Saiyan of the Times
- July 23, 2003 16:38 PM PST
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An insider's look at Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2. What a difference a year makes!
Quick! What single character has appeared in the most console games? Pikachu? Pac-Man? Close, but not quite?it's actually Goku, who starred in the first Dragon Ball game (released in Japan in 1986) and played roles in over three dozen titles since, most of which never found U.S. release. Mario dreams of such exposure.Despite his age, the guy with the funky black and/or yellow hairdo has never been more popular worldwide. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, released for the PS2 last year and headed for the GameCube this Christmas, is a runaway success: Atari's shipped over 1.3 million copies to North America alone, and?as Executive Producer Daisuke Uchiyama puts it?"to be honest, I wasn't expecting it to sell anywhere near this well." Atari will give the series another shot in the arm this holiday season with Budokai 2, a PlayStation 2?only sequel and a major improvement over the original.
Cartoons with Punch
DBZ's most obvious enhancement is visual. The graphics are rendered using cel-shading for a hand-drawn, animated look. As a result, all of the fighter models look far closer to those of the original TV show. "It was kind of funny to read the reviews of the first Budokai," comments Producer Mike Cucchiarella. "They said that the game was faithful to the show, but they also said the graphics lagged behind. Cel-shading was one of the solutions the developers came up with in response."
Besides the graphics, the number-one request from players was for more story depth. Even the developers at Osaka, Japan?based Dimps agree. "If we had more time, I wanted to make the original Budokai a massive work that included the entire Buu saga," says Uchiyama. "I think that was something both the users and the staff here wanted to get right this time around." And get it right they did?11 new characters (Goten, Young Trunks, Teen Gohan, Videl, Majin Vegeta, Supreme Kai, Dabura, Android 20, and three forms of Buu) have been added to the original's 23 fighters, raising the total number to 34.
The numbers don't end there, however. In addition to the main roster, Budokai 2 will have support for fusions?the combination of two fighters into one as seen in DBZ's later episodes. These fusions are available as skills; you obtain them (along with other special attacks) at Mr. Popo's Skill Shop and by completing certain in-game objectives. Most fusions should be familiar to anime fans, but many are 100-percent original to this game. How does Tiencha (Tien plus Yamcha) sound? Or what if Cell fused with Krillin instead of Android 18...?
Scavenger Hunt
From a gameplay standpoint, Budokai 2 won't stray far from its predecessor. Much like in Tekken and other 3D fighters, the focus isn't on keyed moves as much as stringing attacks into combos and special skills. The now-standard Versus, Tournament, and Training modes are included, and if you kept your old Budokai save, you'll be able to transfer your skill set directly into the sequel?a major timesaver for DBZ veterans.
The newest addition this time around is Dragon mode, this game's new single-player quest. In Dragon mode, you form a team of four or five Z Fighters and split up to search for dragon balls across the game world, using a Dragon Radar whose range depends on the difficulty level you choose. CPU-controlled teams are also searching for the artifacts, and whichever team gets all seven dragon balls first wins.
When one of your characters encounters an enemy, you'll choose whether to fight it out yourself or let the computer A.I. take care of things for you. This can work both for and against you?Krillin, for example, can whip Saiyaman by himself, but if he runs into Frieza, he may not last long without some player help. A fair bit of strategy will be needed to master this mode; if you're in an area you know is packed with enemies, you won't want to send a total wuss like Krillin (sorry, cue-ball fans) into the fray.
Budokai 2's greatest new achievement, however, could be its faithfulness to the anime. "The idea here is to make every battle more dynamic," says Uchiyama, "so they're more like what you'd expect to see in the show." One example: In a city stage (one of the game's eight arenas), you'll be able to throw your opponent flying through buildings, just like in nearly every Saiyan-level battle you see in the anime. Dimps is also busy adding a cartload of new moves, so every character will have a more personalized set of techniques than before.
DBZ: The Atari Saga
So where will Atari's DBZ lineup go from here? It depends on who you ask. "I don't think we have a fixed plan for a certain number of fighters or RPGs," say Cucchiarella, "but we do have a product plan that goes beyond Budokai 2, and we'll get to that soon." Over at Dimps, though, Uchiyama already has ideas: "How about a game where you start out as young Goku where the original comic begins, then you go through training with Master Roushi, fighting the Red Ribbon Army, and finally defeating Piccolo at the end? I'd like to try making a first-person game like that."
