Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi (Series)

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi (Known in japan as Dragon Ball Z: Sparking) is a series of fighting games based on the Dragon Ball Manga and Anime series by Akira Toriyama, despite the title it's not a continuation of the Budokai series, due to featuring a different gameplay style and being made by a different developer.

Tenkaichi 1 (known as Sparking in japan) came out in 2005 exclusively for the PS2, Tenkaichi 2 (Known as Sparking Neo in Japan) was released for the PS2 and Wii in 2006, Tenkaichi 3 (Known as Sparking Meteor in Japan) came out in 2007 for the PS2 and Wii as well and Tenkaichi Tag Team came out only for the PSP

Gameplay
Like the previous Budokai series, they are fighting games, but unlike the Budokai series, the games are set in a behind the back Third person prespective, allowing to have more freedom movement around the battlefield.

Overall

 * 1) Like the Budokai series, the games are faithful to both the manga and anime series, by featuring tons of iconic characters, having a story mode, that this time follow not only DBZ but also the original Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT, as well as a few movies.
 * 2) Though they might not have aged great, the graphics for the time looked pretty good, and cel-shading made the graphics look more like the anime and manga series. Tenkaichi 2 and 3, especially for being released early during Wii lifespans, also manage to look very good, and Tenkaichi Tag Team also looks pretty good for the PSP.
 * 3) Like the Budokai series the character roster is huge, having characters from the original Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT and a couple of movies. The roster is bigger than in the Budokai series, with Tenkaichi 3 having the biggest out of any other DBZ game with over 150 playable characters, even compared to future games like the Xenoverse 1&2, Fighterz and Raging Blast 1&2.
 * 4) * Like the Budokai series all the transformations and fusions are included as well, though unlike Budokai 1 & 2 there are no what if characters.
 * 5) The gameplay in the games are really good but the twist is that, unlike the Budokai series, the games are set in a behind the back third person prespective, allowing you to have much more freedom around the movement in the battlefield and the flying is also much easier because of this. It also retains a lot of the elements from the Budokai series like transformations during the battles (except for the 1st game) and unlike the Budokai series you can also pick on what form you wanna start the fight with, and transform in the middle of the battle to any form including normal (Tenkaichi 2, 3 and Tag Team only). The world tournament mode still lets you ring out your opponent, you can still charge your ki meter and ki blasts and special attacks are retained. You can also preform beam struggles and attack struggles anytime you want unlike the Budokai series and you can also destroy the envoirments during fights, which can grant you extra items and powerups.
 * 6) * Tenkaichi 2 and 3 introduced team fights mode, where you pick about at least 5 fighters, switch between them during fights at the right time, and also, if you have a right character pair, fuse, (though unlike the Budokai series you can't revert to your normal form, even if it isn't a potara fusion).
 * 7) * Tenkaichi Tag Team on the other hand has 2-on-2 team fights, with both teammates fighting at the same time and also letting you use senzu beans to heal yourself if you get knocked out.
 * 8) The games feature a Evolution Z system which is like the Capsule system from the Budokai series as it allows you to powerup your characters’ health, strenght, speed, defense and ki charging. In Tenkaichi 2 the Evolution Z system worked the best since some of the items can also be combined to unlock extra characters, items and attacks, but unlike the capsule system there are seperate slots for each set, 5 of them for each character (Except for Tenkaichi 1). This can be useful if you want to buff an underpowered character.
 * 9) The world tournament modes from the Budokai series are also featured (except for Tenkaichi Tag Team), with each time getting better and better. Tenkaichi 1 only has the Normal World tournament and the Cell Games, Tenkaichi 2 adds in the World Martial Arts Tournament and Tenkaichi 3 also adds in the Yamcha Games Tournament and the Other World Tournament. Each torunament mode has its own seperate rules, there are seperate difficulty options and the presentation during them is also really well done with each one of the tournaments have its own announcer during in the middle of the fights or between the fights, and if you win, or at least be a runner up, you’ll earn zeni that you can spend in the skill shop.
 * 10) Each game has its own story mode, with Tenkaichi 2 easily having the best story mode not only in the Tenkaichi series, but of any Dragon Ball Z game in general, as it’s lenghty and a pleasure for those who haven't watched the anime or read the manga. While Tenkaichi 1 and 3's stories aren't as good, they are still nice.
 * 11) Each game has its own minigame during the loading screen:
 * 12) * In Tenkaichi 1 you tap the circle button to perform Super Ghost Kamikaze Attacks.
 * 13) * In Tenkaichi 2 you move Yamcha's Spirit Ball to break the barriers.
 * 14) * Tenkaichi 3 has three loading screen minigames that involve you tapping: the first one has Goku eating, the second one has Vegeta doing push ups and the third one has Gohan pulling out swords from the ground.
 * 15) * In Tenkaichi Tag Team you move Gohanaround to collect fruit falling from trees.
 * 16) The music is also really good, retaining the same style as before. While Tenkaichi 1 re-uses the music from the Budokai games, Tenkaichi 2, 3 and Tag Team feature a completely new soundtrack (not plagiarized,unlike the Budokai series), with Tenkaichi 2 having the best OST and Tenkaichi 3's theme song “Super Survivor” being really good (it was even sung by Hironobu Kageyama himself).
 * 17) The voice acting is also great, retaining the Japanese voices and the Funimation english voice cast, with Tenkaichi Tag Team being the first Dragon Ball game to feature the Dragon Ball Z Kai cast.
 * 18) * You can also switch between English and Japanese voices.
 * 19) You get to collect the Dragon Balls here as well and they’re still useful since some items can be only unlocked by summoning Shenron, in Tenkaichi 1 & 2, you can simply get the Dragon Balls in the story mode destroying evoirments and flying to one to get it.
 * 20) The presentations are also great, in each games main menu there's a different character narrating, with the 1st game having Goku, 2nd game having Goku and Gohan, and the third having Gohan, Videl, Goten and Trunks, and each menu has it's own character.
 * 21) A lot of the iconic signature, attacks and ultimate attacks are also featured, such as the Kamehameha, Vegeta’s Burning Attack, Trunks’ Burning Attack and Picollo’s Special Beam Cannon, this time, each character has equipped 3 special attacks, as well as a few special abilities, in addition activating them, is much more easier than in the Budokai series, in the Wii versions of Tenkaichi 2 and 3, you can use Motion Controls if playing the game with the nunchuck, and you move you’re controllers just like the character would do in the anime, in Tenkaichi 3, this is improved since you can, now just simply press one of 3 buttons and select one of the attacks you want and then doing the motion gestures, as with Tenkaichi 2, the Wii version does show you, how much times you need to move the controllers in order to activate the attack.
 * 22) Tenkaichi 1 and 2, also have pick ups during the fights, they can increase you’re health, you’re ki meter etc, also sometimes you can even find one of the Dragon Balls during the story mode (More on that on the next point), plus the items you use can really help out when you’re in a lot of trouble.
 * 23) You get to collect the 7 Dragon Balls here as well, in Tenkaichi 1 & 2 you do that, by destroying the envoirement in the Battlefield, and fly to them to pick them up, in Tenkaichi 3 you do that by making several combo attacks, and if the combo is good enough, it will give you a Dragon Ball, as expected when you have 7 of them you can summon shenron which makes them useful, since some of the items can only be unlocked by summoning Shenron.
 * 24) In each game before the fights there are pre fight dialogues, most of the dialogue are actual quotes from the anime or mentioned events, plus it's even better in Tenkaichi Tag Team with it's own reason mentioned below.

Tenkaichi 2

 * 1) The story mode as mentioned above is the best, follows all the sagas, from the anime, as well as the movies and the events from GT as well, in addition, you can level up your character during the story mode and there are also a lot of enemies to fight as well. Much like the Dragon Universe mode from Budokai 3, you can fly around the world, but this time you can also interact with other characters in certain locations.

Tenkaichi 3

 * 1) Both versions of the game have their own specific exclusive features:
 * 2) * The PS2, versions have a disc fusion system, where you insert the Tenkaichi 1 or 2 discs on the console, it unlocks more stages on the Ultimate battle mode of the game.
 * 3) * The Wii Version has online fights, the first DBZ game to feature them, however it no longer works, but it’s still a nice addition to the game, this would also be featured in any other DBZ game since it.
 * 4) The controls are improved from the first two games, the movement is much more responsive, and the motion controls in the Wii version are accurate to the signature attacks of the characters.
 * 5) Unlike other DBZ games, it features night/day version of the stages, in addition if the character can transform into a great ape in the night stages, you can, and some can transform into great apes even during the days, and the lighting is properly done and it looks well.
 * 6) You can now save and watch the fights you just made, which is amazing, not all but a few other DBZ games following it would also have this feature.
 * 7) It introduced mid fight cutscenes in the story mode, the dialogue changes depending on who’s winning, plus you can activate them almost any time you want, the dialogue is also replicated from the anime.

Tenkaichi Tag Team

 * 1) The team fights are really well done, where sometimes the teammates interact with each other before the fight, and also you can help each other during the fight.
 * 2) The senzu beans return, where when you, or you’re teammate runs out of health, you can use one to revive yourself, also you can also be revived during a specific time.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some characters like SSJ4 Gogeta and Omega Shenron are way too overpowered creating for unfair difficulty.
 * 2) The controls in Tenkaichi 1 & 2 (at least in the PS2 version) are really complex and hard to get used to. The movement controls are also not the best.
 * 3) While the story modes are good, some events in any game are non optional regardless of what-if or one of the movies, as you have to beat them to progress the story.
 * 4) In Tenkaichi 3 it’s no longer possible to powerup your character in the story mode.
 * 5) The final fight boss in the Dragon Ball saga in Tenkaichi 3 is General Blue for some reason.