New Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi Announced

A new entry in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi video game series has been announced to be in the works! The Dragon Ball franchise has been in the midst of a great revival in the last few years with not only a new entry in the anime for the first time in four years with Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero’s feature film running through theaters, but many of the video game pursuits have gotten new material as well. But now we’re getting one of the biggest revivals yet with the return of the Budokai Tenkaichi franchise in the near future. 

Announced to be in the works during the special Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour event this year, it was revealed that a new Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi game is now in early production. Unfortunately there is no release date or window for the new entry just yet, but you can check out the (Japanese) teaser trailer below to see how the visual fidelity of the franchise will be updated for this new release. It’s also a confirmation that we’ll get Super Saiyan Blue Goku in the new game too! 

What is Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi? 

Budokai Tenkaichi was the franchise sparked from a slate of three titles in the Budokai series that took things in a huge new direction. Titled Dragon Ball Z Sparking! in Japan, these games turned the Tekken like fighting style of the Budokai series and expanded it to a full on arena fighter. These games also expanded the rosters to include tons of characters both big and small (in both literal size and popularity), and the third game ended up having 98 or so characters with 160+ transformations at their disposal. 

It’s been 16 years since the last Budokai Tenkaichi game was on shelves, and with Dragon Ball Xenoverse essentially taking its core gameplay, it’s a surprise to see a new title on the way. It already seems like more than a remake with the inclusion of an updated Goku seen in this teaser trailer, but with it being so early on in the production there are still many details left to be revealed. 

Are you excited to get a new Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi game after all these years? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!