Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, released as in Japan, is a video game based on the popular anime series Dragon Ball Z and was developed by Dimps for the PlayStation 2. The game was published by Atari in North America and Australia, and Bandai in Europe and Japan. It was released on November 16, 2004 in North America through standard release and a Limited Edition release, which included a DVD featuring behind-the-scenes looks on the game's development. Europe soon saw a release on December 3, 2004. In Fall 2005, Europe obtained a new edition which included character models not available in the North American release as well as a few items and the ability to switch the voices over to Japanese. Japan later saw a release from Bandai on February 10, 2005 and also included the extras that the North American release did not have. Soon after, the Greatest Hits version in North America contained the extra features, including the ability to play with the Japanese voices. Gameplay Game mechanics Ki - The Ki system is completely revamped from the past two Budokai games. Each character now has a base Ki level, and Ki will increase or decrease until it is at this base level. If Ki is higher than base Ki, then attack power is slightly boosted, if the Ki drops below base, defense is lowered. Transformations no longer drain Ki. Instead, most transformations increase the base Ki level, raising attack power, and exaggerating increases and decreases in stats when they are above or below base Ki. Transformation - A transformation will increase the base Ki level, and is only reverted if a character is hit with less than one ki gauge, or if they allow hyper mode to run out. Additionally, some transformations are irreversible. Beam Struggle - If two beam attacks collide a beam struggle is activated. Both opponents then attempt to push the beams against one another until one of the sides wins. If two beam attacks collide at close-range, the beams will instantly cancel out and cause damage to both characters. Fatigue - A new fatigue meter is added to the HUD. This meter fills up every time a character performs defensive maneuvers, or a dragon rush is initiated. Fatigue is lowered when characters runs out of energy, or by using certain items. During an ultimate move, high fatigue makes it more difficult to power