Sales Upon release in Japan,
Dragon Ball Z: Super Butōden topped the
Famitsu sales charts in March 1993. Two months after its release in Japan, the title recorded sales of 1.3 million units. It proved to be a commercial hit, with lifetime sales between 1.41 million and, according to
Famitsu, 1.45 million units, in Japan alone.
Critical response Dragon Ball Z: Super Butōden received mostly positive reception from critics.
Famitsu praised the voice samples, the split-screen feature, ability to avoid special moves via button inputs and auto mode for newcomers. Fan reception was positive: readers of
Famimaga voted to give the game a 23.08 out of 30 score, ranking at the number 46 spot in a poll, indicating a large popular following.
Famimaga also gave it several awards for character and originality respectively. Spirit, Laurent Defrance and François Hermellin of praised the audiovisual presentation, playability and longevity. Olivier Prézeau, Grégoire Hellot and Laurent Deheppe of commended the digitized sounds, aerial combat, character roster and sprite animations but criticized various aspects such as the visuals for being poor and the French translation.
Super Pros Ryan Butt gave positive remarks to the graphics and sound, characters and their special moves, as well as regarding the split-screen effect to be novel but noted it could become cumbersome, while criticizing the gameplay for being repetitive.
Super Actions Frank O'Connor gave a more negative outlook to the game, regarding it to be an "unplayable"
Street Fighter II clone.
Super Plays
Matt Bielby gave positive comment to the graphics, cast of characters, originality and number of special moves but noted it to be "hard to access."
Play Times Klaus Martin also commended the audiovisual presentation but felt mixed in regards to the gameplay.
Super Controls Allison West and Paul Mallinson also felt mixed about the visuals, sound, gameplay and overall longevity. In contrast, Sylvain of gave a very positive review of the title, giving it high remarks in multiple areas. Spanish magazine
Nintendo Acción gave very high remarks to the visuals, audio, gameplay and fun factor. Bruno Sol of praised its faithfulness to the original manga, graphics, sound design and number of moves for each character, regarding it as one of the best arcade-style fighting games for Super Nintendo.
Jeuxvideo.coms Rroyd-Y stated that "This first game in a successful trilogy is surely not the best episode of the three. Stained by a very heavy gameplay and a disconcerting difficulty, it will really only delight the unconditional fans of the time who seek at all costs to slip into the skin of Son Goku or Vegeta." == Notes ==