A new entry in the Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi series has officially been announced by publisher Bandai Namco, during the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Championship tournament. While details were scarce, a flashy trailer revealed a new game is currently in development, and that it will include modern Super Saiyan forms for long-time series protagonist, Goku.
‘Get ready for battle,’ Bandai Namco announced. ‘A new Budokai Tenkaichi begins.’
The teaser featured a flash reel of action from past Budokai Tenkaichi games, before revealing a shiny ‘next gen’ Goku powering up to his Super Saiyan Blue form, which was first introduced in Dragon Ball Super.
You can check out the trailer for the new game below, courtesy of GamersPrey:
Notably, the Budokai Tenkaichi series has laid dormant for more than a decade. Many assumed that the popular 2D Dragon Ball FighterZ had surpassed the 3D-oriented fighting games, and that Bandai Namco had long moved on.
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Budokai Tenkaichi 3 was released a whopping 16 years ago, and the last franchise entry – Tenkaichi Tag Team – launched in 2010, for PlayStation Portable. Despite this, the enduring popularity of the Dragon Ball series has seemingly led to a major revival.
So far, we know very little about what’s on the way beyond the involvement of Bandai Namco, Toei Animation, Bird Studio, and Shueisha – the companies currently helming the rights to the Dragon Ball franchise. It is unknown whether the original developer, Spike (now Spike Chunsoft), will return. Regardless, the return of the beloved Budokai Tenkaichi series is worth celebrating.
These fighting games sparked a revolution in what anime games could look and feel like, and contributed to the rise of other, stellar anime fighting titles – including games like Naruto Ninja Storm – which, coincidentally, also currently has a new entry in development with Bandai Namco.
We can expect to hear more about this, and the newly-announced Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi game, in the coming months.
