Rating: 4 out of 5
My Thoughts: Gohan kicks some serious butt like he hasn't done a while and shows some serious power while Majin Buu transforms again!
DBZ Volume 5.10 Fusion - Losing Battle
Ratings: 4 out of 5
My Thoughts: Goku returns to Earth, the Old Kai reveals a new type of fusion, Majin Buu becomes stronger again, Vegeta returns, Goku goes super saiyan 3 again. This tape contains a lot of action but I give it an extra star for the brief appearence of the fused Goku and Vegeta!
DBZ Volume 5.13 Kid Buu - Regression
Rating: 5 out of 5
My Thoughts: Vegeta proves hes an idiot again as he creates another powerful form of Majin Buu called Kid Buu. I love flashbacks (the ones will all new footage) and this one has a good one of life before Majin Buu and how he eliminated the kais and why he became Fat Buu. It is in this vid that Majin Buu suceeds where no other DBZ villain has, he blows up the Earth!!! We also get to see the other world fighters Pikkon, Olibu and Mariakoh which is cool!
DBZ Volume 5.14 Kid Buu - Saiyan Pride
Rating: 5 out of 5
My Thoughts: The battle of battles begins and Goku finally goes Super Saiyan 3 again! Its about time! Vegeta fights Buu without going super saiyan and gets totally wasted! In hell we get to see Frieza, King Cold, Burter, Jeice, Guldo, Recoome, Cell and Dr Gero watching the fight and Babidi even shows up! But the best part of this one is after wathcing Goku fight Buu Vegeta finally admits that Goku is better than him!!!!
DBZ Volume 5.15 Kid Buu Vegeta's Plea
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
My Thoughts: It's good to see the old Fat Majin Buu again and this time hes back as the good guy! It's all very happy as the Earth is restored as well and Vegeta proves he's till the same impatient guy he always is...
DBZ Volume 5.16 Kid Buu - The Price of Victory
Rating: 5 out of 5
My Thoughts: Awesome is the one word I'd use to describe this DVD I mean its got everytingyou'd ever want from Dragonball including the final defeat of Kid Buu! We also get to see people that haven't been seen in ages or not since Dragonball including Android 17, Launch, King Cold, Android 8, Bora, Upa and Babidi! Altogether an awesome thing to see! The only sad thing is that after this there's only four episodes of DBZ left to be seen!!
DBZ 5.17 Kid Buu - A New Beginning
Gohan Rating: 5 out of 5
My Review: The first episode begins shortly after the last DBZ release left off as the gang get together for a party meanwhile Goku is of trying to save some Pteranodon eggs from being crushed before they are born. Of course you can’t help but wonder why he would bother with this but I think it proves that Goku does care about other things besides fighting. The next three episodes are set ten years after Majin Buu’s defeat and its good to hear Future Trunks’ voice again (he’s done by Eric Vale) as now Kid Trunks has become a teenager. Naturally Goten is also a teenager as is Krillin and #18’s daughter Marron. Goku is now a grandfather to Gohan and Videls daughter, Pan and Vegeta and Bulma now have a daughter (who is not named but her name is Bra or in the English version, Bulla). Without giving too much away I think that theres no better way to end the series. The fans get a good fight, and a happy ending as presented here is probably the best way to the the saga that is Dragonball Z. It’s a lot better than one of Akira Toriyama’s original ending points for the series which would have been Goku dying after defeating Frieza (Frieza would of died by the way) and Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, Yamcha and Chaozu were also dead. Anyway I give this one five out of five (I’d give it a six but that would be wrong…) I mean it is the finale of Dragonball Z!!!
Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan
Gohan2k's Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5
My thoughts: This ones got an excellent plot and a VERY powerful villain that nobody can seriously mess with which is actually ths movies downfall. As the villain is so powerful theres no good way he can be defeated and so after watching the Z fighters get the crap kicked out of them for half an hour the villain is defeated within the space of a minute
Dragonball GT "Affliction and "Incubation"
Affliction Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5
Incubation Rating: 4 out of 5
My Thoughts: Skipping the first sixteen episodes and having a flashback episode (A Grand Problem) means we start the series in the middle of a battle. The first flashback episode explaings why Goku is now a kid again and that Goku, Trunks and Pan have to journey round the galaxy looking form the Black Star Dragonballs or else the Earth will be destroyed! At the beginning Trunks and Goku are captured by robots and its up to Pan to save the day. After freeing them Goku begins to battle with a form changing robot and then later General Rilldo who has the ability to encase people in metal (think Han Solo in carbonite from Star Wars) and who also has the ability to control metal (and resembles Meta Cooler). After Goku and Pan are also encased in metal they are all transported to Dr Myuu's laboratory where a dark secret is revealed. I won't reveal what that secret is for thjose of you who haven't seen it yet. Not a bad start to the series although the real interesting bit is in the last episode on the Incubation volume "The Baby Secret" and it leaves you wanting more....
Platform: Playstation 2, Nintendo GameCube (coming soon)
Price: $110.95 (PS2)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
The Good: Awesome graphics, special attacks look awesome, easy to pull off some attacks, can transform into a Super Saiyan at will, quite a lot of characters, Cyborg Frieza!
The Bad: Long loading times, Characters speak in Japanese, No characters beyond the Buu saga
My Review: The first Dragonball Z fighting game to be released for the American release and the first fighting game released since Dragonball GT: Final Bout is Dragonball Z Budokai. This game has both good a bad points and starting with the bad is the fact that in the PAL version the characters only speak in Japanese. This is good if you are familiar with the Japanese version of the show as it has all the voices from the Japanese show but is a bit dissapointing if you've only familiar with the English version (like me). The American version of the game has all the voices from the English version of the show which makes it even more annoying. In the Story Mode this means that there are subtitles which you have to read and detracts from watching the story which is all beautifully rendered in 3D but the Tournament and Duel modes they speak and you have no idea what they are saying. I also don't like the long loading time which can take up to a minute which is a long time to wait.
The good is really good. Like I already said the graphics are all in 3D and allt he story mode is just scenes from the anime rendered in 3D which looks awesome. Every character has a special attack and they all look awesome like Goku's Spirit Bomb and Android 16's Hell Flash which decmate the battle arena (and there are many to choose from including the Cell Game Ring, Kami's Lookout and Hyperbolic Time Chamber). I also like Goku's Warp Kamehameha and Mr Satan's Present for You (funny stuff!). The main difference in this game compared to every other DBZ fighting game is that rather than have the emphasis on firing energy blasts from a distance at people you have to get in for some close combat which makes for more exciting battles. I also like how you can, with certain attacks send people flying into another area. One of my favourite things to do is get Frieza and customise him to have Frieza's spaceship so that if your opponent manages to KO you then Frieza's spacehip will come and heal you back to fll health and turn you itno Cyborg Frieza!
Altogether it's a great game which most DBZ fans will enjoy but things like the Japanese voices and long loading times bring it down but these are things that they can improve for the sequel.
Note: This a review of the PS2 PAL version of the game which was released in New Zealand, Australia and Europe
Dragonball Z: Ultimate Battle 22
Platform: PS-One
Price: $69.95
Rating: 3 out of 5
The Good: Lots of characters, Buu saga characters, all moves are listed in manual, five secret characters that can be unlocked by using the code also in the manual
The Bad: Some ridiculous character and attack name changes, super energy blasts don't look that good
My Review: When I got home after buying this game I immediately began playing and to be honest I found it a little dissapointing. The graphics are only slightly better, and the gameplay almost the same as the ROMs for Super Butoden 1-3 and Hyper Dimension, avaliable for trial at this site. This is good if you want to own one of those games and don't want to play with your computer keyboard (which is annoying). Just don't expect the graphics to be comparable to those found in the PS2 version of Budokai as the graphics for this game were done in 1995. The most annoying this however is the name and attack changes (which I'm assuming is only in the PAL version released in NZ, Australia and Europe) some are understandable like Kid Trunks is Trunk, Supreme Kai is Kaiohshin (his original Japanese name), Androids 18 and 16 are C16 and C18 (C stands for Cyborg) and Majin Buu is Majin Boo. Some name changes such as characters being called Ten Chin Han (Tien, a more accepted spelling would be Tenshinhan), Gotrunks (Gotenks), Likum (Recoome), Genious (Captain Ginyu), Super Bou (Super Buu) and the weirdest one, Genius Turtle (Master Roshi!) while the attacks are also renamed like Masen Light (Masenko), Burning Jet (Burning Attack) as well as several others whose names were so distorted I can't figure out what they really are yet. The upsides include the cool intro movie, the character selection of 22 characters including from the Buu saga, the manual which contains moves for every character as well as how to unlock the five secret characters (which includes Super Saiyan 3 Goku) and the Build Up mode which enables you to pick a character and strengthen him (or her) so you can battle a friends character to see who's stronger. All in all its not as good as Budokai but it's still better than the Legacy of Goku and Legendary Super Warriors while I'd give Budokai a 3.5/5 Ultimate Battle 22 I'd give a 3/5.
Note: This is a review of the PAL version (New Zealand, Australia and Europe)