat and last DBZ game I played, a new entry in the series would get me to buy a new DBZ game in a heartbeat!

2
shonenjump86
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Played these games back on the PS2. The 3rd game was the best one, good times. Not sure if I’ll ever go back to this series though.

3
ShogunRok
Mon 6th Mar 2023

I remember how the Budokai Tenkaichi games were so busted in terms of character balance. They just did not care. If you tried to fight Gogeta with a Saibaman, he wouldn't even react to your attacks.

True to the actual power levels, but it also meant 85% of the cast was borderline useless!

Would definitely be up for a new game all the same...

4
Deadlyblack
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Boy what a throwback seeing gameplay from the first three games. Can't wait to see the 4th game.

5
Diowine
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Best dragon ball games ever. So many memories playing the third one. I bought a couple db games since and regretted immediately, but if this is close to Budokai Tenkaichi 3 then I am all in.
Yes, characters were closer to their true level, but with such a gigantic roster it was cool creating 5 on 5 battles of the same power levels against a friend.

6
CWill97
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Low key excited for this.

7
Traman500
Mon 6th Mar 2023

I need it right now

8
Tecinthebrain
Mon 6th Mar 2023

High key excited for this.

9
Drago201
Mon 6th Mar 2023

That art and graphics were looking great can't wait to see how this turns out

10
Nepp67
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Dragonball Z voice actors needing to voice the same arcs all over again for the millionth time instead of something new like FighterZ

11
Nem
Mon 6th Mar 2023

I thought the Xenoverse games were the successors to Budokai Tenkaichi.

I remember playing and loving 3 on the ps2. If this new one is a good sucessor, i might get it.
As much as i like watching today's fighters, 2D or 3D, the fact of the matter is i gave up playing them because it requires a lot of memorisation. The budokai tenkaichi games used mostly the same inputs for every character. Sure, they get boring faster that way, but they are great casual fun. Not every game needs to be an esports one, so this is fine with me.

12
Coolmusic
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Of all the pre-FighterZ fighting games within Dragon Ball games the Budokai Tenkaichi series is the one I remember the best.
I can only hope the new installment is good, especially after the success of FighterZ which I'm sure it will be (unfavourably) compared to, unfortunately, by a lot of people.

13
KidRyan
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@Diowine @Deadlyblack @GorosBat Same here I'm excited. It won't be a full price purchase for me, but definitely interested.

14
AndyKazama
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Do all the way from Dragon Ball to the end of super I will be a happy person.

15
DEMONLLAMA
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Easily my favourite DBZ games.
So so happy about this!

16
J2theEzzo
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Tenkaichi 3 was one of my favourite fighting games back in the day- a huge roster (admittedly, not always perfectly balanced, but great nonetheless!) And so many great mid-game/ fight mechanics. I hope they bring this all back, plus the customisation and rpg aspect, rather than just 10 different Goku forms. Let us transform mid-match!

17
J2theEzzo
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@RemembersGems All of this! Such a great game and totally unlike any other fighter out there. I would do something similar, playing as Cooler, and transform for every fight. And if I lost a match- oh well- he'd have his spaceship come resurrect him into metal cooler and I'd surprise my friends with an extra life! Superb.

18
J2theEzzo
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@ShogunRok better this honest (albeit busted) reflection than, for example, playing God of War on 'give me God of War' difficulty, thinking Kratos is the biggest baddest guy in the whole Greek pantheon, only to come to Denmark and get slapped and killed by a nameless draugr in 2 hits.... 😱

19
Keyblade-Dan
Mon 6th Mar 2023

FGC people got their Dragon Ball game with FighterZ so don't take the fun out of Tenkaichi to please them no removing giant characters like Great Apes or Hirudigan because "REEEEEE BALANCE, ONLINE AND JUNK!!" this should be Tenkaichi please don't revive the series and take out all the stuff that made it what it was so it can please eSports people.

20
freddquadros
Mon 6th Mar 2023

I played Budokai Tenkaich a lot on my PS2. For sure my most played Dragon Ball game. I didn't played any on PS3, PS4, and must retify that sometime...