Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury

Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury is an action RPG developed and published by Atari for Game Boy Advance, released in North America on September 14, 2004. The game follows the mechanical template established by its predecessor, The Legacy of Goku II, with several new additions. The A button handles melee attacks, B fires energy blasts, L switches between available energy blasts, and R blocks. Pressing B and R together activates energy block. The player can volley an incoming Ki Blast back at the attacker by timing a melee strike precisely at the moment of impact, and the direction of that redirected blast can be controlled by angling the melee input in the desired direction.

A scouter overlaid on the map screen displays information about nearby characters and allows the player to survey the surrounding area. The pause menu provides access to the stat point system, where points earned from leveling up can be allocated to Strength, Power, or Endurance. Items looted from enemies or purchased at Z-Mart can be used or equipped. Early game items like 1 Ton Armbands and 1 Ton Boots slow the character when worn but increase experience gain during fights, offering a tradeoff between immediate performance and long-term progression. Missions are tracked in the Journal, providing an organized record of active objectives.

The game covers twelve chapters, with the playable roster rotating based on which saga is active. Goku, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Vegeta, Gotenks, and Gogeta are all playable across different story sections, with each character carrying their own transformation options. Super Saiyan 3 Goku and Ultimate Gohan are among the most powerful playable forms. After defeating Kid Buu, all characters become available for free play until the player initiates the ending sequence at Capsule Corporation, allowing exploration of the full roster before the credits roll.

Buu's Fury covers the final arc of Dragon Ball Z, beginning at episode 195 and concluding at episode 291. The twelve chapters span the Other World, Great Saiyaman, World Tournament, Babidi, Majin Vegeta, Dragon Ball, Majin Buu, Janemba, Super Buu, Fusion, Kid Buu, and Peaceful World sagas. The first chapter places Goku on Grand Kai's Planet, training with Olibu and competing in the Other World Tournament against Pikkon. The second chapter shifts to Gohan navigating Great Saiyaman activities against the Red Shark Gang and the Musuka Circus. The World Tournament chapter distributes play across Trunks, Gohan, Videl, and Goku during the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament.

Later chapters follow the escalating threat of Majin Buu, the desperate fusion attempts of Goten and Trunks as Gotenks, the absorption sequences within Super Buu's body during the Fusion chapter, and the final battle against Kid Buu on the Sacred World of the Kais. Side content includes the movie storylines from Broly: Second Coming and Fusion Reborn, incorporated into the appropriate chapters rather than treated as separate bonus content. The Janemba chapter places Goku, Vegeta, and Gogeta against the dimension-warping villain and his Super form.

Boss encounters span an unusually wide range of characters, from tournament fighters like Pikkon and Olibu in the early chapters to Janemba, Super Buu, and Kid Buu at the campaign's climax. Unique foes such as Pharaoh Totenhotep and the Bandit King appear as mid-game bosses, while Illusion versions of Gotenks, Gohan, and Piccolo confront the player inside Super Buu's body during the Fusion chapter.

Buu's Fury completed the Legacy of Goku trilogy, which had become Atari's best-selling Dragon Ball Z Game Boy Advance series. Its departure from the Legacy of Goku branding on the packaging was a marketing choice that separated it visually from its predecessors, though the game was widely understood to be the third installment in that line. The continuation of the action RPG format from The Legacy of Goku II meant that players familiar with that entry could engage with Buu's Fury immediately without adjusting to a new control scheme.

The game arrived during a period when the Dragon Ball Z brand was at the peak of its North American popularity, supported by ongoing television broadcasts and a steady stream of merchandise and gaming releases. Buu's Fury is often cited alongside The Legacy of Goku II as the stronger half of the trilogy, with the Buu arc providing a wider variety of playable characters and story beats than the Saiyan through Cell coverage of the earlier games. It stands as the final entry in the Legacy of Goku line and one of the most content-complete Dragon Ball action RPGs released for a portable platform.