Dragon Ball Z: Budokai

Seen as the first proper 3D Dragon Ball video game after Final Bout, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai is a high-speed 2.5D fighting game that focuses on the beginning of the Sayian Saga to the end of the Android Saga. It's also one of the very first Dragon Ball games to introduce "What-if" stories, something fans been wanting for years.

It would receive a sequel not long after, fully focusing on the Buu Saga.

Unused Graphics#

Early Screenshots#

Found inside the data_us.afs is several screenshots from a unknown early build of the game, many of which range from minor to very noticeable in terms of differences.

Early	Final
The camera is zoomed out more.

Early	Final
The ship's color is more white than being blue-ish.

Early	Final
There's less clouds and the grass uses a different shade of green.

Early	Final
Freeza's model uses different lighting.

Early	Final
Vegeta has a different, smoother face texture.

Early	Final
Goku's model has different lighting and hair. The space pod lid also isn't present.

Early	Final
There's different lighting and Future Trunks model is different.

Early	Final
Future Trunks face texture is different, along with the skybox.

Early	Final
Brighter lightning and skybox as well.

Early	Final
The camera is zoomed out more and lightning is overall brighter.

Early	Final
The skybox is slighty different.

Miscellaneous#

Early Character Select Screen#

A early draft of the character select screen can be found, using a very different design and art style for the UI and characters.

Skill Shop Shenron#

The textures for the game's Skill Shop include a picture of Shenron, which cannot be seen in-game.

Bulma's Panties#

Bulma at the end of the Namek Saga and the beginning of the Android Saga actually has white panties textures, which are never seen normally in-game due to her being exclusive to cutscenes.

Unused Models#

Scrapped Models#

There's several models that go completely unused in the final game, many of which suggests that the game was meant to feature more content like cutscenes and playable segments.

Unused Audio#

Cut Playable Characters#

Within the game's files are a few references to cut characters, namely in the form of character announcements by the World Tournament announcer. While two of these are to be entirely expected, it appears that Cui, who otherwise makes only one appearance in the entire game and has zero remaining data related to him being playable, was also intended to be in the game at some point.

The World Tournament announcer also has a couple of unused voice clips that seem to be an unused alternate quote for winning a match, as well as a scrapped mechanic.

"Contestant wins!"

"A winning streak!"

Debugging Material#

Debug Menus#

Applying the below code then pressing L3 button while in the Edit Skills menu will enable this screen. These menus would allow you to quickly choose a game mode, fighter, and stages, however aside from the ESS SELECT debug menu, the other options have no functionality.

USA (SLUS-20591) code:

Press L3 While In Edit Skills Menu For Debug Menu
0021CDA8 0000000?
E002FFFD 004E8922
2035E268 00000016
2035E264 00000001

Replace "?" with:

6 = ESS SELECT
4 = TRAINING SELECT
3 = TOUR SELECT
2 = VS SELECT

Debug Camera Display#

Apply the below code to enable camera information on-screen.

USA (SLUS-20591) code:

Enable Camera Info
20571624 00000001

Regional Differences#

Opening Music#

The opening to each Saga is different in each version. The Japanese version recreates the original opening from the anime and uses "Cha-La HEAD-Cha-La" for the theme music. The US version replaces the theme song with "Rock the Dragon", the theme song from the original Ocean Group dub of the anime, making this the only Dragon Ball game that has used that theme. The European version instead uses an entirely different intro, consisting of a montage of story mode clips set to "Running to Victory", one of the game's music tracks.

Title Screen#

Japan	US	Europe

Each version's title screen varies in some way, either with the logo or the copyright information.

Miscellaneous#

• The Japanese and European versions exclusively use a Japanese voice track with the entire cast from the anime. The US version has an English voice track using the current-at-the-time cast from the Funimation dub.
• The English subtitles differ between the US and European versions. While the US version's subtitles match the English dub, the European version uses a somewhat loose translation of the Japanese dialogue.
• Mr. Satan was renamed to "Hercule" in the US version only, due to content policies at the time.