Flashback: Dragon Ball Z Super Butouden Series

This is my Dragon Ball collection for the Super Famicom, I just can't remember where the Butoden 2 box went. Hyper Dimension was not actually a part of the Butoden series, but I'll include it anyway.

These was a time when Dragon Ball Z was unknown in the Philippines. My mom usually brings home a bunch of Dragon Ball Z tankobons in chinese when she came from Hong Kong. I was immediately hooked to the darn thing. I don't understand a single word on it, but the art was awesome! I was an instant Akira Toriyama fan. When it was aired in the Philippines under RPN-9, I was ecstatic, for the first time I would be able to understand the story. It was dubbed in English locally, so basically you can notice the Filipino accent of some of the voice actors. But I didn't actually care, It's Dragon Ball for pete's sake! They aired it until the invasion of Vegeta and Nappa on Earth. We can still remember those last lines Vegeta mentioned.

"We wait for three more hours" -Vegeta

That was the longest three hours of my life. It actually took three years before the battle of Goku and Nappa took place. I believe during that time RPN-9 broadcasted the original Dragon Ball after that last episode where Vegeta said that historical line. The both shows were shown again under GMA-7, this time it was shown in Taglish, then finally it was dubbed in the local language.

Anyway it was somewhere in 1991 when I got myself a Super Famicom when we went to Hong Kong. When we went back there in 1993, that was when I got my first Dragon Ball Z game. It was named "Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden" I had no idea that was what it was called that time, the only thing I really cared about was that it was Dragon Ball and it is going to be awesome. The Butoden series and Hyper Dimension was developed by TOSE, and not to be confused with the Budokai series which was developed by Dimps.


*Note: I used the soundtrack cover since it looks much cleaner compared to the actual box.


Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden

The first installment in the Butoden series and my very first Dragon Ball game. It covered the Vegeta arc under the Saiyajin saga to the Cell saga. I would usually play this with my cousin. The game is different from the usual fighting game. The battles usually take place at long range instead of the usual close range fighting as featured in Street Fighter. From how we played the game, we rarely did close range combat.

The arenas are wide and both competitors can go as far back as they want. Once they do so, the screen is split into two, this will be indicated by a line in the middle of the screen. A red line will indicate that the two are still close to each other, yellow will indicate that there is reasonable distance between the two to fire a long range hissatsu, and black will indicate that they are far from one another, some hissatsu attacks won't work from this distance. The stage also has two levels, the ground and the sky levels, you can shift planes by pressing the X button as long as you are a bit distant from the other character with a red line in the middle. The sky level is the only part in the game where you can charge your ki by holding down on the D-pad. A certain amount of ki is the only way you can unleash long range hissatsu attacks. If you unleash one without the proper amount of ki, your character will end up tired. You cannot move during this time, which makes you open for attack. Dashing by using the L and R buttons would help cover the distances between the two players in a short amount of time. The dash attack can also be used as an offensive move to knock down your enemy. It does not cause much damage, but it gives you time to run away...very far away.

Me and my cousin actually got a hang of the offensive controls, it was pretty easy to execute. The frustrating part is when the computer starts dodging the long range hissatsu attacks or completely neutralizes it. We have been trying to read the darn manual, but none of us actually knows Japanese. Until we actually figured it out that it should be entered during the ready stance of the defending player. When we got the basics on offense and defense, we were ready to face the CPU in story mode.

The famous dodge usually seen in the anime.

Incoming attack...and its gone!

The character selection is pretty vast, especially after entering the secret code in where Perfect Cell and the Super Saiyajin versions of Goku, Vegeta, Trunks and Gohan were made available. Each one of the characters have different moves at close range, however once the battle goes long range it will start becoming a different game. Once one of the players execute a long range hissatsu attack, the vertical bar that splits the two players will align to a horizontal position. The one on offense will usually throw a beam attack or some huge projectile like the Genki Dama to the defending character. This is where it gets interesting, the defending character can either dodge the incoming attack taking only a chip of damage, block the attack which reduces the damage in half, deflect the attack, return the attack to the opponent, or completely obliterate the enemy's projectile with correct timing and enough ki. Deflecting or returning the attack to the opponent is kinda risky since the projectile could explode on you anytime.

The music of the game is awesome, I can still remember the music of each stage until now. The sound is a bit muffled, especially the voices of the characters. This was the time where we started making up the names of the long range hissatsu attacks. From Piccolo's Organ mo Popcorn/Botakbotakbo (Makankosappo) to Vegeta's "Sayang Ka!" (Final Flash). There are certain moves the character cannot shout unless they are in a mirror fight in where two players use the same character, probably because of the cartridge memory restrictions during that time. Whenever I hear Vegeta shout "Big Bang Attack!" I would usually think of a carnival (only people who lived in the south will get this).

This was the game where only Goku had a meteor smash, and the Mr. Satan scene can only be accessed by playing the game in hard. I was already pretty satisfied with this game.

Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden 2

I remember a time when my cousin told me that he wanted to show me something. I was kinda wondering what it was. Whoa! A sequel was released! It was the same as the first one but the fighting system was completely tweaked. The sprites looked better and the audio was a bit more crisper. This is where we actually heard the "Intsik Bata" (Finishing Buster) and "Running Attack" (Burning Attack) of Trunks, "Etits ni Jordan" (Gekiretsu Kodan) of Piccolo, and the famous "Aling Lucring" of Bojack which I have no idea what he's shouting up until now. The close range moves were pretty cool, especially Piccolo's machine gun flying kick. This time almost each character has a meteor smash which is awesome to look at especially if you are the one doing it to your opponent. Major trauma points as Shopao said.

Bojacks "Aling Lucring" and Son Goku's "Kamehameha" Locked in battle

Since the meteor smash was the newest system introduced into the game, there are also counters developed in order to lessen the damage dealt if in case you're one of the poor souls on the receiving end. The usual long range beam battles are back, this time with a brand new system. The dodge and reflect functions was removed, but it was replaced with something better. Once your opponent unleashes a long range attack, you can counter it with one of your own. Now that the two beam attacks are locked onto each other, this is where the rapid mashing of the A button starts (this is what we call the dragon ball system). This is the part where the trash talking takes place (and it only works on a human opponent). The winner gets to blow the opponent to smithereens and get extra bragging rights. The charge system was also revised in this game. Instead of flying in the air and holding down on the d-pad, you can hold down the Y and B buttons at the to rapidly charge your ki. It can be done on either planes which is a great improvement from the first game.

Charge!

The game this time features characters from the Cell saga, Bojack, Zangya, and with a special code you can play as Goku or Broly. The if you enter the special code UP,X,DOWN,B,L,Y,R,A during the opening sequence of the game, you will hear Broly say "Kakarotto" which confirms that the code was entered successfully. A number of rumors started when people said that if you enter the code ten times either Krillin or Yamcha will be a playable character. Well after a long time, MYTH BUSTED! I tried the code with a programmable pad, and actually got to repeat the code 20 times, nothing happened, only Goku and Broly were unlocked. There was also a special hyper code in which the L and R buttons of the second controller must be held down during the opening sequence, the music on the background will change to a more upbeat theme compared to what is usually heard and the number two on the Super Butoden 2 logo would be flashing, this will confirm that the code was entered successfully. The game would be two times faster, which also makes it way harder.
The story mode is reformatted to a visual novel style in where your choices could change the path of the game. Selecting the right path is the only way you can get to fight Bojack and Broly in this mode.

Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden 3

A third installment was released by TOSE. It had a similar system as the second one but it features characters from the Majin Buu saga (or Magic-Boo as the others call him). The hidden character in this game is the future Trunks which can be unlocked by the same LYRA code used in Super Butoden 2.

You can now change planes no matter how close you are to the enemy. The meteor smash attacks and long range battles are still present in the game with no big change from the last game. It is from this game that my friend Boogie mentioned the "Pampataba" (Paparapa) which Babidi shouts in order to summon Majin-Buu, but due to the graphical limitations of the Super Famicom, it looks like Babidi transformed into Majin-Buu, pampataba indeed.

"YAYA!!"

 The new system introduced here was the handicap system in which you enter a code in the pre-battle phase in versus mode in order to increase your damage to the opponent.

Level 6

Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension

The last Dragon Ball fighting game released by TOSE for the Super Famicom system and so far the best Dragon Ball fighting game ever. The system was completely revamped from the Super Butoden series. The long range battle system was changed to close range combat. It is now more similar to the "Dragon Ball Z 2: Super Battle" arcade fighting game which was released by Banpresto. Its now more of Street Fighter than hit and run far away gameplay. The story mode will start from the Freeza saga up to the Majin-Buu saga.

Character select screen

The graphics have significantly improved over its predecessors. The animation and look of the sprites are way better. This may be the first fighting game to ever use mode 7 graphics and take advantage of the FX chip. This game was released in 1996, in where next generation hardware like the Playstation was already available.  

(left) mode 7 graphics used on the background (right) how FX chip was used on the beam of the Kamehameha

The gameplay system was greatly influenced from the arcade game. Just like in the arcade game, you can knock your opponent to the next plane by inputting a certain command. The game has a stage with multiple levels in which you can smack your opponent upwards, downwards or horizontally to the next plane. Example below shows Goku kicking cell into the next plane.

This game no longer uses a ki meter. Whenever you do an attack that consumes ki, it will be deducted from your life bar. Your ki and life force are one, so if you charge up your character, your life bar increases as well.

The meteor smash is now a desperation move, it can only be done if your life is flashing red. Each character has their own desperation move, it deals a great amount of damage to your opponent if it hits. The funny thing about this is that it could be spammed since it does not consume your life.

Super Saiyajin 3 Desperation move!

This game also introduced a new sidestep system which can be used for avoiding special attacks and countering at the same time. This was pretty useful to me especially against spammers. The only place you can sidestep is on solid ground, you cannot do this while floating. The pictures below shows how sidestep can be used for avoiding attacks and countering them.

Compared to the previous games, this game only has a limited roster. However the characters included in the roster was picked wisely. The inclusion of SSJ3 Gotenks, Vegetto and Ultimate Gohan was a pretty good move. The inclusion of Freeza, Kid Buu, and Cell (Hello everymeow) is enough to fill the villain roster. The game itself is fast paced and balanced. Since the system is similar to Street Fighter, combos are also a given in this game.

Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butoden

And just when I though it was over, the Butoden series makes its return under the development of Game Republic. It was released for the Nintendo DS handheld. Its game play and controls are similar to the Budokai series, over 50 characters to choose from (although that also includes the transformations) and a customize function to change the look and the ability of your character.

Knowing that the DS has a weaker graphics engine compared to the PSP, the visuals of this game is top notch. The game was released on Feb. 3 ,2011. The LYRA code still works in this game, and you'll hear an angrier "KAKAROTTO!"