Perhaps the best-remembered game series to be adapted from the Dragon Ball manga and anime universe is set to return. At the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2023 event on Sunday, Bandai Namco announced that a new Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi game is in development more than 15 years after the last mainline entry in the series.
The new game doesn’t yet have a title, release date, platform, or even an official upload of the trailer, which was shared by multiple YouTube channels over the weekend. However, the official Twitter account for the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour event also shared a version of the trailer, and it’s apparently authentic. (The version of the trailer that appears on YouTube refers to the series by the subtitle it was given in Western markets, Budokai Tenkaichi, while the version shared by the event uses the Japanese name, Sparking!)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi first appeared on the PlayStation 2 in 2005, and was swiftly followed by two sequels in the following years (which also made its way to Wii). That’s it as far as mainline games are concerned, although there were also a few spin-offs: Tenkaichi Tag Team, a 2010 PlayStation Portable title; Ultimate Tenkaichi, a 2011 PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game that messed with the gameplay formula somewhat; and the unlikely Dragon Ball Z For Kinect from 2012.
The Budokai Tenkaichi fighting games are notable for their vast rosters of playable characters (and alternate character forms) and their over-the-shoulder 3D cameras, which give fights a very dynamic feel. The trailer for the new entry doesn’t reveal much, but it does show a handsomely modeled Goku undergoing a dramatic transformation. And the reactions from longtime fans hungry for a new Budokai Tenkaichi game have been intense.