Throughout the March 2023 Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour, announcements for various Dragon Ball Z titles were made. Dragon Ball Legends will soon receive a new character called Ultra Super Saiyan Rose Goku Black, which will be detailed further later in March. A rollback netcode beta for Dragon Ball FighterZ will run on PC later this Spring, and a much-needed final balance patch was revealed as well. That's all been cause for some excitement, but what has most of the Dragon Ball community buzzing is the announcement of a new Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi game.
Since 2005, the Budokai Tenkaichi subseries has stood out among a sea of playable Dragon Ball Z adaptations. The original trilogy, released annually from 2005 to 2007, is held up as one of the most enjoyable Dragon Ball Z fight simulators to exist. The second trilogy running from 2010 to 2012, consisting of Tenkaichi Tag Team, Ultimate Tenkaichi, and Dragon Ball Z: For Kinect, is considerably less well-regarded, and considered a step down even from the Raging Blast titles that followed up the first trilogy. Seeing a new Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi game get announced in 2023 is stunning, but reviving the name comes with very high stakes.
Budokai Tenkaichi's Popularity Cannot Be Understated
Hype levels for what many have dubbed Budokai Tenkaichi 4 are already immense. Unofficial Twitter posts announcing the game with its trailer have received over 100,000 Likes within a day of being posted, and over 100,000 Tweets were made within a few hours of the games reveal. Even though they are over fifteen years old and not available on modern consoles, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi still commands respect from the wider DBZ community.
Amid a sea of licensed Dragon Ball titles, the Budokai Tenkaichi trilogy can be trusted to look great, sound great, and provide fanservice the likes of which few other Dragon Ball products can muster. Most of the iconic voices that fans know and love are back, and each game is full of characters interacting with each other and exchanging all sorts of banter, insults, or surprise compliments. The roster picks alone get incredibly granular, with Budokai Tenkaichi 3 being known for reaching back not only into different Dragon Ball eras, but for bringing in minor one-off characters alongside the Akira Toriyama-made Dr. Slump lead Arale. Levels of fan service were reached that exceed any other licensed Shonen Jump title, and recapturing that is no small endeavor.
The Legacy of Budokai Tenkaichi Brings Unreasonable Expectations
Years of nostalgia have built the Budokai Tenkaichi series a pedestal that newer titles have needed different strengths to match. In the past decade, Dragon Ball Z arena fighters have regained some legitimacy through the wildly popular Xenoverse titles, largely owing to their RPG story modes and MMO elements. Adding on to that, dreams of a truly competitive 2D Dragon Ball fighting game have finally been realized in Dragon Ball FighterZ. Having MMORPG and traditional fighting alternatives taken care of lightens Budokai Tenkaichi 4's load, but they also make BT4 easier to dismiss if it doesn't live up to expectations.
Bandai Namco and Budokai Tenkaichi 4's developer need to pull out all the stops and hone in on the details that made Budokai Tenkaichi so memorable. A Budokai Tenkaichi 4 will not be able to bring the old trilogy's 150+ fighters forward, necessitating controversial cuts and difficult debates over Dragon Ball Super newcomers. Gameplay doesn't need to be perfect, but singleplayer modes with replay value and what-if scenarios need to be present. Developing a direct sequel to these legendary Dragon Ball Z games is not an enviable position, but with the fandom's support, perhaps Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 4 can be all that it's hoped to be.
A new Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi game is now in development.