Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Even though the series started in Japan back in 1989, and ended in 1996, the tie-in games just keep on coming for Dragon Ball Z. Atari has announced Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 for the Wii and PS2. Like the previous installment on Wii, this is part of the Dragon Ball Z Sparking series in Japan and is developed by Spike.

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 will include improved Wii controls and over 150 playable characters, which is a lot of big-haired dudes and blonde versions of those same big-haired dudes. The stages will include day/night versions, which opens up a transformation ability for many characters. There's a teaser animation on the Japanese website, but no screens or anything yet.

What did you all think of the last DBZ game on Wii? Are you enthused about another one? Has the series been run into the ground?

Those guys over at IGN managed to get ahold of the latest build for Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and came away impressed. In going over the preview, they managed to pry loose tons of details about the game.

The game will take the sandbox approach (free-roaming story mode) and offer 50 hours of gameplay to complete the single-player story. The entirety of the game's content will follow the manga, anime, and many movies, featuring over 120 characters.

The game will allow fusion characters such as Gotenks and Vegito to join in on the action, along with a highly-customizable system for each character in the game. Customizing can be done on multiple levels, from cosmetic looks to combos, moves, and special powers. This is all done via an in-game money system allowing the player to purchase upgrades. All of the characters will have optional Japanese voiceovers and fight in interactive arenas twice the size of previous games. Also confirmed is that gamers will have a choice between using the Wiimote or plugging in their GameCube controller to play the game. Finally, the Wii version is to have enhanced graphics when compared to the PS2 game.

Submitted to Go Nintendo, a Japanese scan shows that Dragonball Z Tenkaichi 2 will be releasing for the Wii this November. This estimated release date is obviously for the Japanese gaming world and does not apply to us lowly gamers outside of the Mecca of gaming that the nation is, so we'll have to wait a tad bit longer.

No other information can be taken from the scan, other than the knowledge that someone apparently did not enjoy the figurines, choosing to angrily place a giant X across a majority of the scan. The magazine in which this scan comes from is also a mystery at this time.