Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi (released in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: Sparking!) is a series of fighting games developed by Spike based on the manga series by Akira Toriyama.
The series was published by Namco Bandai Games under the Bandai brand name in Japan and Europe, and as Atari in North America and Australia from 2005 to 2007.
A Glorious Past
Originally released for Playstation 2, the game features 58 playable characters with a total of 90 playable forms from the various TV series and movies. In addition, this game has fully destructible environments. In October/November 2006, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 was released as the game’s first sequel.
The “Sparking!” references both the first and last word in the first opening theme to the TV series “Cha-La Head-Cha-La”.
Then in 2007 was released Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
The game features 161 characters, almost the largest in any fighting game. Ryo Mito stated that the game would feature never seen before characters made exclusively for the game, referring to the Saiyans’ Great Ape forms.
This game added new gameplay features like: Rush Ki Wave, Z-Counter and burst dash.
But the real show stealer was the game’s story mode, called Dragon History.
In this mode some cutscenes take place during the middle of a battle, interrupting the fight for a short time while the two characters talk, while others take place during the battle themselves. During in-game cutscenes, dialogue appears at the bottom of the screen as the player fights, and what each character says depends on how the match is going. The player can also issue one hit KO by dealing the blow canonically used to kill the opponent in the manga or anime.
Years of Silence
After Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 there was only silence. Although Dragon Ball fans were able to play other titles like Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Dragon Ball Z Fighters and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, the impact that the Tenkaichi series had on the story mode experience was missing.
The titles were good games. Based on solid RPG mechanics or on a structured and technical fighting system. But old time fans lacked the immediacy and care put into representing the world of Toriyama made by the Tenkaichi series.
The Trailer
The trailer is short, and honestly we see little to speculate about.
There’s an old TV where we can see some old clips of Budokai Tenkaichi. Suddenly the image expands and we see Goku transforming into Super Saiyan Blue, with brand new graphics.
We don’t know if it’s a reboot, a sequel or a remake. Personally I don’t think about a remake because of SSJ Blue. It’s more likely a sequel or a reboot, because there’s only a phrase saying: “A New Budokai Tenkaichi Begins”.
However these are just suppositions.
We just only have to wait and prepare for battle!
