Switching back and forth between characters in long play sessions is where you run into trouble as it really feels useless, outside of the aethestic of playing as a certain character.

This is not to say that the gameplay isn’t fun, as it really can be in short game sessions where you pretty much stick to the same character. Combined with the game’s AI, this almost makes it feel too easy a lot of the time, as there isn’t much to differentiate fights. The biggest problem is that the combos are the exact same for everyone, which makes pretty much every character feel like a clone of the rest, with just their character design and signature moves, like the Kamehameha and Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, pasted over them. From the start of the match where each fighter has a unique opening, the fights run well, with little slowdown, which is quite impressive for a fighter of this style on a handheld.ĭragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden features a standardized moveset for everyone in the game, which includes a simple and strong attack, a ki attack, and then the ability to string together combos. These characters not only look good, but they run very smoothly in action, which is a vital aspect of any fighter. The animation feels very much like it was ripped from the anime itself, with colorful backgrounds and character sprites. Unlike the 3D fighters that have been most popular in the series, Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden utilizes a 2D style that looks really good in action.

Neither of these games were very good, which disappointingly seems to carry over in some ways into the latest release. However, the US has seen only the release of two games in the series, Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 and Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, both of which came in the late ’90s.

The Dragon Ball Z: Butoden series dates way back to the Super Famicom in Japan, releasing in both Europe and Japan. The latest game in this long running franchise has gotten a very uncommon US release with the underwhelming Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden. The franchise has also spawned countless video games, with the mostly Japanese exclusive Butoden series providing an antithesis to the array of 3D fighters. The Dragon Ball brand has been one of the most recognizable names in animation, with the series seeing a major resurgence in recent years behind not only two new movies, but now the ongoing Dragon Ball Super anime.

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