Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is the third entry in Spike's 3D fighting series, released on October 4, 2007 in Japan for PS2 and Wii and shortly afterwards in the West. In Japan it is called Dragon Ball Z Sparking! Meteor. With 98 characters in 161 forms, it had the biggest roster ever seen in a fighting game at the time, and for seventeen years it was the benchmark for anyone who wanted to "play the anime".
What it is and how it plays
The Tenkaichi games use an unusual camera for the genre. Instead of a side-on view, it sits behind your fighter, who moves freely around 3D arenas, flies off, and closes the gap again at supersonic speed. Every transformation counts as its own character with unique stats and moves: early, mid, late and GT Goku are four separate fighters.
Energy drives everything. Charging ki unlocks special moves (Blast 2), while a separate, self-refilling stock powers support skills (Blast 1). Push past the limit and you enter Max Power Mode, which makes you faster and stronger and opens up the Ultimate Blast, each character's strongest attack. Tenkaichi 3 adds a set of advanced techniques:
- Sonic Sway: a quick close-range dodge followed by a counter;
- Z-Counter: the classic teleport behind the opponent, seen countless times in the anime;
- Blast Combo: end a combo with an energy attack, such as a Kamehameha after knocking your opponent away;
- Z-Burst Dash: a very fast zigzag dash that burns through ki quickly.
Modes and new features
Story mode, Dragon History, covers the key fights of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and GT, with short scenes you can trigger mid-battle. It is shorter than Tenkaichi 2's, but adds a What If Saga with scenarios set in alternate timelines. Alongside it you get the Sim Dragon simulator, Mission 100, Survival, several tournaments (including the Cell Games and an Other World tournament) and free duels with teams of up to five fighters, balanced by a points system.
Three additions stand out:
- Day and night: some stages change time, and under a full moon Saiyans can turn into Great Apes;
- Battle Replay: record and rewatch your best fights;
- Online play on Wii only, a first for the series, while the PS2 version got the Disc Fusion System, which unlocked extra modes when you inserted the discs of the two earlier games.
Newcomers included King Cold, King Vegeta, Nail, Devilman and Arale, a sign of how deep Spike dug into the whole franchise, movies included.
Reception
Critics found it good rather than great: it averages 73 on PS2 and 72 on Wii on Metacritic, and Famitsu scored it 32/40 on PS2 and 33/40 on Wii. IGN liked it, but criticized the thinner story mode compared with Tenkaichi 2, the clunky Disc Fusion and online play plagued by lag and disconnects. Players were far kinder: for years fans kept asking for a Budokai Tenkaichi 4.
Did you know? On Wii, around ten special moves, including the Kamehameha, the Spirit Bomb and the Masenko, could be performed by miming the gesture with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. The team picked them because they were the easiest to reproduce with motion and the most fun to actually "do".
A quick note on the name: in the West, the Budokai Tenkaichi title made many people think it continued the Budokai trilogy, but they are two separate series from two different studios.
Legacy and Sparking! Zero
After 2007 Spike moved on to Raging Blast, and the series sat dormant until 2023, when Bandai Namco announced a sequel. It became Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, released in 2024 and developed by Spike Chunsoft: same camera, same philosophy, an even bigger roster. Anyone who loved Tenkaichi 3 will feel at home in seconds.
Who it is for
This is the game for players who want to live the anime's battles rather than study frame data: you can learn it in minutes, and the hundreds of forms make you want to try everyone, from Goku and Vegeta to the movie villains. Today it requires a PS2 or a Wii, so newcomers will find its modern successor the easier option.
Our take
Budokai Tenkaichi 3 was a playable encyclopedia before Xenoverse existed: flawed, with shaky online play and a rushed story, but with a generosity no other game of its era could match. No wonder it sits third in our ranking of the best Dragon Ball games, right behind the game that inherited its crown.