Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai (USA) PSP ISO

Review by DAReezan:

“Kame-hame-ha!” Dragon Ball Z makes its debut in the PSP with Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, released 2006. There’s also a sequel called Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai Another Road.
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First up: The Roster.

One of the most important parts of any fighting game, especially one based on one of your favorite Anime is the characters you can play as. Shin Budokai comes with a roster of 18 playable characters, not including the character’s transformations.
The roster lineup looks like this:

• Goku (Normal, Kaioken, Super Saiyan 1,2, and 3)
• Vegeta (Normal, Super Saiyan 1 and 2, and Majin Vegeta)
• Teen Gohan (Normal, Super Saiyan 1 and 2)
• Gohan (Normal, Super Saiyan 1 and 2, and Elder Kai Unlock Ability)
• Pikkon
• Android 18
• Krillin (Normal, Unlock Potential)
• Future Trunks (Normal, Super Saiyan)
• Piccolo (Normal, Fuse with Kami)
• Frieza (Final Form, 100% Full Power)
• Cell (Perfect Form, Super Perfect Form)
• Kid Buu
• Cooler (Normal, Final Form)
• Broly (Super Saiyan, Legendary Super Saiyan)
• Gotenks (Normal, Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 3)
• Vegito (Normal, Super Saiyan)
• Gogeta (Super Saiyan)
• Janemba

Gameplay:

The gameplay is like almost every other Budokai fighting game. Certain button combinations unleash Ki attacks while the players can choose to only use Melee attacks or launch small Ki blasts if they so desire. There’s also a new “Aura Burst” that allows your character to move across the screen at extremely fast speed. When Bursting you can sometimes endure hits that will take away Ki instead of health or unleash fast combos that may break your opponent’s guard.

Story: [Warning Spoilers for those who haven’t finished Dragon Ball Z]

The story takes place 2 years after the defeat of Kid Buu and is based on the Dragon Ball Z movie: Fusion Reborn. The player can sometimes make decisions after certain fights in the game that will affect the flow of the story. The more powerful versions of characters will be unlocked as the story progresses and sometimes the enemies will be given a boost in health to emphasize the increase in difficulty.

Game modes:

There’s Dragon Road which is basically Story Mode.
Training Mode which lets the player test out combos or just simply learn the controls of the game.
Network Battle Mode which uses connectivity to the PSN network to match you against other people online.
Arcade in which you choose a character and battle 10 other opponents in your search for the Dragon Balls.
Time Attack where you will be challenged to beat certain enemies as fast as possible.
Survival where you pick a character and keep fighting enemies until you lose a fight.
Profile Card where you can customize your special ID card shown in Network Battle Mode.

Overall:

The game is a good fighting game on its own and a great Dragon Ball Z game. The small roster might seem like a drag for some and the fighting might sometimes become too difficult for those who are not used to playing the game but, just like with everything, practice makes perfect. If you want to beat it you’ll just have to become better.

I give this game my Gamer rating of: Shred it / Glance at it/ Play it / [Beat it] / Max it out

.iso CRC-32: 5f6807d2