I argued earlier that the playable roster of Dragonball Z Extreme Butoden is rather small
and could do with a bit more expansion. With that in mind, I put together a
short list of 5 characters in no particular order that I would add to the
roster as fighters. Maybe for the sequel?
Tienshinhan
Or Tien for short. A later addition to
the Z Fighters, Tien was a former pupil of the Crane Hermit Shen training to
become an assassin until he was befriended by Goku, Krillin and Master Roshi,
and since then he helped out in the battles against King Piccolo, the Saiyans
and Cell. Having trained under a different tutor to the other characters,
Tien’s fighting style would set him apart as he favours more precise and
practical attacks such as the blinding Solar Flare or the Kikoho, which drains
his life to focus an attack to an area around his opponent, as opposed to the
flashier but more wasteful techniques used by others.
Golden Freeza
Goku’s shiny new Super Saiyan God form
is in the game, so why not Freeza’s new form to promote the newest film? The
Five Nights at Freddy’s jokes write themselves here! Before anyone says
anything, yes, I do recognize the irony of complaining about multiple Gokus,
Gohans and Vegetas, then turning around and asking for another Freeza.
Omega Shenron
I mentioned the gameplay story
segregation issue during Adventure mode and this is one significant example.
The main antagonist of the story not being a playable fighter is odd. Him not
even being a non-playable boss fighter is even weirder. As poorly received as
Dragonball GT may have been, the idea of a villain created as a consequence of
overusing the Dragon Balls is a great one, and he has a very cool design.
Super Gogeta
Another pick for cancelling out gameplay
story segregation, this form is created when Goku and Vegeta perform the Fusion
Dance, and though it is stated in dialogue that they do this at a point near
the end of Adventure mode, it cannot be reflected in gameplay due to Super
Gogeta not being a playable fighter. The best you can do is choose Goku and
Vegeta separately.
Dr Gero
The resident mad scientist of the Red
Ribbon Army has borne a grudge against Goku ever since he single handedly
dismantled the organisation as a child. Finding himself unemployed in a highly
competitive work environment, Gero expresses his displeasure by creating Cell
and the Androids and programming them with the express purpose to kill Goku. A
better adjusted person would have gotten to work on their CV or maybe gotten a
hobby, but he’s a mad scientist for a reason. The majority of Adventure mode’s
third chapter sees the good doctor pitting Goku against a series of mechanical
meanies, and although this is in character for him, it is a bit of a shame that
he doesn’t enter the fray himself at the end of the gauntlet, since he did give
himself some cyborg modifications to fight Goku alongside his creations.
Dragonball Z is no stranger to the world
of tie-in video games, with countless games stretching back to the 1980s, so a
new entry for the Nintendo 3DS does not come as a surprise. What is more
surprising is that it over 4 years from the release of the 3DS to happen.
Nevertheless, Extreme Butoden may not have been a game anyone was particularly
anticipating, but it comes as a pleasant enough surprise.
The game is built around three separate
modes. These are Z Story, Adventure, and Extreme World Tournament. The first of
these modes, Z Story, takes the player through a series of ten battles from
across Dragonball Z, using set characters and assists who took part in those
battles in canon. This is ideal for series newcomers who want to see what the
fuss is about, or those who have somehow managed to avoid the series, possibly
due to living under a rock for the last 20 years. Completing this unlocks a
series of stories dedicated to each character, retelling the events from their
perspective. These are presented as What-If? scenarios, but departures from
canon are disappointingly minor, and disregarded in time for the next battle,
meaning that the player is effectively repeating a lot of the same battles and
dialogue scenes in sequence several times for each of the characters. The most
notable differences are that Vegeta fights the heroes at the start of his story
since he started as a villain, Krillin’s story ends after the Cell saga due to
him settling down to start a family with Android 18, and Piccolo’s story skips
the battles with the Ginyu Force as he wasn’t around for them. Beating these
unlocks the final story, which fortunately proves to be less repetitive. This
is an original story in which Dragonball era jobber Emperor Pilaf uses the
Dragon Balls to revive a number of other villains and make them stronger than
Goku in a plot to get his revenge. It’s quite entertaining to play as the
villains and defeat the heroes for a change, particularly when the villains inevitably
turn on each other and when a number of other fighters show up to interrupt the
proceedings near the end, to the point that I was almost expecting Bill Murray to
arrive in time to play for the Tune Squad.
The second mode, Adventure, is the most
substantial. In this one, Dragonball GT baddie Omega Shenron is causing time to
collapse upon itself with his negative energy, and your character (who is
represented by Goku on the map and during dialogue, but any character can be
chosen in gameplay) must travel the universe to gather the Ultimate Dragon
Balls and seal the negative energy away before the universe is overwhelmed by
time paradoxes. For this mode, the player can assemble a team of their choice
and travel to battles. Initially, only the playable characters are available to
choose from, but through playing this mode you will unlock assists, which will
join the battle when summoned and perform an action such as attacking the
opponent or temporarily increasing the summoner’s abilities. The player can
choose to have multiple fighters but no assists, one fighter with many assists,
or a mix of both, depending on the situation at hand. While a few assists will
be given for free as you progress, you will have to work for most of them, as
they are given as rewards for obtaining an S rank in battles. Battles have an
optional objective tied to them, such as winning with an Ultimate attack,
landing a certain number of hits in one combo or winning via time-out, and the
player also receives points for their performance in battle. To achieve an S
rank, the player must achieve the optional objective for that battle and obtain
400 points or more. If unlocking assists isn’t enough of an incentive, getting
an S rank on certain battles will unlock new battles that you wouldn’t get
access to otherwise, so coming back later with a better understanding of the
game system and better equipment will provide some replay value.
The third mode, Extreme World
Tournament, is the most straightforward. This one is unlocked after completing
Adventure mode, and is essentially a survival mode that will test the player’s
endurance in a series of battles against multiple powerful foes. The mode is
set against the backdrop of the World Martial Arts Tournament, which does a lot
to make the atmosphere more tense and exciting than in other survival modes,
due to the feeling that there is more on the line than just a high score. The
final battle of this mode pits the player against three fighting opponents at
once, which makes it one of the toughest battles as the player will have gotten
used to dealing with one or two opponents per battle by now, and adding a third
opponent makes for a serious test of the player’s skill.
With the three main modes out of the
way, let’s discuss the gameplay holding them together. Battles are fought one
on one, and assists can be brought in by tapping them on the bottom screen.
When playing with more than one fighter on your team, switching between them is
done the same way. Attacks are divided into light and heavy attacks, which are
self-explanatory, and ki attacks. For most characters, this involves shooting a
laser at the opponent, but some have their own unique moves, such as Gohan
attacking with a volley of quick kicks, or Piccolo stretching his arms out just
for you. Mixing these basic attacks will perform combos that vary depending on
the buttons pressed. For example, pressing light attack 5 times will knock the
opponent sideways, while pressing light attack 4 times, then ending the combo
with a heavy attack will knock them into the air or slam them into the ground.
There is also the option to charge up energy to use more powerful attacks, but
this leaves the user vulnerable to attack, which means balancing risk and
reward. It is possible to play safe via charging when the opponent is knocked
down, at a distance or when distracted by an assist, or being riskier and
charging up whenever you want, but potentially being interrupted. Once charged
up, the more powerful attacks can be used by pressing the shoulder buttons
along with ki attack, and for most characters this will shoot a larger,
stronger beam, but again some characters have a different move to set them
apart, such as Super Saiyan God Goku channelling Kenshiro and attacking the
opponent’s pressure points (“Omae Wa Mo Shindeiru.”) or Broly’s attack changing
relative to the opponent’s position when he uses it. The most powerful attacks
can be used when knocking an enemy up or down and firing before your character
joins them, but if the opponent has energy of their own, they can counter your
attack, leading to a button mashing minigame to decide who’s attack connects.
There is a desperation mechanic that will make these attacks even stronger if
your team’s health is below half, which means they’re easier to use if you have
only one fighter, but of course that puts you at greater risk of losing, so
once again there’s the need to balance risk and reward.
The game uses 2D sprites for the
characters with a basic looking 3D background. The sprites look gorgeous, with
lots of detail to them. The playable fighters also move differently to each
other, with things like clothes or hair swaying about occasionally bringing
them to life. Compare the movements of big lumbering fighters like Broly or
Nappa to smaller, more agile characters like Krillin and Gohan, and the
difference is quite clear. The super attacks are particularly stylish, and
Goku’s attack, which sees him transforming into his Super Saiyan 3 form before
firing a massive Kamehameha, was jawdropping when I first saw it, at least in
part because I used it without trying, and was awestruck at what I had just
done before frantically trying to figure out how to do it again. The long
attack animations may drag out battles if you use them frequently, but this
might not be a problem if you vary the character you play as. The assists don’t
have quite as much detail put into them, but they still look very good and
there’s a good selection of assist characters from across the entire franchise
to choose from, including a decent amount accessible only via cheat codes.
(Remember those?)
Unfortunately, while there aren’t many
flaws, the ones that are present are all fairly significant. The playable
roster has around 20 characters, which is fairly small by Dragonball Z
standards. In addition, there are 4 Gokus, 4 Gohans and 2 Vegetas to pad it out,
along with no real surprise choices accompanying the usual suspects. This is
disappointing, but considering the amount of detail that’s gone into each
character, and that there is an effort made to differentiate the Gokus, Gohans
and Vegetas, I can forgive it. The bigger problem with the small roster is the
effect that it has on the Adventure Mode, where a character challenges the
player, but because the challenger is not a playable character, the player
battles another character as a stand-in. Sometimes it’s justified by the
dialogue, but this happens rarely. Particularly baffling is the omission of
Omega Shenron from the playable roster, which means the big bad of the
Adventure mode doesn’t take part in the final battle, and is kind enough to
dispose of himself for no reason after you’ve battled another fighter who just
happened to be present.
The difficulty is also too easy for most
of the game. Mastering each battle is harder, but for the most part, you’ll
have no problems actually winning. Battles against Kid Buu are particularly
easy, as his AI makes him back away from you whenever you charge up instead of
taking advantage of your vulnerability, meaning you can charge up lasers and
play keep away to beat him without taking a hit. On the other hand, the AI for
Nappa and Cell is relentless, as these two will rush you and catch you in
devastating combos that can wipe out half your health bar before you’ve had a
chance to do anything, so you’ll need to bring your A game to stand a chance of
beating them. The touch screen isn’t terribly responsive when you want to bring
in an assist or switch your fighter, and in some cases calling for help may
just make you even more vulnerable. There is also no retry option on the pause
menu, meaning that if you want to try again, you’ll have to finish the battle
and go through the dialogues, loading screens and choosing your team again. Online
multiplayer and a training mode, two staples of the fighting genre, are also
currently absent. There is local multiplayer if you can find another person
with a copy of the game (Considering that I had quite a tough time getting this
game, I don’t know how easy that is), and the ability to play matches against
the computer where you can choose fighters and assists for each team, and the
bonus objectives for early Adventure mode battles encourage you to learn the
different types of combos, along with the required button presses visible on
the pause menu. Online multiplayer and training mode are set to be added in a
forthcoming free update, along with a few new assists, including Bingo-dancing Vegeta and Farmer Goku, who will run the opponent over while riding his
tractor.
While these flaws are noticeable, some
have been migitated to an extent, so hopefully a sequel could iron them out
completely. Overall, the pros outweigh the cons, meaning that this is a game
that can be recommended as a fun fighting game with a decent amount of replay
value, with more to come in future once the online multiplayer is added. Though
Dragonball Z fans will get more out of it than the uninitiated, it’s still
accessible enough that even those who can’t tell their Super Saiyans from their
Spirit Bombs should take a look. Fortunately, a free playable demo is available
on the 3DS E-shop for you to try before you buy.
Graphics: 8 Gorgeous 2D sprites contrast well with the more basic 3D backgrounds.
Sound: 5 Bland, unremarkable music and unsubtitled Japanese only soundbites.
Gameplay: 7 The combat system is simple enough to pick up and has decent depth, but the difficulty is poorly balanced.
Lifespan: 6 Decent replay value in singleplayer, no online harms multiplayer viability.
Remember when I said we’ll meet again?
Told you so. By popular demand, I’m back. Since I finished the Marvel project
earlier in the year, there won’t be a theme this time. Unless I come up with a theme,
I’ll write about things as and when I want to, and I won’t just do films this
time either. Come to think of it, I already broke the Marvel theme last time
round when I took a week off to do Digimon instead, so think of this as being
more along those lines.
On a more serious note, I would like to
once again say thank you to anyone who reads and enjoys this. I’m still finding
it hard to wrap my head around the idea that anyone actually cares what I have
to say or thinks I know what I’m talking about, so that this indeed the case,
even though I doubt my abilities, is much appreciated.
