[Playing…] Dragon Ball Z Super Butoden 2 – La Legende Saien

If we review the Japanese catalog of any console with a minimum of success we will see that it has a considerable number of games based on animes or mangas. Many of those games never reached the West and could only be played by purchasing the import game (usually at prohibitive prices).

Even games based on series as famous in these parts as dragon ball they stayed in Japan to the displeasure of their Western fans. Fortunately, in France otaku culture was so popular that Some Japanese companies thought it was worth investing in bringing some of those games out of Japan exclusively for the French market..

Since Spain is next to France, many of these games were also marketed in that territory., where the fever for Japanese series was big enough to make a profit even if the game was sold in French (including, of course, a copy of the instructions in Spanish).

One of the titles of dragon ball that came to the West for Super Nintendo was Dragon Ball Z Super Butoden (Dragon Ball Z in Europe), a mediocre fighting game, but with many good and innovative ideas that conveyed the spirit of the series very well, such as splitting the screen when the characters move too far away or the possibility of fighting in the sky or on land.

The good ideas of that game were polished and improved in its sequel Dragon Ball Z Super Butoden 2 which fortunately also reached France and Spain under the name Dragon Ball Z The Legend Saien.

Despite being a two-dimensional fighting game, it cannot be said that it has gameplay similar to others of the same genre that populated the enormous Super Nintendo catalog. in this game There is a well-measured balance between fighting game and game of Dragon Ball Z.

The Y button is used to punch, the B to kick, the A to throw fireballs and the X to fly or return to the ground (as long as we are minimally far from the rival). If we press the Y+B buttons at the same time, our character will begin to charge the energy bar, which is consumed when using some of the special attacks and the two strongest attacks such as the Kame Hame Ha and similar. The L and R buttons are used to fly quickly forward or backward and if we press them twice in a row they also serve to fall on our feet or kick the opponent when he grabs us and to balance ourselves after receiving a Meteor Attack (slightly reducing the damage received).

If the two fighters are separated by a long distance or one is on the ground and the other is flying the screen will split, when that happens it is convenient Pay attention to the little figures at the top of the screen that act as radar and they show us more or less how far we are from the opponent and the position of the energy balls, which is important for certain attacks (with limited range) and to try to make quick attacks that catch the opponent by surprise.

The game has 10 characters: Goku, Gohan, Trunks, Vegeta, Piccolo, Cell, Cell Jr, Broly, Bojack and Zangya. These last three characters were a surprise in their day, since they come from the Dragon Ball movies and were not well known around here when the game was announced. It also didn't help that the French version called them Tara, Kujila and Aki respectively. As a curiosity to say that In the Japanese version of the game, Broly and Son Goku are secret characters and they have to be unlocked with a trick, but in the European version they are available from the beginning.

Each character has about 8 special attacks including special attacks that do not consume an energy bar, energy attacks that do consume it and finally super attacks that, in addition to consuming a lot of energy, make the game stop and focus on the character when doing his Kame Hame Ha (or equivalent).

When the latter happens, the opponent will remain still and when he is approached he will make a slight movement, that is when we will have to do any of the combinations to counter the enemy's attack. For example, if we press back and the A button, our character will take cover and receive only a small part of the damage, if we press forward-back-forward and the A button, it will generate a force field that will nullify the enemy attack and if we press down-back-forward and the A button we will make a counterattack that will give rise to the classic Kame Hames clashes that will be won by the player who presses the A button the most times and it is one of the most rewarding moments of the game if you play against a friend. We must avoid making this type of attacks while being close to the rival because in that case our character will remain still for a few seconds making the attack, but the rival will be able to move freely to hit us before we launch it.

In addition to these moves, all characters (except Cell Jr) have a Meteor Attack that will only work if you are close to the opponent. These attacks are the most damaging in the game and They will throw the rival against the rocks or slam him into the ground (depending on the scenario where you fight). Mastering these moves is very important because they can turn the combat around and also do not consume any energy bar.

Character attacks (except Meteor Attack) can be seen in the pause menu, making it much easier to learn how to play the game in case you don't have the instructions. Some characters (like Cell Jr) have more attacks than what is shown on the screen so you can get some surprises.

Si hay una cosa única en este juego es su modo historia, que se desarrolla mediante diálogos y escenas que tratan de imitar a un capítulo de la serie (salvando las distancias). En este modo solo podemos elegir a Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo o Trunks y una vez elegido el luchador no podremos cambiar.

La historia del juego está dividida en tres episodios fijos (Cell, Los piratas y el Saiyan Legendario) pero el contenido de estos pueden variar ligeramente basándose en las victorias y derrotas de nuestro personaje, así como de las decisiones que tomemos durante el juego. Esto puede dar lugar a situaciones tan raras como que si perdemos siempre, sea otro personaje el que elimine al enemigo quedando él como héroe o que en algunas partidas tengamos que buscar las bases de los piratas para eliminarlas todas, pero en otras solo tengamos que eliminar a los piratas.

Este modo está lleno de curiosidades y guiños a los fans de la serie, por ejemplo antes del combate contra Cell, Mr Satan aparecerá para hacerse el héroe y caer humillado exactamente igual que en la serie. También veremos muchos personajes secundarios (Chichi, Bulma, Dende, Mr Popo o Krilin) mientras recorremos el mundo buscando las bolas de dragón e incluso podemos provocar algunas de las situaciones más épicas de la serie (como que aparezca el fantasma de Goku para ayudar a Gohan a matar a Cell) si cumplimos algunas condiciones.

Al igual que el resto del juego, el modo historia está en perfecto francés en la versión Europea, lo cual lo facilita bastante en comparación con el japonés de la versión original. Aunque no sepáis francés es bastante fácil jugarlo e incluso entender los comentarios de los personajes hasta cierto punto. Por último comentar que este modo de juego tiene dos finales, uno común y otro especial que solo saldrá si hemos logrado llegar hasta el enfrentamiento final contra Broly (y le derrotamos, claro).

Además del modo historia existen otros modos de juego. Como el de combates sueltos, donde podemos elegir jugar combates contra otro jugador o la consola, o el modo Campeonato donde podemos participar en una competicion de hasta 8 luchadores (jugadores reales o de la consola) para emular los clásicos torneos de la serie. Lo gracioso de este modo es que los personajes aparecerán representados con caricaturas hasta que empiecen los combates.

La música del juego es tan variada que incluso tiene temas que difícilmente se relacionarían con un juego de lucha. En general es bastante animada y queda bien con los combates, pero lo más llamativo que se puede decir de ella es que quizás os recuerde a canciones de bandas como Pink Floyd, Propaganda o incluso The Beatles. Esto se debe a que la música de este juego (al igual que casi todos los de dragon ball) fue compuesta por Kenji Yamamoto, un autor que durante décadas se inspiró demasiado (o directamente plagió) en canciones de muchas bandas, actitud que mantuvo hasta que le demandaron por plagio por la música de los juegos de Dragon Ball Z en Playstation 2, lo cual lo apartó de los videojuegos y la serie de dragon ball (por aquel entonces se encontraba haciendo la banda sonora de Dragon Ball Z Kai).

Dragon Ball Z Super Butoden 2 – La Legende Saien es un juego que representa muy bien a la serie, tiene un modo historia muy curioso y es muy divertido y fácil de jugar (aunque no es demasiado rápido, por lo cual os recomiendo usar el truco para activar el modo turbo, que lo hace mucho más intenso y agradable).