Dragon Ball Z: Butōden (series)

Dragon Ball Z: Butōden series is a series of 2D one-on-one fighting video games developed by TOSE Software company and based on the Dragon Ball series.
==Overview==
The Butōden series was created by Toshihiro Suzuki, a game designer who also worked on the Street Fighter series and was interviewed in Daizenshuu 4. The graphics of the series' first games are somewhat reminiscent to that of the 1992 NES card fighting game Dragon Ball Z: Gekitō Tenkaichi Budōkai (also developed by TOSE).
The name Butōden means "Fighting Legend" in Japanese.
There are six games labeled as part of the Butōden series alongside Buyū Retsuden (which shares part of its name, den), while there are various other games related to the series in certain ways.
==Butōden and Butōden-related games==
===Dragon Ball Z: Super Butōden===
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Released to the Super Famicom (SNES) on March 20, 1993, the first game in the series and the first traditional fighting game in the franchise. It played host to a number of features not seen in fighting games before.
*Features
:* 8 (13 with a code) playable characters.
:* Storyline covers Piccolo Jr. Saga to Perfect Cell Saga.
:* Massive stages divided by a color-coded split-screen border which tells how close are the fighters to each other.*
:* Combat on the ground or in the air.*
:* Radar below the Life and Ki bars telling where the fighters are in the stage.*
:* Unique special moves and "super moves" for each character. (Goku's Kamehameha, Vegeta's Final Flash, etc.)*
::* Players can counter super moves by dodging, blocking, or engaging in a beam struggle.*
:* = All games, unless otherwise stated, have these features in common.
*Quirks
:* Charging Ki manually works much different than later games which often leads to people mistaking that it's not possible. Holding down while in flight causes the characters' Ki meter to recharge a little bit faster.
:* Knock-down recovery takes a fairly long time and leaves characters open to further attacks.
:* Goku and Vegeta have their base forms playable in addition to their Super Saiyan forms.
:* Though the first fighting game to have Mr. Satan, he himself is not playable under any circumstance.
:* Energy Beams are indicated by a lightning sound effect while Energy Spheres are indicated by the sound of a shot being fired. The loudness of an Energy Beam usually indicates its strength aside from how much Ki it uses.
===Dragon Ball Z: Super Butōden 2===
December 17, 1993 marked the date the second game in the Super Butōden series was released. As with the previous game, it was released on the Super Famicom. This game vastly improved on the original game in many ways.
* Features
:* 8 (10 with a code) playable characters.
:* Storyline combines original aspects with key elements of the Cell Saga and the movie Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound (with a little Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan).
* Improvements over Super Butōden
:* Manually building Ki goes faster.
:* Faster Actions.
:* Positional radar now uses little men mimicking the fighters' actions instead of colored dots.
:* Story Mode allows the player to take control of different characters at different times as well as having multiple branches and endings.
:* Special blasts do not require a certain amount of Ki in order to be fired. However, if one fires a blast with too little Ki, the user will become exhausted.
:* Special blasts can now be fired at close-range, but a weaker version of the blasts will be fired instead. Also, there will be no cinematic scene used to stop opponents from movement while the special blast is being charged, leaving the user vulnerable and allowing the opponent to either dodge or counterattack the user.
* Quirks
:* Removed the color-coded split-screen border from Super Butōden.
:* First game where Goku is not readily available for play.
:* First fighting game to include movie characters as well as Cell Jr.
:* The game houses a debug mode.
:* Dashing no longer knocks opponents down.
:* Energy Spheres and Energy Beams have the same sound effect in the cinematic scene. The strength of either blast is also determined by its loudness, like in its predecessor.
===Dragon Ball Z: Buyū Retsuden===
Released on April 1, 1994, Dragon Ball Z: Buyū Retsuden brought all the action and power of the Super Butoden series to the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) without losing anything in the process.
* Features
:* 11 playable characters.
:* Storyline combines original and "what if?" aspects with key elements of various sagas ranging from the Saiyan Saga all the way to the end of the World Tournament Saga.
* Quirks
:* The positional radar returned to colored dots for this game.
:* First and only fighting game to include Ginyu Force members or Krillin until later games.
:* Though the game does not support the 6-button control pad, pressing X in "six button mode" will randomly select a character.
===Dragon Ball Z: Super Butōden 3===
The third and final game in the Super Famicom branch of the series. Released on September 29, 1994, it introduced a number of characters from the last arc of Dragon Ball as well as keeping a few classic characters in.
* Features
:* 9 (10 with a code) playable characters.
* Improvements over Super Butōden 2
:* Charging Ki takes only a few seconds (in comparison with Super Butōden 2's several seconds of charge time).
* Quirks
:* Only game in the 16-bit generation without a conventional story mode. Oddly the Tournament Mode acts as the story mode for the game as when a human player is crowned the champion, the credits start rolling.
:* Piccolo is not featured in the game, despite his involvement in the Buu Saga. Presumably because Dabura turned him into stone in the manga and anime.
:* Future Trunks makes his return from Super Butōden 2 as this game's secret character. In the Japanese release, he is the only character whose name is written in English characters ("TRUNKS"), possibly to differentiate him from Kid Trunks.
===Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22===
The first Dragon Ball fighting game of the 32-bit generation, Ultimate Battle 22 was released in Japan on July 28, 1995, for Sony PlayStation. Related 2D/3D hybrid game, with 2D characters and 3D battle stages.
* Features
:* Significant increase in the number of characters with 22 playable characters (27 with 5 secret characters).
:* Special attacks based on actual moves used by characters in the anime/manga.
:*Three special super attacks for each characters.
:*Second game in the series to include a movie character, in this case, Gogeta from Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn.
:*Specific match-ups have special cutscenes before fighting, such as Goku vs. Frieza, Gohan vs. Cell and Gotenks vs. Super Buu.
* Improvements over Super Butōden 3
:* All the character sprites have been revamped and enhanced, taking advantage of 32-bit hardware.
:* Pre-fight cutscenes with voice for all characters.
:* 3D battle stages.
* Quirks
:* All the special attacks in this game (like Goku's Kamehameha) are energy spheres.
:* The cutscenes were removed on the European and US releases.
===Dragon Ball Z: Shin Butōden===
Shin Butōden was released in November 17, 1995 for Sega Saturn. It returns the tried-and-true formula that made Super Butōden a favorite in the hearts of many, featuring the same roster of playable characters and the sprites and animations from Ultimate Battle 22. Also, the game's introduction is made with scenes recycled from the introduction of Ultimate Battle 22 with new music.
* Features
:* 22 (27 with 5 secret characters) playable characters.
:* Arcade game mode pits the player against several random combatants for personal glory.
:* Pre-fight voice clips.
* Improvements over Ultimate Battle 22
:* In addition to air battles and long stages, certain stages now contain extended areas one fighter can knock the other into, as well as environmental obstacles.
* Quirks
:* Once again, Future Trunks' name is written in English characters in the Japanese release. Strangely enough, so is Super Saiyan 3 Goku's ("SUPERSAIYAN3").
:* This game reuses music from Ultimate Battle 22.
:* The colored split-screen border returns from Super Butōden.
===Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension===
Released on January 1, 1996, in Europe and on March 29, 1996 in Japan for the Super Famicom. Related 2D fighting game, with shared Ki and Life bars and lacking the series characteristic split-screen feature.
* Features
:* 10 playable characters.
:* Story Mode, Versus Mode, Tournament Mode, and Practice Mode.
:* Story mode taking place from the late Frieza Saga through the Kid Buu Saga.
:* The amount of Life for characters is measured by a number system from 1 to 999.
:* Ki and Life are measured by one single bar that can be restored.
:* Special blasts no longer prevent opponents from moving and drain users of their Life.
:* Fighters can send each other into different dimensions such as the sky or other terrains depending on which set of stages the battle is being played.
:* Sky battles work differently as players are in constant flight rather than standing in the air as opposed to other games, meaning they are always in jumping position.
* Quirks
:* The Story Mode is not included in the French version of the game.
:* Lacks the split-screen feature and stages are very confined.
===Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout===
Released in August 21 of 1997 for the Sony PlayStation, Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout (or Dragon Ball Final Bout, depending on the region). Related title with gameplay similar to the series.
* Features
:* 10 (17 with codes) playable characters.
:* Arcade game mode pits the player against several random combatants before facing the final boss, Golden Great Ape Baby.
:* "Build Up" mode, where the player can level up a character while playing.
* Quirks
:* Gone are the long arenas of the last five games, replaced by endless, open stages and a restrictive field of view. When the two players move far enough away from each other, the camera zooms out to adjust. Ultimately, this gives players less room to work with than the previous titles gave.
:* Slow Actions.
:* This game, like the previous game, reuses some tunes from older titles.
:* Two hidden characters from different timelines, Super Saiyan Goku (in his Turtle Hermit dogi) and Future Trunks, have their names written in English in the Japanese release ("SON GOKOU" and "TRUNKS" respectively).
:* The secret characters are just alternate versions of some of the default characters, particularly Goku and Trunks. The only one with a unique moveset is Vegito.
:* Altogether, there are six forms of Goku in this game, and three forms of Trunks. This would later be matched (and surpassed) by the Budokai Tenkaichi series.
:* Baby only appears as an unplayable, final boss character (though he is playable through cheat devices).
===Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butōden===
Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butōden is a video game of the series for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan on February 3, 2011. First Butōden-related game since the 1997 game Final Bout, and the first "Butōden" game since the 1995 game Shin Butōden.
* Features
:* 56 playable characters, one of the largest playable rosters in any Dragon Ball video game.
:* Story Mode that covers the whole Dragon Ball Z/Kai arc, including the Majin Buu arc which hadn't been adapted yet at the time the game was released, until it would eventually be continued in 2014 and concluded in 2015.
:* Versus Mode to play 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, and 3 vs 3 matches.
:* Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection mode that allows players to connect to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and play online choosing their favorite characters and stages.
:* Customizable Characters with a lot of different outfits.
:* Full real and quick 3D actions. The player can fight in the ground or fly around the stage and do super attacks from the ground or the air. Nintendo DS's touch screen is used for some super attacks.
* Quirks
:* Like Final Bout, the long arenas of prior games, are replaced by endless, open full 3D stages.
:* Very unlike Final Bout, the action in Ultimate Butōden is very fast.
:* The first game of the series with online features.
:* A lot of new What-If? stories based on all the Dragon Ball Z/Kai arc.
:* Also, the first game in the series with customizable characters.
:* King Kai's playable debut.
===Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butōden===
Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butōden is a video game of the series for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in Japan on June 11, 2015, October 16, 2015 in Europe and Australia and October 20, 2015 in North America. The first Butōden game to be released outside of Japan, France, and Spain.
*Features
:*Over 100 characters overall, including both battle and support Z Assist Characters. 
:*Features various gameplay elements from prior games in the series as well as Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2.
:*The first game in the franchise add characters and stages from Dragon Ball Super, other than the debut of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods characters in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z.
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