Dragon Ball Z Extreme Butoden Review

There are few 3DS games that I feel eager for, especially since I only have a 2DS. They’re pretty much limited to anything with Pokémon or Dragon Ball in the title -- luckily one of those has come out! No, unfortunately it’s not a new Pokémon title. Did you click on this link without looking? Come on, now…

I could bore you with why I love Dragon Ball Z for a few pages, but then I’d have nothing to write about the next time I review a DBZ title. Suffice to say, it hit the sweet spots of “It’s a Japanese cartoon”, “If I talk about anime, my friends will know I’m above them” and “Oh, sweet, that guy just got shot through the chest with a freaking laser”.

It’s a good thing that I’ve seen every episode and most of the movies, because if I was completely unfamiliar with the series, the story mode in this 2D beat ‘em up would make me put down the handheld and wonder whether I should install Star Wars: Empire At War after all. You have to complete the first story mode to unlock all of the other modes, so as you crash around the entire 291 episode saga in a completely unconnected way, you might be left wondering what on Otherworld is going on. Unless you’re very familiar with what Otherworld is.

Know what Battle of the Gods is? If not, you don't know this guy

After the summary “Dragon Team” story, told from various viewpoints but mostly series main character Goku, you then open up the Goku, Krillin, Gohan, Piccolo and Vegeta Sagas, which are What If story modes. They vary in quality, but each is ten fights with a little bit of alternate story such as you might make up whilst retelling a fight you had, to your drunken mates. “Yeah, then, right, he said the only reason a human could beat him, yeah? Was because, right, because, listen to this… Listen, right… Because he was only just turned into his perfect form, right?”. However, they do make you fight the exact same people in the exact same order over and over again, starting with Raditz and ending with Kid Buu.

Thankfully those aren’t the only modes unlocked, as there is Adventure Mode, a completely new storyline featuring the return of all of the enemies from the story mode, due to time and space, blah, collect Dragon Balls, yadda yadda... It’s kinda lazy, in that Extreme Butoden boasted over 100 characters, yet only 25 of them are playable. The rest are unlocked as Z-Assist characters, which do various things when tapped during a fight, from restoring your health to attacking the enemy.

Adventure Mode

Adventure Mode takes longer to complete than the story sagas (which takes around three hours if you watch the visual novel-like cutscenes), and the length is increased further thanks to it unlocking things, only if you finish with an S or A ranking. You can progress without them, but you’ve gotta catch ‘em all! I shall remind you (and myself), once again, that this is not Pokémon.

Finishing the Adventure Mode unlocks the Extreme World Tournament, which is another series of fights to muddle through, but more challenging. Which is good, because the early stages of Adventure and the majority of Story are very easy. Find a combo that works, and use it to pin the enemy against the side of the screen for 80% of the match. Whether it’s punch and kick combos, or jump and kick combos, most of those fights can be easily won with some repetition. I didn’t even pull off a special move that wasn’t an accident until I had finished the first two story modes, and then I never needed to use them.

Swapping characters can save you a loss

The other modes are Battle Mode, playing any combination of unlocked fighters against a team of AI-controlled ones, Versus Mode for local multiplayer, and Quest Mode which uses Streetpass to enable trading of Guild Cards. I couldn’t check what they were, because nobody near me had bought the game, opening weekend, but apparently it will unlock new items to use in Adventure Mode on a roulette wheel, should you meet with several other players.

Graphically, this is very nice to watch in motion. The sprites move fluidly, and the 3D backgrounds don’t intrude on the gameplay. Special attacks are nice and flashy, the way that it zooms in and follows your attack just like in the show is a nice touch. The music is as upbeat as you would expect from an action-packed game, and the touches of Japanese voice acting add to the charm.

Fathers fighting and sons as Z-Assists

Some other nice touches are in the Adventure mode, where the characters chat about things from Dragon Ball, or mention things you saw in the series. There is also an Item Shop in that mode which lets you buy buffs for Zeni that you win in fights, such as a Magic Carpet or Baba’s Crystal -- both again references to Dragon Ball. Lots of the Z-Assist characters are minor characters, or even major ones not seen since Dragon Ball.

However, you can’t get by on charm alone, and that is really all that Extreme Butoden has in spades. The combat is too simple, even the special moves only require a shoulder button and face button. The addition of Z-Assists isn’t a new innovation by any means, as it’s been a staple of Bandai Namco games since the original DS, with Jump Super Stars. The graphics are wonderful, and there is a lot for fans, but for anyone looking for a decent beat-’em up should look elsewhere. If you want a fix of Dragon Ball whilst you wait for Dragon Ball Super to air in the West, and it has to be on the 3DS, then you might as well pick this up. Everyone else should just download Dragon Ball Dokkan Battle for their smartphone.