There's a little known love affair that I have with a certain series. Not so much that it's a fantastic series, far from it, I really can't stand the anime (or cheap nasty toys). It drags out and gets pointlessly plot holed in some sections and all the movies produced don't ever seem to tie into the series plot line. But having said that it's a series that makes a fucking good fighting game. So damn good in fact it's spawned almost a dozen different games over 4 platforms. Some of which have ranged from awful to fantastic. Yes People, I'm talking about the beloved and hated Dragon Ball series and this time it's back to take a crack on the PSP.What's the big deal, another Dragon Ball fighter. Well what makes me pick this one up is the fact that the last 4 games in the ever expanding series of games (Budokai 1, 2 & 3 and Tenkaichi) have all been addictive as hell. No, not only addictive, fun as well. What really makes the Dragon Ball series shine on fighters is the ability to absolutely pummel your opponent with an array of over-the-top special moves, combo's and energy attacks. Combined with the ability to teleport all over the set arena it turns into beating someone to death with your PS2 controller fun!
Apparently this new PSP edition starts to follow the latest movie. Something about a giant purple Penis that that decides to leave his retro coloured hang out to pick an argument with Goku and his gang. I've never really taken much notice of the pathetic attempt of a story that string all the fights together. There's some talking, perhaps a choice or two, throw some trash talking in and before you know it that wonderful word FIGHT appears and it's time to dish out some energy based pain on your poor opposition. Now this can range from old favourite to Goku and Vegeta to new faces like Janemba (The large purple penis thing) and Pikkon. Each character gets a specific set of special moves, there's a special bar (Ki) that needs to be charged before you can use the attacks. Thankfully it's very easy to charge, you get Ki for just about everything besides moving around and it's not impossible to be able to launch a full scale attack within seconds of starting a match.
a metal shirt can act as a lightining conduit in cloudy weather
Fighting takes place on a 3D landscape and in the air. For the most part it's a pity, despite boasting a 3D battle field, you really only move up and down to dodge attacks. All the characters feel varied and well balanced. Almost anyone can beat anyone depending on the way you play with the exception Krillin and Android 18. They both suck major ass. Krillin is totally gay and Android 18 is over shadowed by the far superior Cell, who has almost the same move set. Each character as well as being able to punch and kick gets the ability to throw a faggy ball of energy which can be charged up to knock over your challenger. You also get access to a whole bunch of Special Moves that can be either used to end a combo or launched of at your leisure. They range from the Devastating and feared "Ultra-Special-Shit-Now-You're-Totally-Fucked" Special to the typical beam based attacks and signature moves of the series. There is a lot to be said about Chaining super special that are hard to dodge, like Vegeta's Final Flash, which leads to nice cheap victory's that leave you with a nice smile and a sense of self accomplishment. On the other had if you get suck on the end of Purple Penis's un-dodgable sperm attack, your pretty much skrewed when the CPU starts chaining that.
sperm away!
If there ever was a series that demanded the now over-used cell shading technique it's Dragon Ball. All the movements and specials are fluid and special attack look bright and brilliant. In short the game looks amazing for a PSP fighter. Very much similar to it's Ps2 cousins. As a matter of fact it actually plays very similar to Budokai 3, but better. It's a hell of a lot less cheap and more suited to wailing on each other for short periods of time, so perfect for Handheld System. There's not as many characters as you'd like but they all work and most are easily unlockable beating the story mode.
If there's a place where DBZ:Shin Budokai falls flat in it's UMD breeding ass it's special features. The previous games in the series had a totally rad system that allowed you to customise each character with special moves or stat bonuses by collecting capsules from various places that included Bulma's kickers. The PSP edition has been unceremoniously stripped of this awesome feature and has been replaces with the gayest waste of time in a video game since that space mini game in FFVIII. Now you don't get anything cool that affects your characters, you get to make stamps. Yes, I'm serious fucking stamps. Not the kind you print but stupid customised pictures using pre rendered 2D pics of characters and object you can re-size and move about on different backgrounds. I mean WTF were they thinking. Not only do you strip off The Tournament you also take away capsules for stamps. Give me a fucking break.
Cell didn't know what to think about the large blue penis headed his way
So what did I think of Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai for PSP?
It leaves me with a taste for more hard core DBZ action and happy in my pants. It's a decent fighter, but you probably wouldn’t pick it up if you don't like the series. Sure, it has a few short comings and fucking stamps(!!!), but nothing you won't forget in the mad heat of battle and quest for survival that is super moves. It's going to get a 70/100 because your mama said so.