Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
Android #16
Complete the “Aim For Perfect Form” episode to unlock Android #16.
Android #18
After you finish story mode, re-enter it. Go to the Android Saga and find the new episode Super Saiyan Vegeta. Enter this episode and you will end up fighting Android #18. Once you defeat her, you will get a new skill that states that you can now use Android #18 anytime.
Cell, Android #17, and Teen Gohan
Play through “The Androids Saga” at any level to unlock Cell, Android #17, and Teen Gohan.
Dodoria
Defeat Recoome with Vegeta.
Freiza, Ginyu, and Recoome
Play through “The Namek Saga” at any level to unlock Freiza, Ginyu, and Recoome.
Mr. Satan (Hercule)
Win a World Match Tournament at the “Adept” level to unlock Mr. Satan (Hercule).
Radditz, Vegeta, and Nappa
Play through “The Saiyan Saga” at any level to unlock Radditz, Vegeta, and Nappa.
Saiyaman (Gohan’s alter ego)
Win a World Match Tournament at the “Advanced” level to unlock Saiyaman (Gohan’s alter ego).
Super Saiyan ability (Goku only)
Play through “The Namek Saga” at any level to unlock Super Saiyan ability (Goku only).
Super Saiyan ability (Vegeta only)
Play through “The Androids Saga” at any level to unlock Super Saiyan ability (Vegeta only).
Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 abilities (Teen Gohan only)
Play through “The Androids Saga” at any level to unlock Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 abilities (Teen Gohan only).
Super Vegeta
Complete the “Vegeta’s Confidence” episode to unlock Super Vegeta.
Trunks
Complete the “Perfect Form Cell Complete” episode to unlock Trunks.
Yamcha
Complete the “Aim For Perfect Form” episode to unlock Yamcha.
Zarbon
Complete the “Vegeta’s Attack” episode to unlock Zarbon.
Alternate background
When you start the game and “Press Start” appears, remain idle and a FMV sequence will start. When the title screen appears, the background will be different. There are three or four different backgrounds. Besides the four backgrounds in the startup menu, and two different start up title songs, there is the normal background that has the actual Dragon Ball Z title screen from the show. There is also one that has to do with each main villain played against in the game.
Alternate level appearance
In the alternate Cell Ring, pieces of mountains will have holes blown through them, houses will be smoking in the background, and the ring itself will be cracked and almost destroyed. Also in the background, some buildings have holes in them and one even has part of a train track in it. Use the Spirit Bomb with Goku and you will find yourself in a crater fighting your opponent, with twisters in the background. Additionally, use one of the following moves with the indicated character to fight in a crater:
- Spirit Bomb with Goku or Cell
- Super Kamehameha with Teen Gohan
- Big Bang Attack with Vegeta
- Burning Attack with Trunks
- Hellzone Grenade with Piccolo
- Death Ball with Freiza
Random level
At the level selection screen, press Up. The screen should now have question marks and now say random. It will select any level in any order.
Tournament wins
When in Tournaments, instead of trying to kill the CPU opponents, just lure them close to the edge of the ring. Tap A + Down to move behind the opponent, then use a strong move to knock them out the ring.
Story mode replay
Once you have completed story mode once, you will notice that there are some people missing, except for Gohan as a super hero and Hercule who get unlocked in world championship mode. Go back to story mode and you will see what you have done instead of starting a new story. Some of the episodes will have “New” beside them. Go into those episodes to get new players and new player abilities, such as a Super Saiyan for Vegeta.
Taunts
Taunting (press P + K + G + E) will lower your opponent’s Ki gauge by 1.
Attack boost
Add a Senzu Bean with Sayian Heritage. Your attack will be boosted after the Senzu Bean is used. A normal bean takes up 3.
Charge your own energy
To charge your energy, rotate the Right Analog-stick clockwise. This works best with Piccolo.
Easier combos
If you are doing a combo that your having trouble with (for example, the Super Kamahamaha (K(2), Right + K, K, E), hold the D-pad and press the rest of the moves and it will put in the arrows. For example, hold Right and press K(2), K(2), E.
Extra Zenie
When you complete The Legend Of Hercule, the points you earn will be turned into Zenie.
Allow two player custom skill level on one memory card
At the character selection screen in duel mode, have player one choose a character first. Then, choose the custom skill setting. Then, take the memory card in slot one and move it to memory card slot two. Player two can now choose a custom skill setting without having two memory cards. If you do not like the random choice of three characters that Shenron powers-up, restart the GameCube. All your Dragon Balls will still be there when the game is resumed. Summon Shenron again until you like the choice of the three random characters.
Using two custom characters with one memory card
At the character selection screen, choose the first character (player one or two),while the other player waits. After the first player chooses, remove the memory card from slot one and put it in slot two. You should now be able to choose another custom character for player two.
The Dragon Balls
Within the game you can collect the seven Dragon Balls. In order to get them, you have to buy them at Mr. Popo’s shop. However, they are very rare. They cost 8000 Zenie each and will only appear in a “Recommended” or “Gambled” Capsule. After collecting all seven, go to the Caps List option in the “Edit Skills” menu. Then go along to the second to last list. If all seven Dragon Balls are present, press A and you will be asked if you wish to summon Shenron. Select “Yes” and you will be given the option to “Breakthrough” three random characters. Breakthrough is a Capsule which will open all the Death Moves, Transformations, and Physical Moves of the character in possession. However, it takes up seven ability slots and cannot be equipped in conjunction with anything else. After choosing your character, the Dragon Balls will disappear and you will have to collect them all again. If you do not like the random choice of three characters that Shenron powers-up, restart the GameCube. All your Dragon Balls will still be there when the game is resumed. Summon Shenron again until you like the choice of the three random characters.
Get Dragon Balls quicker
Go to the Skill Shop and go down to the “Recommended” section. It will tell you what item it is. If it is not a Dragon Ball, exit and re-enter the shop again. The Recommended item will have changed. Keep repeating this until you see a Dragon Ball in the Recommended section. Make sure you have enough money, as each Dragon Ball costs 8,000 Zenie.
After you complete story mode, go back to it. Go to Saiyan Sage episode 3, Saiyan Attack. You will play as Piccolo. You will first face five Saibaimen. Defeat them. Next, you have to face Nappa. You will only have two thirds health though. Defeat Nappa. Return and do this again as many times as you desired. Every time you defeat Nappa the first time without losing, you will get a Dragon Ball capsule.
Go to the tournament and win a lot of Zenie. Then, go to Mr. Popo’s shop and buy everything in the “Recommended” section. Eventually, you will acquire the maximum amount of every capsule (9) and force the CPU to give you nothing but Dragon Balls. This takes a lot of time, but eventually you will get every breakthrough and stack every character’s capsules up to 9, making them as strong as possible.
Burst Zone
When fighters simultaneously connect with an Energy Punch, you enter Burst Zone. You will know when this is happening by the speed at which both warriors are attacking and blocking. Rotate the Left Analog-stick as quickly as possible. If you are the fastest, you will deliver a powerful knock-back attack on your opponent upon exiting the Burst Zone. The easiest way to win in the Burst Zone is when you enter it, spin both the Left Analog-stick and Right Analog-stick as fast as possible. This has the same effect as pressing the directional buttons and command buttons all at the same time, but a lot easier to do.
Restore life
To get life without going into the rejuvenation chamber on Namek, go up closely to the chamber without going in. You should see your life bar fill.
Increased damage
If you equip two of the same ability, you will do a lot more damage. For example, if playing as Vegeta use the following: Final Flash x2, Big Bang Attack x2, Super Sayian, Super Vegeta, 1/3 Senzu Bean. Your attack for Final Flash and Big Bang will be higher.
Hidden area
You can destroy Kami’s lookout with Goku’s Spirit Bomb or Hercules’ Present For You. After you destroy it, you will fight in an area with a lot of dirt and a few mountains. On the island stage, hit your opponent into the rocks once or twice. They will shatter and you will fall into a cave-like stage with waterfalls in the background.
Field transformation
When playing as Trunks in practice mode, go to the grass land and use his burning attack. You will fight in a hole that Trunks made with his attack and the trees will be burned to a crisp.
Easy opponent damage in Kami’s Lookout level
Get your opponent to the edge of the lookout, then do a strong attack. They will fall off and you will follow them down. This will take off about half their green life bar.
Adept Tournament Capsule
Play in Novice mode and become number one. Go to Mister Popo. You will see a gray Capsule for 8000 Zenie. It is Adept mode.
Advanced Tournament Capsule
Play in Adept mode and become number one. Go to Mister Popo. You will see a gray Capsule for 8000 Zenie. It is Advanced mode.
Frieza’s Space Ship Capsule
Get 12,000 Zenie go to “Recommended” in Mr. Popo’s shop. When you see Frieza’s Space Ship. pay the 12,000 Zenie. This Capsule takes three spaces in Frieza’s slot. When you die, Frieza’s Space Ship appears and restores everything. It also transforms you into Cyber Frieza. Additionally, play through the Namekian Saga on the hardest difficulty setting and defeat Frieza at all times without losing once. The Capsule at the end should be Frieza’s Space Ship.
Gero’s Perpetual Energy Capsule
To get unlimited energy, go to Mr. Popo’s shop and go to the recommended section. Leave and return until Gero’s Perpetual Energy appears. Every character can use it, but no transformations are allowed.
The Legend Of Hercule (Mr. Satan) Capsule
Unlock Hercule and go to the Mr. Popo’s shop. Buy the “Advanced Tournament” Capsule and the one that appears next is “The Legend Of Hercule”. It is a new fighting mode, where you recreate the events that the public believed happened during the “Cell Games Saga”. Also, when you select Legend Of Hercule, make sure you have a Senzu Bean and custom Hercule. When you get to fight Goku, your health will not replenish when you fight Gohan and Cell.
Red Capsule
On world championship mode, if you win you get 10,000 Zenie and second place gets you 5,000 Zenie. This is useful because when you go to the shop and buy the Red Capsule, you will get some very good moves such as Super Saiyan Trunks, Kamahamaha for Krillen, and even Super Saiyan Level 2 for Gohan.
Super Trunks 2 Capsule
There is a capsule to get Super Trunks 2. It is stronger then Super Trunks and is very helpful when fighting in the tournaments. You can purchase this from Mr. Popo. The “Recommended” capsule section is the best place to find it. Exit in and out of the purchase screen and the recommended capsule should eventually appear as Super Trunks 2. Additionally, first buy the Capsule for the Adept level for World Tournament mode. Then, complete the Adept level with Trunks. When you go in the Skill Shop, the Super Trunks 2 capsule will be there for you to buy at the bottom as a Recommended Capsule.
Trunks’ Mystery Fiber Jacket Capsule
One of the rarest capsules in the game, this can be obtained by buying the recommended capsule at Mr. Popo’s shop or by completing the Androids Saga episode: A New Threat.
Extra capsule slot
When selecting Capsules for any Saiyan, half Saiyan (except Saiyanman), or Cell, you can trick the CPU into giving you an extra slot. First, use four slots for anything, then use the 1/3 Sensu Bean and Saiyan Heritage. There should be an empty slot at seven. Next, replace the 1/3 Sensu Bean for a normal Bean. In effect, you will get a full Sensu Bean for two slots instead of three. You cannot trick the CPU into changing the new eighth slot into anything else.
Getting Capsules easier
Go to story mode after you finish it. Finish any desired level and you should get a Capsule. Although you cannot choose the Capsule that you get, you might get a new Capsule that you need. Also, in order to collect all the Capsules and even the Dragonballs without playing in World Tournament Mode consistently to attain the money for them, just continue to play story mode after you have unlocked all the chapters. You will continue to receive capsules each time you play, and sometimes even a free Dragonball. Eventually, you will have the maximum of every capsule and force the CPU to give you Dragonballs. To make it even more simple, find a chapter such as number 9 in the Namekian Saga (Raging Frieza) that gives you three Capsules each time you complete it. The only capsules you will ever have to buy in Mr. Popo’s shop are the two World Tournament Capsules for Adept and Advanced, and The Legend of Hercule Capsule.
Ki Ball tennis
This has no purpose other than a laugh, and will not unlock anything in the game. Enter practice mode (or two-player duel if you want to play with a friend) and choose your characters and stage. When the fight starts, put as much distance between you and your opponent as possible. If in practice mode, set the opponent’s action to Deflect-Back at the pause menu. Once you are as far away as desired, launch an energy ball by pressing Circle. In practice mode, your opponent should knock it back at you. Just before the ball hits you, press Guard and if it timed correctly, it should be reflected back at the opponent. In a two player match, you can play it like a proper game. For example, flip a coin to see who serves (launches the energy blast). Set a score limit. If the Ki ball is knocked away, hits, or is hit by another Ki blast, whoever reflected the ball last gets the point.
Defeating Cell in all forms
As soon as you start, back up. Your opponent should run attack. Jump back and Kick(3). Repeat this until all his health is depleted.
Legend of Hercule
Put a Sensu Bean on Hercule before you start. You will be revived, but only during the Goku, Gohan, and Cell fights. You will just die in the other battles.
Real voice after transformation
A character’s voice will remain the same, even after transformations. Do a special attack to hear their real voice, such as Perfect Cell’s Spirit Bomb.
More authentic dialog at beginning of the fight
To have dialog that has to do with story mode or the series Dragon Ball Z, pair these two fighters together: Krillin and Android #18, Frieza and Goku, Vegeta and Goku, Android #16 and Goku, and Trunks and either Androids #17 or Android #18, Piccolo and Teen Gohan. If you pair these fighters as indicated, you will hear different dialog pertaining to the story mode, or the relation between the characters. Certain character pairs may also have different dialog at the end of the fight. Note: Great Saiyaman always says the same thing no matter what, but it always has to do with “Justice” or “Evil”.
Transformations
You may have already noticed that your character will be knocked out of his Super Saiyan Transformation when his Ki gauge goes anywhere below 3. By knowing this, you can determine several things in a battle. Note: Super Saiyan 2 Transformations also are knocked out at Ki gauge 3. Also, this has almost the same effect with Cell and Frieza’s Forms.
Easy win
To easily defeat an opponent, go to “Edit Skills” and give your character a Viral Heart Disease Capsule and a Vaccine Capsule. The Vaccine Capsule negates the effects of the Viral Heart Disease Capsule on your player, and only your opponent will get their life drained.
Fight through the story mode and/or the tournament mode until you can get the Senzu Bean, Viral Heart Disease, Vaccine, and Kamehameha skills. Equip all four skills on Goku, Gohan, or Krillin. When you now fight in a duel, allow your opponent to knock your health down to zero. By this time, the Viral Heart Disease should have depleted his health down to half of the last bar. The Senzu Bean will replenish all of your health and energy. Finish off your opponent with a four-punch combo and a Kamehameha.
Go into the options menu and set “Difficulty” to “Very Easy”, “Com” to “Very Weak”, equip the Vaccine, Viral Heart Disease, and a Senzu Bean, Set the time limit to 30 seconds.. When the match starts, dodge for the first fifteen seconds. The last fifteen seconds should deplete your opponent’s health. When the clock reaches zero, if you have not been knocked out of the ring, you will be declared the winner.
This trick do the maximum amount of damage and requires a controller with an auto-fire feature and Gero’s Perpetual Energy R&D. This can be with any character. Equip Gero’s Perpetual Energy R&D, then go to practice. Knock the CPU down. While the CPU is down, set Circle to auto-fire for the Ki Blast Wave. It will do damage over 10,000 and combos over 100.
Choose a small-sized character, such as Krillin or Gohan. Equip him with Vaccine and Viral Heart Disease and set the tournament to last thirty seconds. When you enter the tournament with your custom character, the opponent’s health will be going down. When the thirty seconds are up, you will win. This is a very easy way to get Great Sayiaman or money.
Destroying arenas
If you enter any battlefield with walls that touch against the field, push your opponent against the wall and do an Elbow Smash (Toward + Toward Hold + Punch) or some other hard hitting attack. Your opponent will be smashed into the wall, dealing the damage of the attack as well as an added bonus. This can also be done for higher walls and moves that will knock somebody outside of the ring.
To make an arena a smoldering crater, select a character with an Ultimate Move (for example Goku’s Spirit Bomb or Trunks’ Burning attack). Then, use the Ultimate Move. Note: You cannot destroy the World Tournament, Hyperbolic Time Chamber, or Kami’s Lookout (when you are actually on the Lookout) arenas.
Go to versus or practice mode and choose a character that has an Ultimate Attack, such as Trunks or Frieza. Use it on a character and after the blast you should see that Planet Namek is almost about to blow up with lightning and tornadoes.
Use a powerful energy attack to turn any battle into a desert wasteland. The following attacks can do this: Perfect Cell’s Spirit Bomb, Trunks’ Burning Attack, Android #16’s Hell Flash. Deathball and other attacks should also have the same effect.
Alternate endings
After you complete the story mode you will be able to go back and do new missions in the three different sagas to unlock characters and items. After you do the new missions for each saga (can be done randomly), another mission opens where the story from the cartoon and game is changed. In the Saiyan Saga, you play as Vegeta and take on the Z Fighters. After Vegeta defeats each of them he turns Super Saiyan. In the Namek Saga, you play as Frieza and once again take on the Z Fighters. Once they are defeated Freeza, will use the Dragonballs and ask to be invincible. His wish is granted and he destroys Namek and then goes after Earth. In the Android Saga, you play as Cell. After absorbing Android 17, Cell goes after Android 18. He will try to absorb her but Krillin will jump in the way and be absorbed instead. Cell will become a hilarious fusion between the two. He will then take on Yamcha. After the fight, Tien goes to blast him but Cell suddenly wakes up from a dream. He is in his Perfect form waiting for the Cell Games. Additionally, these episodes can be unlocked when you complete Story Mode at any level:
Saiyan Saga episodes
2. A Mutually Deadly Foe: You fight Radditz with Piccolo instead of Goku. You will shoot out the Special Beam Cannon. To win, rotate one of the Analog-sticks clockwise. To do this easily, put the palm of your hand on both Analog-sticks and rotate them clockwise.
3 .Saiyan Attack: You fight Saibamen and Nappa with Piccolo.
7. Vegeta Saiyan Prince: You fight through Goku, Krillin, and Gohan with Vegeta and see what would happen if Vegeta defeated them all.
Namek Saga episodes
2. Vegeta’s Attack: You fight Zarbon with Vegeta.
4. The Road to Super Saiyan: You fight Frieza with Vegeta.
5. Frieza or Vegeta?: You fight Frieza again, but this time Frieza is in his Final form.
9. Raging Frieza: You fight Gohan or probably Krillin with Frieza.
10. True Ruler: You fight the Z fighters and see what would happen if Freiza ruled them all.
Androids episodes
2. Super Saiyan Vegeta: You fight Andriod #19 with Vegeta.
5. Vegeta’s Confidence: You fight Cell with Super Vegeta.
6. Perfect Form Cell Complete: You fight Cell at Perfect Form with Super Vegeta.
11.Aim for Perfect Form: You fight Android #16 with Cell.
12. A Cold-Blooded Assassin: You fight Yamcha with a funny looking Krillin/Cell thing.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Square Enix.