Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, released in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! (ドラゴンボールZ Sparking!), is a series of fighting games based on the anime and manga Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama. Each installment was developed by Spike for the PlayStation 2, while they were published by Bandai in Japan and Atari in all other countries from 2005 to 2007. The second and third installments were also released for the Nintendo Wii. Bandai's role has since been filled by the merged Namco Bandai Games, and Atari's PAL distribution network was absorbed into Namco Bandai Partners. Namco Bandai has also handled publishing in North America for future Dragon Ball Z games since 2010, effectively ending Atari's involvement.[1] The trilogy was followed by Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team, released in 2010 for the PlayStation Portable and Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi, released in 2011 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
