The PS2 era was a pretty solid time to be a Dragon Ball fan. While all the games we got definitely show their age, they’re still regarded as some of the best games the franchise ever got. But as with all things, time has left them behind.
At least, that’s what we all thought. Then this shit happened!
The Budokai Tenkaichi games are some of the most beloved Dragon Ball games of all time. Not because they were especially rich or balanced fighting games. Rather, it was exactly the opposite! The power gaps between these characters were just as dramatic as in the actual show!
But that was the point. These games weren’t supposed to be balanced or fair. They’re a big Dragon Ball toy box in which you could play as literally any character you could think of. Combine that with beam struggles and clashes ripped straight out of Z and it’s no wonder that fans fell in love with these games, despite their technical issues!
And when I say any character, I do mean any character! Tenkaichi 3 had an insanely huge roster, featuring well over a hundred characters from the original Dragon Ball, Z, and GT! Name a Dragon Ball character and chances are they were playable in 3! No stone was left unturned!
Though I got into Dragon Ball too late in my life to play them when they came out, I was given a copy of Tenkaichi 2 for Christmas one year. And good lord, did I play the hell out of that game! In fact, that very game is what got my little brother into Dragon Ball! We love these games!
Though not nearly as much as the modders do. See, the Tenkaichi games never really went away. Fans have played around with them for years, adding all manner of goofy characters into the existing games and even going so far as to make their own fan-made Tenkaichi 4 well before this new game was announced!
Who knows? Maybe Bandai saw their dedication and decided to reward it. Probably not, but it’s a nice thought!
So, that’s why this announcement is a big deal. This isn’t just another Dragon Ball game. It’s another Tenkaichi game. A new entry in the ultimate Dragon Ball play box series, making a glorious return after nearly two decades!
This game has the potential to be the nuttiest game in the series yet. Not just because technology has come a long way since the PS2 days, but because of how Dragon Ball has grown and changed! Thanks to Super, we now have dozens of new characters that could make their way to the roster!
Is it going to have the same massive cast that we saw in Tenkaichi 3? Probably not, if we’re being honest. Game development is way more complicated and expensive than it was back in the day. Even if we do get an absurdly large roster worthy of standing beside the classic trilogy, chances are that most of those characters will play the same way.
Which is fine. Because that’s what the old games did.
Then there are the changes to the control scheme. The PS2 games had some pretty wonky controls, and don’t even get me started on the Wii versions. How are they going to handle those now? Is it just going to be Xenoverse/Kakarot controls? Is it going to go back to the classic controls? Is it going to do something new? Who knows?
Despite my trepidations, I’m still stoked for this game. I hope it’s as unbalanced and ridiculous as those original games! Give me clashes! Give me beam struggles! Make this the play box that made us all love these games to begin with!
We don’t need a balanced or competitive fighting game. We’ve already got DB Fighterz. Tenkaichi 4 should be as crazy as can be!
Just… don’t be as disappointing as Breakers was, yeah?
Jonah's Daily Rants 