Despite being dormant for more than a decade, a new game in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series has been announced. Bandai Namco and Toei Animation made the surprise announcement at DRAGON BALL Games Battle Hour 2023 in Las Vegas, which also streamed live on YouTube.
The last main title in the series was Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, which was released in 2007 on PlayStation 2, and the Nintendo Wii. So fans are undoubtedly excited at the return of one of the greatest fighting game franchises of all time. Although, barely anything has been revealed about the game, only sharing that a new game in the Budokai Tenkaichi series is in development.
It is not as if the Dragon Ball fighting game scene has been empty, with Ultimate Tenkaichi, Xenoverse, Raging Blast, and of course FighterZ all being released since then. But, there are so many Dragon Ball Z fans that grew up with the franchise, playing those games, so a return to that style of fighting with everything that comes along with modern gaming is quite exciting.
A fan on Twitter shared footage of the crowd’s reaction on Twitter, which you can see above, and they exploded in applause and cheers exactly how you imagine they would.
Another fan posted an image of Michael Jordan crying with his father after his championship win, with the caption “THEY ARE MAKING A DRAGON BALL BUDOKAI TENKAICHI 4.” Interestingly enough, they did not announce the name of the game, so it could not be called Dragon Ball: Budokai Tenkaichi 4 or Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 4. Because of Goku’s transformation into his Super Saiyan Blue form, it could very well be named Dragon Ball Super: Budokai Tenkaichi and cover the Dragon Ball Super era rather than rehashing the Dragon Ball Z era.
Another Twitter user has compared the game to one that is releasing this year by sharing an image of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 alongside the caption “My Hype Level for Dragon-Ball Z:Budokai Tenkaichi 4 is HIGH. Surpassed in levels of hype by only 1 other game.” Unfortunately, a release date was not something that was announced alongside the game, although we will be sure to provide you with an update when more gameplay is revealed and a release date is announced.
However, it does seem like the game is in early development based on the short snippet that was released, so we probably won’t be seeing the new Budokai Tenkaichi game until at least 2024.