Over a hundred and sixty fighters, and the rush of your childhood battles comes flooding back at once.

When the community decides on instinct, no criterion, Budokai Tenkaichi 3 gets ahead of nearly three quarters of all games, though that's on a single vote, so still to confirm. And the detail backs the vibe: the feel of the controller climbs right to the top, ahead of almost every other game. Fun and the urge to rediscover it follow close behind, ahead of more than eight titles in ten, and both attachment and the soundtrack land high too. Only the art direction stays around the middle. No tension here: instinct and analysis point the same way.

In the corner of fighting games pulled from an anime, plenty bet on spectacle and forget the joy of actually playing. This one keeps both, and that's rare.

So, who's it for? It's for you if you wore out the controller in frantic split-screen duels, if you want pure release with friends. A lot less so if you expect art direction that grabs you beyond faithfulness to the manga.