Jayonnaise6105
Princess of Nightmares and/or Queen of Friendship
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2025
- Messages
- 571
- Pronouns
- Them/They
The Intro
Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury is an action RPG for the GameBoy Advance and, despite its rather standalone title, is indeed the third and final game in the Legacy of Goku trilogy. Once again developed by Webfoot Technologies and published by Atari Inc., it was released in the United States on September 14th, 2004. Supposedly, this game was only released in the US, although I definitely had this game growing up and I live in the PAL/European region. I could not find info online supporting my claim, though.
I find it a bit weird that the "Legacy of Goku" moniker was dropped from the title here. Webfoot had spent a good few years cultivating an identity and brand recognition for LoG, working through the growing pains of the first LoG and releasing a genuinely great 2nd game, only to partially disregard that effort in the final release. My best guess is that the marketing team wanted to emphasize that Buu's Fury would cover the Majin Buu Saga, as that would have only finished airing in the US the year prior to release and would have been a major selling point among fans. After all, the original Dragon Ball Z Budokai on PS2 was released in 2002, around the time of the US airdate for the Majin Buu Saga, and was criticized, in part, for not covering said Saga in its story mode.
I find it a bit weird that the "Legacy of Goku" moniker was dropped from the title here. Webfoot had spent a good few years cultivating an identity and brand recognition for LoG, working through the growing pains of the first LoG and releasing a genuinely great 2nd game, only to partially disregard that effort in the final release. My best guess is that the marketing team wanted to emphasize that Buu's Fury would cover the Majin Buu Saga, as that would have only finished airing in the US the year prior to release and would have been a major selling point among fans. After all, the original Dragon Ball Z Budokai on PS2 was released in 2002, around the time of the US airdate for the Majin Buu Saga, and was criticized, in part, for not covering said Saga in its story mode.
Buu's Fury vs Legacy of Goku II
So, how does Buu's Fury compare to the Legacy of Goku II? Well, they are fundamentally very similar. A lot more similar to each other than either is to the first game. In modern terms, one might call it an expansion or a DLC to the 2nd game. The combat controls are largely the same, although you can no longer charge melee attacks for increased damage. This is an agreeable change, as Ki blasts are far more effective in combat anyway. Super Saiyan transformations are quicker and don't drain your Ki meter as quickly. The story is structured very similarly, although is now divided into chapters.
Using the scouter to fill a database with entries on NPCs and enemies makes a return, although descriptions are less like flavour text and more like matter of fact statements. It's still a really cool side activity to include in the game, although it feels slightly less fun than in LoG II. LoG II introduced stats for each playable character, with you being able to find items to manually increase the stats of your chosen character. Buu's Fury expands on this concept by giving you a handful of skill points every time you level up and that you can freely distribute among each characters stats.
The biggest change in terms of gameplay, is the brand new equipment system. Each playable character can now equip up to four items, one to each of their body, hands and legs, plus one accessory, to alter their stats. This is pretty typical for an RPG, but adds a bit more variety when coming from LoG II.
The equipment system also facilitates the new item shops and currency system, where enemies now drop money, in addition to health and Ki pick-ups, for you to buy new equipment. My personal favourite equipment items were the weighted training pieces, as they increase how much exp you gain in exchange for decreasing your overall movement speed. It's such a fun little way to implement a useful and balanced mechanic that has a noticeable effect on the gameplay, while tying it back into the lore of the source material.
Using the scouter to fill a database with entries on NPCs and enemies makes a return, although descriptions are less like flavour text and more like matter of fact statements. It's still a really cool side activity to include in the game, although it feels slightly less fun than in LoG II. LoG II introduced stats for each playable character, with you being able to find items to manually increase the stats of your chosen character. Buu's Fury expands on this concept by giving you a handful of skill points every time you level up and that you can freely distribute among each characters stats.
The biggest change in terms of gameplay, is the brand new equipment system. Each playable character can now equip up to four items, one to each of their body, hands and legs, plus one accessory, to alter their stats. This is pretty typical for an RPG, but adds a bit more variety when coming from LoG II.
The equipment system also facilitates the new item shops and currency system, where enemies now drop money, in addition to health and Ki pick-ups, for you to buy new equipment. My personal favourite equipment items were the weighted training pieces, as they increase how much exp you gain in exchange for decreasing your overall movement speed. It's such a fun little way to implement a useful and balanced mechanic that has a noticeable effect on the gameplay, while tying it back into the lore of the source material.
The Story
I think Buu's Fury is where the story follows the Funimation dub of DBZ the closest. Even the minor deviations from the story of the Anime aretied to the lore in a way that makes logical sense. Picking up from where LoG II ended, Buu's Fury begins with Goku preparing for the Other World tournament and this is where I start to notice the attention to detail.
Most DBZ games omit this stretch of filler from the Anime. Webfoot not only included it, but even went as far as making unique models for characters only featured in this filler. Characters like Olibu & The Grand Kai, as well as giving each opponent that Goku fought in this Anime filler their own boss fight. This carries on further into the story when confronting Babidi & Dabura. Most other games omit large chunks of this section as well, but Buu's Fury gives Babidi's Spaceship its own dungeon and his henchmen their own unique boss fights.
*Babidi's Spaceship dungeon and the prelude to the Yakon boss fight
Like LoG II, it also utilizes some of the DBZ movies for content. So, even though it condenses the last 100 or so episodes of DBZ down to around 10 hours of gameplay, it still manages to cram in plenty of fan service. With the story focusing on a new Saga, it's also natural that the playable characters would partially change from the last game. There are still 5 main playable characters: Goku & Vegeta remain largely the same, Gohan is now in his late teens and Future Trunks & Piccolo were replaced with Kid Trunks & Goten.
This change is dictated based on each characters importance to the story, but man was I disappointed as a kid that I couldn't play as Piccolo. I know he doesn't do much fighting in the Buu Saga, but they couldn't have made him a secret unlock or something? This comes down to personal preference, but it really felt like a step down having Kid Trunks & Goten as replacements. It doesn't help that Goten & Kid Trunks are the only playable characters during the hunt for the Dragon Balls, which kinda slows the pacing of the game for a bit, in spite of some fan service moments being thrown into this section.
*Goten and Trunks are tasked with finding the Dragon Balls
There are also a handful of additional characters playable either in select one-off story moments, or as unlocks after finishing side content, bringing the playable character total to 11.
Most DBZ games omit this stretch of filler from the Anime. Webfoot not only included it, but even went as far as making unique models for characters only featured in this filler. Characters like Olibu & The Grand Kai, as well as giving each opponent that Goku fought in this Anime filler their own boss fight. This carries on further into the story when confronting Babidi & Dabura. Most other games omit large chunks of this section as well, but Buu's Fury gives Babidi's Spaceship its own dungeon and his henchmen their own unique boss fights.
*Babidi's Spaceship dungeon and the prelude to the Yakon boss fight
Like LoG II, it also utilizes some of the DBZ movies for content. So, even though it condenses the last 100 or so episodes of DBZ down to around 10 hours of gameplay, it still manages to cram in plenty of fan service. With the story focusing on a new Saga, it's also natural that the playable characters would partially change from the last game. There are still 5 main playable characters: Goku & Vegeta remain largely the same, Gohan is now in his late teens and Future Trunks & Piccolo were replaced with Kid Trunks & Goten.
This change is dictated based on each characters importance to the story, but man was I disappointed as a kid that I couldn't play as Piccolo. I know he doesn't do much fighting in the Buu Saga, but they couldn't have made him a secret unlock or something? This comes down to personal preference, but it really felt like a step down having Kid Trunks & Goten as replacements. It doesn't help that Goten & Kid Trunks are the only playable characters during the hunt for the Dragon Balls, which kinda slows the pacing of the game for a bit, in spite of some fan service moments being thrown into this section.
*Goten and Trunks are tasked with finding the Dragon Balls
There are also a handful of additional characters playable either in select one-off story moments, or as unlocks after finishing side content, bringing the playable character total to 11.
Flaws
It's really hard not to compare this game to LoG II, when both are very similar. I think that level of similarity also makes the differences between them stand out that little bit more. LoG II would introduce these character specific doors, where only the specified character could open them and only after they'd reached the level of the number written on the door. These doors were kept to a minimum in LoG II, and mainly reserved for optional side content, but they're a lot more prevalent in Buu's Fury. They are used more frequently in Buu's Fury as roadblocks for main story progress, resulting in mandatory exp grinding as an arbitrary way of padding out the story. I already mentioned the Dragon Balls being treated as a pace-halting fetch quest, even if it is given a logical place in the story. LoG II also felt like it had more variety between the signature moves of the playable characters. Goku, Gohan & Goten all feel really similar to play as, with all three having access to the Kamehameha Wave and the Super Saiyan transformation. Maybe not quite a negative, but some boss models are proportioned a bit big. That makes sense for characters like Yakon & Spopovich, but less so for someone like Yamu, who is shorter in the Anime than playable characters like Goku & Gohan. I find it weird, anyway.
*Spopovich & Yamu attacking Gohan. The two villains are nearly identical in size, when Spopovich's character is meant to be bigger than everyone else.
*Spopovich & Yamu attacking Gohan. The two villains are nearly identical in size, when Spopovich's character is meant to be bigger than everyone else.
Conclusion
I think it really comes down to personal preference on if someone will prefer LoG II or Buu's Fury. There isn't nearly as big of a leap in quality between them as there was between LoG I & II. I personally prefer LoG II, but I still consider both to be really fun licensed Anime games that still hold up, in spite of some flaws. I always thought it would've been cool to get another game in this style that covered something like Dragon Ball GT, or Dragon Ball Super, but you could also argue that more modern Dragon Ball games like Kakarot or Xenoverse 1 & 2 act as spiritual successors to the LoG trilogy. They are also action RPGs but with more modern 3D graphics and an emphasis on more visually spectacular combat, while also featuring deeper gameplay mechanics and covering way more of the Dragon Ball story. Still, I'll always have a soft spot for the 32-bit GBA graphics of the LoG trilogy, and the simple yet engaging gameplay. Even with more advanced options, I would still want a follow-up to Buu's Fury. I would still come back to the LoG trilogy every now and again, and I would still recommend to any Dragon Ball fans to check these games out, regardless of if you never played them before or haven't played them in a while. Just don't feel too obligated to finish the first Legacy of Goku. I posed the question in my last review on if Buu's Fury would be a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, to this series of RPGs based on one of my favourite Anime properties, and I think that it is more than satisfactory.
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