Gameplay
Budokai includes various game modes: Story Mode, Duel, Practice, World Tournament and The Legend of Hercule.[3] Story consists of 3D cutscenes which progress the main plot, incorporating the voice overs from the TV anime. Divided into a number of chapters, the idea is to recreate several prominent moments from the Dragon Ball series. It covers three story arcs: Saiyan, Android and Cell Games, and the player can unlock capsules or other characters for use.[3] Depending on which episode is being played, the playable characters are Goku, Gohan, Piccolo and Vegeta. At the end of every story arc there are bonus what if episodes, and one plays as the main villain of that story arc; Vegeta, Frieza and Cell respectively.
World Tournament represents a sequence of battles in a tree-based tournament between eight to twenty competitors. There are three difficulty variations (Novice, Adept, Advanced), and each of them have to be completed first in order to unlock the next setting. Duel allows the players to fight with no restrictions and two versions of each character.[3]
By winning the battles, the players can win prizes that are used to build up an existing character. Each one can be optionally customized by using a 7-slot skill tray; players may choose up to seven skills and assign them to a character. Some skills can take up multiple slots. These skills can be used in "World Tournament" Mode and Versus Mode. Skills may be purchased from Mr. Popo with the prize money from the World Tournament mode.
Besides punch, kick and guard moves, a "ki" button can launch smaller balls as long as there is enough energy. If it gets connected with the end of a combo, a special move will be executed.[4] There are three types of skills: Special Moves, which include skills such as the Kamehameha Wave and the ability to become Super Saiyan; Physical, which includes such skills as Zanku Fist; and Equipment, which provide boosts such as increased defense. One can also purchase Dragon Balls, and when the player has collected all of them, Oolong appears and summons Shenron, giving the player a choice of three Breakthrough capsules; these allow a player to use all of a character's moves and abilities at once.
The game's roster consists of 23 playable characters. According to the game's voice files, Cui was also meant to be a playable character, but he was scrapped and replaced by the Great Saiyaman, the only character from the Majin Buu story arc in the game.
