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Ah,
the video game rumors. Everyone has heard one. Whether it
be beating Final Bout nine times to get Gotenks,
or doing twelve backwards-flips to unlock Bulma in Budokai
3, everyone has heard something from a friend who knows
a guy who's unlocked Pilaf. Unlike with a print-manga
or animated show, video games are interactive and can
be examined, especially with the power of computers. We
can literally dissect the game's files to see what really
is contained on the disc... and what
is not contained on the disc. We have
got more than just that, though. There are some other random
little misconceptions to go along with the rumors, and
we are here to make sure you are getting the most accurate
information you can find!
RUMOR:
Gotenks and/or Pilaf are playable characters in DragonBall:
Final Bout.
STATUS:
False (the "Pilaf" part
is kind of our fault...).
 EXPLANATION:
The rumors that Gotenks is a playable character in Final
Bout go back a long way; there have even been corresponding
"codes" to go along with this rumor (such as
beating the game nine times in a row on hard difficulty
with Trunks). However, Final Bout came out in
1997. It is well over a decade later, now. You would think that over the course of all these years someone would have:
-
a screen shot
-
hacked the game's coding
...to
reveal some images, some sound files... something. Alas,
there is nothing. Meri (of Temple
O' Trunks) took advantage of people on 1 April
2002 with a screenshot showing Gotenks and Pilaf as playable
characters on the character selection screen. You would
think having Pilaf on there would give it away (never
mind it being April Fools' Day), but unfortunately...
people are NOW asking how to play as
Pilaf when they ask how to play as Gotenks!
RUMOR:
Taiketsu is the first game to feature Broli as
a playable character..
STATUS:
False.
EXPLANATION:
When the game was first announced and released, Atari
hyped up Taiketsu (WebFoot's first entry into
the land of fighting games, coming off of Legacy of
Goku, also on GBA) as being the "first game"
to feature Broli (Broly) as a playable character.
Well,
that is half true.
 Taiketsu was
certainly the first American-made game to feature Broli
as a playable character, but hardly the first-ever game.
Back in 1993 (nearly a decade before Taiketsu),
Super Butôden 2 was released for the Super
Famicom (SNES) in Japan.
The
sequel to the popular 2D fighting game, Super Butôden
2 had a secret code (Up, X, Down, B, L, Y, R, A on
the screen as Gohan flies forward with the overture music)
that would allow you to play as both Son Goku and Broli.
The game takes place towards the end of the Cell Game,
with a little bit from DBZ movie 9 thrown in, as well
(as seen by Broli fighting a transformed Bojack in the
image above). Of course, most (newer) American fans had
never heard of this game, nevermind played it enough to
know of the hidden characters available to them.
In
conclusion? Kakarrot...to...!
RUMOR:
Capcom will be producing a DBZ game (similar to "Marvel
vs. Capcom")
STATUS:
False... sorta.
EXPLANATION:
Capcom has never owned the rights to DBZ video games in
either the US or Japan, and most likely never will. Bandai has exclusively
produced DBZ games in Japan since the beginning; Atari
(formerly Infogrames) currently holds the US rights, and
this looks to be changing no time soon (at least until 2010 when their present contract runs out). This rumor is
no more than wishful thinking, transmitted as fact.
In 2005, however, slightly more came to be with this rumor. It
was announced that Banpresto would be creating an all-new
DBZ fighting game for arcades entitled Super
DragonBall Z. In charge of this game would be ex-Capcom
producer (!) Funamizu, along with his studio Craft and
Meister (see the original
announcement on The Magic Box from June 2005). Unlike
typical Capcom games, however, Super DragonBall Z
would retain the recent cel-shaded style of 3D graphics.
The game was released to Japanese arcades on 22
December 2005, and eventually saw a home console release worldwide on the PlayStation 2. There has been no word on a follow-up to this game.
RUMOR:
Steve Lukather (of the band Toto) performs on the Budokai
games' soundtracks.
STATUS:
True.
 EXPLANATION:
Believe it or not, the "legendary" Steve Lukather
of guitar-playing and Toto fame does indeed perform the
insane guitar work you heard in the various Budokai
fighting games released on the PlayStation 2 / GameCube.
While his official site only hints here and there to various
Japanese recordings, he is clearly listed by name in all
three main games' closing credits.
He can also be seen playing alongside Tower Of Power and Hironobu Kageyama in the bonus DVD included with the DragonBall Z & DragonBall Z 2 (Budokai & Budokai 2, respectively) dual-soundtrack (see above image). The accompanying DVD is actually region-free, so worldwide DragonBall fans can import and see for themselves with little-to-no effort!
RUMOR:
SSJ4 Goku is an unlockable character in the first Budokai
game.
STATUS:
False.
EXPLANATION:
This
obviously makes very little sense. With the exception
of the bonus character of Great Saiyaman, the game's own
story does not even reach into the Majin Buu arc of DBZ,
let-alone introduce characters and transformations from
DBGT. The prevalence of this rumor seems to stem for a
"method" for unlocking SSJ4 Goku actually making
its way to the respective GameFAQs code page for some
time.
Of
course, no-one unlocked the transformation/character,
because it is not in the game. The game is many years old, has been released on multiple platforms in
multiple countries in multiple languages, and no-one has
uncovered a SSJ4 Goku, especially since we all have our
100% complete capsule sets, already!
RUMOR:
You can unlock a Golden Ôzaru in Budokai
3.
STATUS:
False.
 EXPLANATION:
This
rumor began in very late October 2004. An image began
making its rounds across message boards and other sites,
and we all know what happens from there. Suddenly, the "rumor"
that you can play as a Golden Ôzaru becomes
"fact"... except that it is not. Place
your cursor over the image on the right. What
do you notice? Exactly.
As
you can see, the image was originally just a preview screen-shot
from a popular video game news website. Their logo was edited
out of the bottom corner, Piccolo was edited away, etc...
(You
can also view the full-scale edited
picture and full-scale original
picture.)
It is
actually a damn fine editing job, and perhaps the best "fake" video game
image we have seen. Dranet's
October 22nd update showcases a quote from the original
artist ("Genki"):
My
goal was the fun with this picture, not to believe to
people the Golden Ohozaru are in the game.
So
there you have it. What have we learned from this? Do not
believe everything you see on the Internet without questioning
it first and finding out where it came from. Above all
else... do not paste these things in your website updates
unless you damn well know what you are talking about. Learn
to research.
RUMOR:
Bulma is a playable character in Budokai 3.
STATUS:
Unsubstantiated (All releases; American/European/Japanese).
EXPLANATION:
This was quite possibly the biggest rumor going
around the DBZ community during the PS2 generation. With in-game screen
shots, movie clips, DVD extras, cheat devices... and, of course, the
raving fanboys on message boards... it is no wonder.
A
month or so before the game was released, we asked Steve
Simmons if there were any "extra" hidden characters
that fans had not unearthed the existence of yet. He informed
us that pretty much everything was out of the bag, with
the exception of Bulma possibly being
playable in some sort of capacity (even
he wasn't 100% sure, himself). It was left at that until
the game was released.
 Nearly
immediately, fans noticed Bulma's presence in the 11th
stage (of 12 total) in "Training" mode. Complete
with an in-game character model, Bulma teaches you how
to use capsules. She does not respond to attacks, and
does not so much as move in any way (other than the standing
animation). You can sidestep around her, though, to confirm
that there is indeed a complete in-game model.
So
is she in the game as playable, or not?!
Soon
after, we managed to rip some audio files from the game.
Contained on the disc is a collection of all of the World
Tournament announcer's "name-calls" (before
a match he will say, for example, "Goku versus...
Vegeta!"). Contained within this batch, at the very
end, was "Bulma versus...!" and "Bulma!"
(MP3,
30 KB)
So
we have an in-game model and a character announcement. Let us
keep going.
 With
the "Collector's Edition" version of the game
came an extra bonus video DVD entitled "Behind the
Screams." Containing interviews with most of the
FUNimation voice actors, there are several scenes of Tiffany
Vollmer (the FUNimation voice actress for Bulma) performing
various fighting sounds and noises into the microphone
(MPEG-1,
892 KB). It would make no sense to record a series
of in-game character voices for a character that is not
going to actually be in the game, so there is something,
here.
So
now we have an in-game model, character announcement, and voice actress
footage. Let us keep going!
As
a little more time passed, fans were able to come up with
Codebreaker / Action Replay codes for the PlayStation
2 game that would unlock every capsule in the game...
including, apparently, ones that were never finished.
It is possible to view the "Bulma" capsule with
these codes, which reads the same as any other character
capsule ("Bulma be used in Duel, Tournament,
and Practice Modes. Can be played when acquired!").
Sadly, however, Bulma does not actually appear in the
character selection wheel (even with this capsule code
activated).
Some
fans have claimed to have been able to use character-modification
Codebreaker codes to actually use (an unfinished) Bulma
with in-game playing, though we have not seen
substantial proof to back this up.
Then comes the Japanese version.
As
of this writing, let it be known that there have been
absolutely no official
codes released that allow you to unlock
Bulma as playable in any way, shape, or form. However,
some fans have been able to get further than the American
version's glitches (a showcase of merely the Bulma capsule)...
and actually obtain a semi-playable Bulma.
The
first person to get this far seems to have been dsxgate
of the GameFAQs
Budokai 3 forum. dsxgate claimed that they were
not entirely sure of the process, but it seemed to involve
a combination of Action Replay codes (mostly involving
free capsules in the shop) and complete 100% unlocking
of every single last thing in the game (including all
level 99 "Dragon Universe" characters). Others
have claimed similar results with similar requisites,
but only dsxgate actually provided two movie clips to
show this. Below are two screen shots from these video
clips:
Via
these combinations of glitches, Bulma's capsule appeared
for purchase as the very last item. When obtained, Bulma
appears as a third costume for Videl (similar to the other
new actual costumes in the game, such as Piccolo-Daimaô
for Piccolo). Since Bulma appears as a costume for Videl,
the voice used is not Hiromi Tsuru (the original seiyû
for Bulma), but instead Yuko Minaguchi (Videl's seiyû).
Bulma is able to fly, but seems to only have two attacks
(which are also Videl's), and while she can perform "Dragon
Rush," she does not have an ultimate attack (which
pretty much destroys the rumors of Bulma throwing capsules
as an attack).
Additionally, the same list of character announcements, as present
in the American version of the game, appear in the game's
audio files (the very last ones being "Buruma-senshu
tai...!" and "Buruma-senshu!").
So
what is the final verdict? Quite frankly, we really do not
know. All signs seem to point to the fact that Bulma was
absolutely intended to be used as a playable character
in the game (first in the European/American release, and
then again in the Japanese version)... but for some
reason or another... just never was completed.
There are no official codes or strategies for "unlocking"
Bulma without the help of an Action Replay device, and
seemingly only in the Japanese version of the game.
RUMOR:
The Budokai games are all rushed, unfinished
products.
STATUS:
Yes & No.
EXPLANATION:
The feeling of "rushed" games was not felt until
the release of Budokai 3. At first, many fans
were simply expecting more from the game; a mere 11 characters
in "Dragon Universe" seemed strange (especially
when more obvious choices could have been made), the "What-If?"
fusions from the previous game were now gone, etc. However,
it was not until we started digging through the game's
audio files on the disc, itself, that we unearthed even
more evidence.
As
you can read above with the Bulma rumor, it seems as if
Bulma was intended to be a playable character
in the game, but was possibly just not finished in time.
Bulma's name is not the only "extra" announcement
on the game disc, however! Fans may be shocked to know
that recorded are also announcements for Jinzôningen
#19 ("Android 19"), Dodoria, Zarbon, and "Shin"
(in addition to Bulma). These sound files have been compared
to those in previous games (the first three noted in this
list were standard playable characters in the first Budokai game); they are
entirely different recordings, which means their announcements
were recorded brand-new for inclusion on the Budokai
3 disc.
Fans
theorize as to what this "Shin" may have been.
The first character that comes to mind is Kaiôshin,
but he has his own regular name announcement ("Supreme
Kai" in the American release), though this announcement is
immediately after "Supreme Kai" in the list.
Other ideas include "Shen," the pseudonym Kami-sama
went under during the 23rd Tenka-ichi Budôkai.
However, since the game uses only FUNimation names, as
FUNimation re-named the character "Hero" for
the English dub, this makes little sense.
This
all stems back to a comment made by the game's producer,
Daisuke Uchiyama, which inferred that any and all characters
from previous games (such as #19, Zarbon, and Dodoria)
would be returning for the third installment. Of course,
we now know that the characters are not
actually in the game.
Further
exploring the game's audio, we happened upon what appears
to have been the beginnings of a "Dragon Universe"
storyline for Chibi ("Kid") Goku! You can actually
hear most of this audio in the game, itself, in the various
"Memories of..." capsules. We present it to
you here, however, in a zip file containing a series of
34 sequential audio files (ZIP,
1.96 MB).
Interestingly,
with this knowledge of "extra" files on the
disc, we went back to the previous two Budokai
games to see if we could turn anything else up. While
Budokai 2 showed absolutely nothing of interest,
the first Budokai game had some interesting items!
Just like with Budokai 3, additional World Tournament
character announcements can be heard. Saibaiman ("Saibamen"),
Cell Jr., and of all characters, Kewi ("Cui")
all have their names announced! It would seem that the
developers had the idea of Saibaiman and Cell Jr. being
playable since the very first game, but either a)
never got around to including them, or b)
used the announcements to test the characters and their
techniques for game-development purposes, only.
These
names were recorded for a reason, and it is frustrating
to not see what the final fruits of labor could have been.
The first Budokai game has been out for ages, now (on two game systems), and nothing additional
has turned up with regards to the "extra" three
character announcements (Saibaiman, Cell Jr., Kewi). Luckily,
Budokai 2 seems relatively complete (ignoring
the few extra items the Japanese release received, such
as Kuriza, Goku/Piccolo's extra outfits, and an additional
"Dragon World" stage). For more information
on Budokai 3 and its "missing" items,
see the above rumors.
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