Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai (PSP)

Atari’s Shin Budokai is scheduled to launch later this month for the Sony Playstation Portable. This game is developed by Dimps, famous for the other Budokai titles that have appeared on Sony Playstation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube. Shin Budokai is the first handheld Budokai title, and is said to have a roster of eighteen playable characters. Pikkon and Janemba are confirmed to be among these. The game will have wireless multiplayer support, and an updated battle engine. Above are the covers for the game, original Japanese release on the left, and North American release on the right. It appears that patient PSP fans will have a gem of a game on thier hands soon.
(Thanks to Zefer from our message forums for providing the information and pictures for the Shin Budokai Update.)

Dragonball Z: Budokai 3 Special Edition (PS2 Greatest Hits)

This game is finally hitting stores. After a previous fumble that resulted in misprinted copies bearing the original Budokai 3 data shipping in late December and early January, copies with the correct Special Edition of the game are finally filtering through to retailers. The tricky business is that the cases, UPC code, and all pictures, words and details are identical on both the misprint copies and the correct copies.

How is an eager Dragonball fan to tell the difference? Lucky for you, Akira (that’s me) bought a misprint copy before finally finding a correct copy. I did find a big difference between the two.

-The Misprint Copy had the standard white sticky label on top the game that said Dragonball Z: Budokai 3 GH on it. The shrink wrap on the game was also the standard kind that is folded neatly and glued on both ends. This is the basic shrink wrap that you find on almost all DVDs and CDs. This stuff is firm and usually requires a knife to open or a lot of force to pull it off.

-The Correct Copy had no label on top of the game case. The shrink wrap on it was plastic re-wrap similar to what most retailers use to rewrap items that have thier shrinkwrap damaged, but are otherwise in mint condition and still sellable. This shrink wrap is soft and is sealed at both ends and often the sides with a burnt crease. Think about the saran wrap you use to seal up food with in the kitchen for an idea of the type I mean. You can easily make a mark in this kind of shrink wrap with your finger nail, and it is always easy to remove.

Now that you know what to look for, why should you care? Perhaps you already have the original release of Budokai 3 and are wondering what makes this Special Edition worthwhile. Here is a short rundown of features that have been added or enhanced for the Special Edition of Budokai 3:

Three new character selections:
-Son Goku > Deceased Goku with Halo
-Piccolo > Piccolo Daimao
-Future Trunks > Saiyan Battle Armor Trunks (Long Hair)

Updated Dragon Universe:
-New Backgrounds for certain story elements
-Broly’s earth is dark and eerie with black clouds and lightning
-More voiced segments and updated dialog at some parts

Upgraded Battle Engine:
-Hyper Mode runs out faster, allowing two attempts at a connecting blow tops
-The characters move at a slightly faster speed overall
-Some attacks have been adjusted to better balance gameplay

Other features:
-At mode menu selection screens, character’s mouths move as they speak now
-Japanese voices are selectable under the options menu
-Budokai 2 and Budokai 3 Data and Capsules transferrable to Budokai 3 Special Editon under “New Game” option.

I found this version of the game to be well worth $20. All of the extras are nice to have and the game actually feels “complete” now. Nearly every audio glitch and unbalanced battle engine elements have been corrected in this new version. I highly recommend checking it out.

Posted by on March 7, 2006 06:44 PM