This was my first time playing through Budokai 1 and 3.
1 was a good starting foundation and had a unique 3d style and good but simple core gameplay loop. The characters aren’t cel-shaded, they almost look like plastic sculptures.

3 however is one of the most complete 2D DBZ fighting games, that wasn’t rivalled until FighterZ, years later. The gameplay is fast, the attacks are impactful, and the progression is satisfying. I like that the open world map follows the game world map as Legacy of Goku 2 and Buu’s Fury. Each character had their own story mode where youplayed through their part.
There were also secret characters to be found but some were way too convoluted, involving multiple playthroughs of other characters and going somewhere on the map that isn’t indicated. Overall, one of the best DBZ games.

Budokai 1: 5/10
Budokai 3: 8/10

Dragon Ball, the popular anime series featuring a cast of wacky characters beating the shit out of each other seems like the perfect candidate to make a game out of. In fact there has already been a large number of these games on various consoles, so much so that it is difficult to know where to start. The Budokai series are some of the most popular games in the franchise, particularly 3 and so it's great to see them again on the console for more people to play. But wait, we have an issue, where is 2. This HD collection goes down a similar route to others by completely skipping a game. It's really hard to understand why, especially when they have skipped the middle one. Alas, we are left with two 1 on 1 fighting games. The combat is quite simple and button mashing works, but there are a lot of different ways to fight and combos to pull off. You can charge up attacks with your Ki and use special moves. The games also feature a lot of story and cutscenes which, as a non DB fan, went right over my head. 1 is a fairly standard fighter, and there is nothing special about it. It's short and doesn't offer much except the fights themselves. 3 is much better. It is less linear and offers way more features. You can level up your character with new skills. There's a 3D world for you to explore with even some secrets to find. The combat itself is similar to 1, but the more fleshed out game makes it feel way better. These are both short games and aren't really groundbreaking. Yet, its a nice little package and a nice place to start playing DB games. A must for dragon ball fans and a nice way to see if you would enjoy the other games if you are not a fan.