Super Saiyan 3

This article is about the Super Saiyan 3 transformation. For the form referred to by some fans as "Ultra Super Saiyan", see Super Saiyan Third Grade.

Super Saiyan 3 (超スーパーサイヤ人じん３スリー, Sūpā Saiya-jin Surī) is the third form of Super Saiyan and the successor to the second transformation. This form extracts every drop of potential from a Saiyan's blood. Goku was the first to achieve the form and was able to do so after several years of vigorous training in Other World. Gotenks later achieves this form through the power of Trunks and Goten's fusion and with Goku's example.

Overview

Akira Toriyama stated in the Saikyō Jump's June 2014 interview that Super Saiyan 2 and 3 are nothing more than powered up variants of Super Saiyan and that mastering Super Saiyan could increase its power beyond that of Super Saiyan 2 and 3 while draining less energy.

This form of Super Saiyan is achievable by a Saiyan who has already obtained the Super Saiyan 2 form and then trains intensely. Notably, it appears that this form can only be achieved under out-of-the-norm circumstances, as Goku achieved the form while dead, and while Goten and Trunks could not attain the form, their fusion Gotenks was able to.

Where the fourth stage of Super Saiyan's purpose was 100% utilization of physical stamina, the purpose of the Super Saiyan 3 transformation is to increase the utilization of ki, and as a result, the transformation consumes far more energy than even Super Saiyan 2. This notably leads to extended levels of fatigue, even long after powering down. If the user has died and is not encumbered by a living body, this strain is reduced somewhat, and additional energy depletion is minimized (such as in Goku's case during his first fight with Majin Buu). The difference between Super Saiyan 3 and Super Saiyan 2, its predecessor, is immediately noticeable as speed, strength, and endurance are all pushed far beyond the normal limits. The sudden awakening of Super Saiyan 3 is such a violent explosion of power that the user could potentially obliterate themselves.^[11] A Super Saiyan 3 can easily beat opponents that a Super Saiyan 2 couldn't handle.

The first time that Goku used this form on Earth, the tremendous force of the transformation caused the clouds to gravitate towards him. Its power caused massive tidal waves and hurricane forces, and nearly shook the planet apart. During subsequent transformations, Goku seemingly controlled it enough to prevent such dangerous side effects. In addition, this power could be sensed even as far as the distance between Earth and Sacred World of the Kai, something that not only shocked Shin, Kibito, and Gohan, but worried them as well.

However, with the enormous power, there are some very serious setbacks stemming from the rapid use of ki energy. When the temporally revived Goku showed Babidi and Majin Buu the form, he cut his remaining temporal revival energy in half, and in the anime, when he shows his power to the excited Trunks and Goten, his energy was completely dissipated, forcing him to return to the Other World. It was stated by Piccolo, however, that Dende's healing ability would've made Goku's revival energy return to normal. But Goku refutes this statement.

Likewise, when the now fully living Super Saiyan 3 Goku attempted to regain energy while Vegeta and Mr. Satan distracted Kid Buu, he was unable to do so, draining his power completely and leaving him in a weakened, normal state where he could not even control the Super Spirit Bomb. Goku acknowledged that he had little experience with the transformation, with his fight with Kid Buu being the first time he used it in a full fight with a living body. Performing it twice in a short time brought him to his knees and expended all of his remaining energy (in the manga, he does not revert to his original form until after Vegeta intervenes to buy him the minute that he needed, however). The fused Gotenks was not able to maintain the transformation for very long either, reverting to his base form after substantially less than thirty minutes transformed. In the case of older Saiyans such as Nappa, usage of the form can even prove to be lethal to the user due to the stress imposed as a result of the massive power gain, compounded with any battle damage received by that time.

In Dragon Ball Super, these energy-sapping issues appear to be circumvented by Goku, through the utilization of Super Saiyan 3 in an extremely sporadic fashion for quick power boosts to overwhelm enemies (E.g. during his sparring bout with Future Trunks). Using the form in this way does not appear to have the same exhaustive effect on the user that it does have when used for prolonged periods of time.

The energy drain issues are exacerbated even further when Goku is turned back into a child in Dragon Ball GT, where he can only hold the transformation for a couple of seconds and struggles to utilize the power against Baby Vegeta. This limit was somewhat lifted after Goku's tail was restored with the help of Elder Kai, allowing him to sustain the form for a longer duration without it weakness, though he was still no match for Super Baby Vegeta in this state.

Appearance

The transformation causes some stark changes in physical appearance. The trademark characteristic of the transformation is the user's hair: the rigid hair of the Super Saiyan 2 state becomes flowing and smooth again and grows down to or sometimes passes the user's waist (unless the user in question is bald, in which case the user is still bald). In the case of users who already had waist-length hair in base form, the hair also reaches below the feet. The hair color of Super Saiyan 3 is still golden blonde but takes on a darker and more yellow shade of gold compared to the previous Super Saiyan forms, which had a paler shade of gold when not surrounded by an aura. The eyebrows vanish completely, making the forehead and eye ridges appear larger and revealing a more prominent brow ridge; these traits do not apply to female Super Saiyan 3 in either Dragon Ball Heroes or Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. When used by an ancient evil Saiyan, like Cumber, this form does not appear to increase the length of the user's hair much. The irises remain greenish/teal, but pupils become visible and are colored a darker shade of green. Interestingly, children and female Saiyans do not display pupils in this form, retaining the same irises as in previous Super Saiyan forms.

A small increase in muscle mass from Super Saiyan 2 is evident, and muscle tone is sharply defined. The user's voice also tends to get gruffer while in this form. Energy radiation is so great that the aura pulses at an extremely high frequency, almost to the point where it seems static; the sound of the aura is also pitched even higher than that of Super Saiyan 2. This feature is only present in the original manga and the Dragon Ball Z anime. However, in more recent media, such as commercials and Dragon Ball Super, the aura is now depicted more jagged much like the Super Saiyan 2 form, sometimes with an orange glow emanating from the aura (like the Japanese opening of Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters and Dragon Ball Super), and the aura instead sounded the same normal pitch as the previous Super Saiyan forms. The electrical discharge, like in the Super Saiyan 2 form, is again constant and may reach further outward from the body than before.

The Saiyan's voice may become slightly deeper, though this is obviously a feature only found in the anime. If the user of the Super Saiyan 3 form has a tail, it turns yellowish gold. There is no personality change, as no emotion is required to initiate the transformation (Goku acted stoic to intimidate Babidi and Majin Buu, and Gotenks acted as he normally would). Another notable change is that the user seems to "glow" while in this state, more so than before, where the skin and clothes color were lightened, but not as much as the color change of this form (this mostly applies to training gi; when Goku transforms into Super Saiyan 3, his training gi appears to be rather gold and blue instead of orange and blue, however, in most recent animations, and Dragon Ball Super, this glowing effect does not appear, when Goku is in Super Saiyan 3 without his aura in the series, particularly during his fight with Beerus, his skin and clothes do not glow, and always remain in their normal color as his base form).

In Xenoverse 2, it is revealed that if a Saiyan is bald, their hair will grow out when using the Super Saiyan 3 transformation. However, in Super Dragon Ball Heroes, humorously Nappa remains bald after transforming into his Super Saiyan 3 form and instead, his beard hair grows out. Presumably, these differences can be explained as being due to Nappa having gone bald due to his age which would prevent any hair from growing while transformed, while Saiyans in Xenoverse 2 may only have shaved heads allowing their Super Saiyan 3 hair to grow out.

In Dragon Ball Legends, it is revealed that the appearance of members of Ancient Saiyan God subspecies Super Saiyan 3 form, like the game original protagonist Shallot, doesn't differ much from modern Saiyans, though like with his Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 forms, the black fur on Shallot's tail turns golden blonde when in his Super Saiyan 3 form.

Usage and power

The form uses a Saiyan's full potential with power extracted from every drop of their blood.^[13] This form draws the hidden power of its user out to its limits, however, it is flawed in that it possesses huge energy consumption.^[14] The Super Saiyan 3 form gives the user 4 times the strength of a Super Saiyan 2,^[15] so it multiplies a regular Super Saiyan's power by 8 times.

To transform into a Super Saiyan 3, the Saiyan must already possess the prior Super Saiyan form and must push as hard as they can to find the energy deep inside them, then tap into that energy, allowing them to undergo the transformation.^[16]

Goku uses the Super Saiyan 3 transformation in a brief battle against Majin Buu in order to stall him long enough for Trunks to find the Dragon Radar. He was able to overtake the monster, almost matching him blow for blow. He eventually retreated from the fight, as he wanted Goten and Trunks to defeat Buu with their fusion technique, as he "wouldn't be around forever." Goku later stated he believed he could have killed Buu if he had actually tried but held complete faith in Gotenks' ability to destroy him if they were to try the Fusion Dance.

This form was next seen used by Gotenks, the fusion between Goten and Trunks, the form, was first tested by the duo as Gotenks briefly before defusing (although we can only see them as brief silhouettes appearing and reappearing and surrounded by a large aura explosion), with Trunks calling it their "secret weapon" and "Ultra Super Saiyan", he stated that everyone would be stunned by their results, intending to use the form to surprise their opponent and everyone. Later, during his fight with the new, more powerful version of Majin Buu.

While in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Piccolo destroyed the only entrance in or out of the dimension, in hopes of trapping Super Buu inside, when he believed that Gotenks had lost, and that the universe would be destroyed. Unfortunately, Super Buu was able to escape by ripping the dimensions open using intense sound waves from his own voice when he became angry at the thought of not having any more food to eat. Learning from the things that Goku taught him about being Super Saiyan 3, Gotenks transforms into Super Saiyan 3 and rips up a hole in a similar fashion, shocking Piccolo. Once outside, Gotenks battled Super Buu in earnest. The two appeared to be an even match, with Gotenks appearing to gain the upper hand before the transformation suddenly wore off.

The Super Saiyan 3 state was truly pushed to the breaking point in the final battle against Kid Buu. Despite using his full power as a Super Saiyan 3, Goku had difficulty competing with the seemingly endless power supply of the Majin. Though he appeared to have the advantage for most of the fight before the ki drain became evident, his attacks seemed to be useless against Buu, and the transformation eventually caused his collapse from exhaustion. He later revealed that he might have been able to destroy Kid Buu when at full power, but let the fight drag on to give Vegeta a shot (and/or couldn't focus his power in Kai). Vegeta then powered up to a Super Saiyan 2 in order to buy him the time that Goku needed to get back up to full strength, but the immense stress of trying to gather his power forced him to revert to his normal state before reaching his maximum potential, leaving him heavily drained and unable to transform. It took a Super Spirit Bomb gathered from all the energies of Earth, the Ogres in Yemma's office, and the Namekian villagers that resided with Moori on New Namek, to finish off Kid Buu, and the Super Saiyan 3 form is never seen in the main manga storyline again.

Goku transforms into Super Saiyan 3 form after having battled Beerus as Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 but none of them were causing an effect. Even though his power and speed were increased by a huge amount in this form, it was not enough to even match with Beerus' skills. Super Saiyan 3 was also soon defeated when Beerus gently touched Goku's shoulder, causing him to go unconscious for a brief moment. In the Super manga, Gotenks transforms into a Super Saiyan 3 while battling Beerus but is beaten just as easily as he was in the anime. This form is surpassed afterward by the Super Saiyan God form, whom Goku utilizes against Beerus, followed by the Super Saiyan Blue form, achieved after fully gaining the power of Super Saiyan God, against the resurrected Frieza. It is from this moment on that Goku discontinued the usage of Super Saiyans 2 and 3 (Coincidentally, just like in GT), in favor of the more powerful god ki Super Saiyan Blue form, and during subsequent battles, Goku immediately goes regular Super Saiyan, or Blue, for tougher opponents, or initially Super Saiyan and then evolve directly to Super Saiyan Blue, avoiding the last two forms, due to already mastering the initial form, just like Goku switching from Super Saiyan straight to Super Saiyan 4 in GT, however, unlike GT, Goku does use the Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3 forms during battle, albeit extremely sporadically.

In the Dragon Ball Super anime, Gotenks does not use his Super Saiyan 3 form until the battle with Duplicate Vegeta, realizing that his regular form will not be sufficient to defeat him. After using several attacks, such as Grand Special Rolling Kick, Super Special Crash Hammer, and Finish Special Flash Strong Bomber, all proved to be futile. Duplicate Vegeta, only using his base form, then began to easily land a barrage of blows on Gotenks, defeating him with ease due to having power on par with Vegeta himself.

Goku reveals that he can still use the form during his sparring session against Future Trunks. In the anime, it's quick power boost was enough to allow Goku to defeat Future Trunks and shatter the barrier surrounding their battle. In the Super manga, Goku also assumes the form but is shocked to see Future Trunks, as a Super Saiyan 2, power himself up so much that his power matches Goku's as a Super Saiyan 3. In the anime, Goku once again uses this form while battling with the illusions of Nappa, Cell, Buu, and Frieza, but this transformation is shown briefly. As the illusions get larger in size, Goku does not put up a fight in his Super Saiyan 3 form, and soon reverts to his base form.

In the manga version of the Zeno Expo, Goku transforms into this state during the fight against Top to impress the Omni-Kings but Top quickly shuts him down in this form, forcing Goku to transform into Super Saiyan God. Goku later uses this form in order to battle Android 17 when recruiting him for the tournament.

In the anime, the form was mentioned during the Tournament of Power, as Goku said Caulifla might attain the form during their fight. Goku later briefly transforms into Super Saiyan 3 during his fight with both Caulifla and Kale. He then reverts to Super Saiyan 2, saying he hasn't recovered enough stamina to maintain the form.

In the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga, when charging at Saganbo, Goku reverts to his Super Saiyan 3 form and is knocked down by the former prisoner.

In the Prison Planet Saga of Super Dragon Ball Heroes, in the anime, Cumber uses this form upon the appearance of Super Saiyan 4s Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta, battling their fusion Xeno Vegito with it and just barely losing to him. In the manga, Cumber uses this form against Super Saiyan 4 Xeno Vegito and overwhelms him until Perfected Ultra Instinct Goku steps in, the two clash continue to clash until the Prison Planet is destroyed.

In the manga version of the Universal Conflict Saga, Cumber uses this form first to battle Top and Dyspo, before going on to fight toe-to-toe against Super Saiyan Blue Goku. Later, whilst weakened and injured, Cumber takes on this form in order to allow him to survive being hit by Golden Meta-Cooler's quadruple Golden Supernova. In the anime, Cumber uses this form to battle Meta-Cooler in his base and Golden forms and is defeated.

In the Dark Empire Saga of Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission!, Xeno Trunks uses Super Saiyan 3 in the final battle to take down a horde of Demon Realm Soldiers and Shinigami Soldiers.

In the Supreme Kai of Time Saga of Super Dragon Ball Heroes, in the anime, Raditz of an unknown timeline uses this form to battle Evil Saiyan Turles, who clashes evenly with him.

In Dragon Ball GT, Goku's small body caused him to have trouble using Super Saiyan 3. It could not handle the energy output of the transformation, and he could only hold the form for around one minute. When he attempted to fight Baby Vegeta, he was easily beaten down. After having his tail restored, he becomes able to freely use the transformation, but the gap between Baby Vegeta's Super form achieved after receiving all the energies of the half-Saiyans and the Earthlings that he possessed was far too big for him to even land any damage, and he reverted to his normal state, only to transform into a Golden Great Ape, and then into Super Saiyan 4, defeating Baby after a prolonged fight. It was after this fight that Goku discontinued the usage of Super Saiyan 3, as it was heavily outclassed by the raw power and minimal setbacks of Super Saiyan 4.

While possessed by Baby, Vegeta transforms into a form where his hair lengthens (albeit not as long as a typical Super Saiyan 3), he has a single prominent bang that curved across his face and loses his eyebrows: all of those traits of the Super Saiyan 3 form. This has caused the authors of the Dragon Ball GT: Perfect File to theorize that the additional power that Baby drew from his followers may have caused Vegeta to reach a mutated version of the state.

Variations

• Evil Saiyan-Super Saiyan 3: An Evil Saiyan is capable of taking on the Super Saiyan 3 state, retaining the unique characteristics of their Evil Saiyan state whilst transformed.
  • Super Saiyan 3 Full Power - The full power version of this state, only ever displayed by the ancient Saiyan Cumber.
• Super Saiyan 3 (Dark Dragon Ball Enhancement) - Super Saiyan 3 powered up by a wish for the Dark Dragon Balls' dragon: Dark Shenron.
• Super Saiyan Rosé 3 - Super Saiyan Rosé's divine equivalent to the Super Saiyan 3 transformation and the direct successor to the Super Saiyan Rosé 2 form. This transformation is the result of a truly divine Saiyan beyond God transforming into the Super Saiyan 3 form.

Game variations

• Legendary Super Saiyan 3 - The Legendary Super Saiyan equivalent and Final Form of Super Saiyan 3. Introduced in Dragon Ball: Raging Blast and appears in several video games.
• Prince of Destruction Super Saiyan 3 (王子超スーパーサイヤ人じん３スリー, Hakai-oji Sūpā Saiya-jin Surī) - A variation of Vegeta's Super Saiyan 3 form which appears as Prince of Destruction Vegeta's Super Saiyan 3 form in Dragon Ball Heroes. This form features the addition of the Majin Mark.
• Super Saiyan 3 (Villainous Mode) - The final stage Villainous Mode form for Gotenks while under the control of Demigra's Dark Magic in Xenoverse which is basically a Dark Magic corrupted version of Gotenks' Super Saiyan 3 form.

Film Appearances

In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, Goku uses the Super Saiyan 3 transformation to defeat Janemba, only to have his foe transform into an even more powerful state, "Super" Janemba. Despite holding his own for a while, Goku is eventually defeated when Super Janemba creates a sword from a discarded Ogre club and begins firing energy blades from it, a powerful attack that Goku has no defense against even in the form. It takes the combined efforts of Goku and Vegeta, fused into Gogeta, as Super Saiyan, to take down the demon.

In Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon, Goku battles the evil monster Hirudegarn in his Super Saiyan 3 form. He is able to kill the monster by using his Dragon Fist technique. Goten and Trunks also fused into Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks during the fight with Hirudegarn and used his Continuous Die Die Missile attack on Hirudegarn's first stage, followed by a ki blast which seemed successful in destroying the monster. However, Hirudegarn was still alive and transformed into his second form and swatted Gotenks into the ground, hitting him so heavily that he defused and reverted to Goten and Trunks. Between the Buu Saga and the movie, it is worth noting that Goku's Super Saiyan 3 transformation appeared to have increased in power to the point that Gohan and Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks appeared to be weaker than him; Hirudegarn had no difficulty whatsoever in overpowering Gohan, but Super Saiyan 3 Goku was able to take multiple hits from the monster and continue fighting, albeit in bad condition.

In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Goku battles Beerus the Destroyer in his Super Saiyan 3 form. During the subsequent fight, Goku is completely dominated by Beerus, who effortlessly blocks and dodges his attacks. Goku is even smashed hard into the ground by merely a flick of Beerus' finger. Goku continues to engage Beerus and unleashes a mighty punch that blows right through King Kai's Planet. However, it misses, and Beerus' incredible speed allows him to come up behind Goku and knock him unconscious with a chop to the neck. The Super Saiyan 3 form is later succeeded in power by the Super Saiyan God form during the events of the film.

Other Dragon Ball stories

In Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission, the Saiyan Hero Beat manages to tap into Super Saiyan 3 power in-game during his battle with Black Smoke Shenron. He later achieves the form during his in-game battle with Oceanus Shenron.

In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 The Manga, the Future Warrior is revealed to be capable of transforming into Super Saiyan 3 while on an Expert Mission fighting a Great Ape with a group of Time Patrollers.

Video Game Appearances

• Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22
• Dragon Ball Z: Shin Butōden
• Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension
• Dragon Ball Z: The Legend
• Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2
• Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu
• Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors
• Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
• Data Carddass Dragon Ball Z
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi
• Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2
• Data Carddass Dragon Ball Z 2
• Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
• Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road
• Dragon Ball Z: Bakuretsu Impact
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
• Dragon Ball Z: W Bakuretsu Impact
• Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World
• Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Battlers
• Dragon Ball: Raging Blast
• Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team
• Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2
• Dragon Ball Heroes
• Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butōden
• Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle
• Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi
• Dragon Ball Z For Kinect
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai HD Collection
• Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission
• Dragon Ball: Tap Battle
• Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z
• Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission 2
• Dragon Ball Xenoverse
• Dragon Ball Discross
• Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butōden]
• IC Carddass Dragon Ball
• Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle
• Dragon Ball Fusions
• Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
• Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission X
• Dragon Ball Super Card Game (2017)
• Dragon Ball FighterZ
• Dragon Ball Legends
• Jumputi Heroes
• Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission
• Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
• Dragon Ball: The Breakers
• Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero

The Super Saiyan 3 form appears in the Butōden series, Budokai series, Buu's Fury, Budokai Tenkaichi series, and Battle of Z.

Super Saiyan 3 Goku is a playable character, while Gotenks transforms briefly into a Super Saiyan 3 during his Meteor Attack in Ultimate Battle 22.

Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks is a playable character, while Goku transforms briefly into a Super Saiyan 3 during his meteor attack/ultimate in Hyper Dimension and Supersonic Warriors 2.

Gotenks transforms into a Super Saiyan 3 only for his Super Attacks in Taiketsu, and he has the form under the name Ultra Super Saiyan in Supersonic Warriors and Super 3 in Supersonic Warriors 2.

In 2009, Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta became available in Dragon Battlers.

On August 19, 2009, a scan of V-Jump was released showcasing and revealing one of the two exclusive characters announced for Raging Blast. This character is a Super Saiyan 3 version of Broly, as part of a what-if scenario for the story mode. On October 8, 2009, a scan of V-Jump magazine was released showcasing a Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta to appear in Raging Blast as part of a what-if scenario.

Both Super Saiyan 3 versions of Broly and Vegeta return in Raging Blast 2. In Raging Blast 2, Broly's Super Saiyan 3 hair color is slightly made darker. Also, in Raging Blast 2, there are two images of Super Saiyan 3 Broly and Vegeta that seem to be taken from either an anime or movie, despite the two never appearing in the anime series. Though this is officially a Super Saiyan 3 form, Broly's form is referred to as Legendary Super Saiyan 3 in one of the early trailers for Raging Blast (in which Goku exclaims "Densetsu Supa Saiya-jin Suri!").

Dragon Ball Heroes introduces adolescent Future Trunks, Vegeta, GT Trunks, Gogeta, GT Vegeta, Future Gohan, teenage Future Trunks, adult Gotenks, Vegito, Xeno Bardock, Trunks: Xeno, adolescent Gohan, and Xeno Gotenks with the capability to transform into Super Saiyan 3. The game also features female Super Saiyan 3, with the three Female Saiyan avatars. Additionally, Vegeta possess a second version of the form named Prince of Destruction Super Saiyan 3 (王子超スーパーサイヤ人じん３スリー, Hakai-oji Sūpā Saiya-jin Surī) separate from his normal Super Saiyan 3 form in-game,^[17] this is not inherently a different form from Super Saiyan 3 but is rather the result of Demon Prince Vegeta turning into a Super Saiyan 3 and as such is treated separate in-game. Raditz and Nappa obtain their Super Saiyan 3 forms bypassing their Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 forms altogether. Raditz' Super Saiyan 3 hair is even longer than his normal hairstyle to the point it's as longer than his body. Due to his baldness, Nappa's Super Saiyan 3 form lacks head hair entirely, though his facial hair does grow into a golden beard. Like other male Saiyans, Nappa and Raditz lack eyebrows in their Super Saiyan 3 forms.

Super Saiyan 3 Xeno Goku card for Super Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Demon Prince Vegeta card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 GT Vegeta card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Xeno Vegeta card for Super Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 GT Trunks card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Future Trunks card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Xeno Trunks card for Super Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Future Trunks (Super) card for Super Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Future Gohan card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 adolescent Gohan card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Xeno Bardock card for Dragon Ball Heroes PBBS-06 Super Saiyan 3 Bardock (Xeno) card from World Mission Super Saiyan 3 Gogeta card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Xeno Gotenks card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Vegito card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Xeno Vegito card for Super Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 adult Gotenks card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Broly card for Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Nappa card for Super Dragon Ball Heroes Super Saiyan 3 Raditz collectible card Super Dragon Ball Heroes SS3 Xeno Gogeta from Dragon ball CCG

In Xenoverse 2, the Future Warrior can access this form. When using their Super Saiyan 3 form, certain headgear accessories will be removed while transformed. Additionally, if the Future Warrior is bald, their hair will grow out during their Super Saiyan 3 transformation. A male Future Warrior will lose their eyebrows during this transformation, while females retain their eyebrows during this transformation. During the Unknown History Saga, it is revealed that Bardock acquires his Super Saiyan 3 form shortly after ascending to Super Saiyan 2 form during his fight with Mira after trapping him in a Time Rift. However, after Mira is defeated Bardock is nowhere to be seen. Xeno Trunks theorizes that Bardock was either destroyed himself due to a large amount of energy released by obtaining the transformation or alternatively the energy may have opened a portal allowing Bardock to escape into an unknown period in time. This indicates that the transformation could potentially destroy the user due to the power unleashed by the transformation though no case of this has ever occurred indicating that scenario is less likely.

In Dragon Ball Fusions, Goku's Super Saiyan 3 form has three separate playable versions representing different eras (DBZ, GT, and Super). Vegeta's Super Saiyan 3 form has a single playable version as does Future Trunks' Super Saiyan 3 form. Super Saiyan Goten and Super Saiyan Trunks can fuse into Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks by their unique Fusion: Super Saiyan 3 Special Move. Legendary Super Saiyan 3 Broly also appears as a separate playable version of Broly. Fusion forms of female Saiyan Ultra Fusions appears to be a female Super Saiyan 3 which differs from male Saiyan Ultra Fusions which resemble a mixture of Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 4.

In Dragon Ball Legends, present Goku of Team Beerus trains Shallot and helps him achieve the Super Saiyan 3 form.

In World Mission, a game world anomaly during the Attack of the Saiyans allows Vegeta to transcend Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 to achieve Super Saiyan 3. Vegeta refers to it as the Saiyan Prince's True Form and Super Saiyan, though he does briefly note he has transcended beyond Super Saiyan showing he is aware of the lesser forms. Additionally, an extra anomaly within the same chapter's extra dimensional space, causes Raditz and Nappa achieve their Super Saiyan 3 forms as well. However Great Saiyaman 3 theorizes that the three Saiyans have yet to master the form and thus they can't endure the toll the form takes upon their bodies. The much older Nappa is the first to fall apparently due to his age causing the toll of the form to hit him much faster than Raditz and Vegeta despite Nappa being the last one among them to achieve it, with Nappa dying as a result of both the toll and battle damage he sustained. Raditz and Vegeta are able to hold out longer due to being younger but eventually they start losing power which forces them to revert to base with game world Goku comparing it to his Kaio-ken technique as the power increase is temporary and can take a toll on the user's body.

Trivia

• Akira Toriyama had originally designed the Super Saiyan 3 transformation to have a tail, and although the idea was scrapped, it was later used for Super Saiyan 4 in Dragon Ball GT.
• There appear to be six slightly different appearances for Super Saiyan 3:
  • 1. When Goku, Vegeta (from the Raging Blast series), Future Trunks (as well as his "Xeno" version), and Gogeta (from Dragon Ball Heroes) transform into Super Saiyan 3, their green eyes acquire dark green pupils.
  • 2. When Gotenks, Goku (GT), Vegeta (from Dragon Battlers), and Trunks (GT) (from Dragon Ball Heroes) transform into Super Saiyan 3's, they do not have dark green pupils. Broly has no pupils or irises while in this form, a common feature of his Legendary Super Saiyan forms.
  • 3. Broly's Legendary Super Saiyan 3 transformation retains some Legendary Super Saiyan traits such as the greenish tint in his hair and his massive size.
  • 4. Gohan/Future Gohan possesses the 4th variant seen, having 2 bangs in front of their head instead of the usual 0 or 1.
  • 5. Raditz possesses the 5th variant seen, which has his hair reaching down to his feet (owing to his base form already having waist-length hair).
  • 6. Nappa possesses the 6th variant seen, which completely lacks hair (owing to Nappa being bald) yet compensates for this by giving Nappa a spiky gold lengthy goatee.

• In a panel of Dragon Ball SD dedicated to congratulating Saikyo Jump on its third anniversary, Kid Goku, Yamcha, Puar, Krillin, and Master Roshi all appear as Super Saiyan 3. Humorously, due to Krillin and Roshi being bald there are very little changes on them, though Roshi's beard becomes golden. However, Yamcha and Goku should have one string of hair falling, instead, Goku looks like Gotenks while Yamcha, like Vegito, without the hair falling.
• In the Funimation dub, after Goku's energy is depleted from his battle as a Super Saiyan 3 against Kid Buu, he stated that his Super Saiyan 3 form was easy to maintain in his non-living state in Other World, but his living body uses twice as much energy in comparison.
• In Dragon Ball Heroes:
  • Future Trunks and young Future Trunks have different Super Saiyan 3 hairstyles. One has one long hair bang on the right and the other has two short hair bangs on both sides.
  • Vegito and Xeno Vegito have different Super Saiyan 3 hairstyles. One has one short hair bang on the left and the other has two short hair bangs on both sides.
  • Note and Forte's hair remain tied up in their respective hairbands while transformed resulting in a ponytail of long spiky hair. However, Viola's hair grows out normally like the female Saiyans in Xenoverse 2. Though, they retain their eyebrows and lack the pronounced brow seen in male Super Saiyan 3.
• As a Super Saiyan 3, Goku's voice sounds a lot deeper and rougher (similar to his Super Saiyan 4 form) in the Funimation dub.
• Users of Super Saiyan 3 have been shown to be able distort and warp dimensions using the sheer vastness of their ki, as displayed by Goku in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn and Gotenks in "Feeding Frenzy".
• Users of Super Saiyan 3 use a stoic-like stance to intimidate their opponents, the same thing applies to users of the Super Saiyan 4, Super Saiyan God, and Super Saiyan Blue forms, whom the users of those forms take on an intimidating stance upon initially transforming, possibly to show off how strong those users are.
• In FighterZ, Super Saiyan 3 Goku will sometimes exclaim "This is the Ultimate Form!" when using the form during his Meteor Attack, despite the fact that Super Saiyan Blue appears in the game as a playable form. However, presumably Goku is referring to the fact it is the ultimate level of his standard Super Saiyan transformations.^[7]
• In the One-Punch Man series, the main antagonist in the Alien Conquerors Arc, Boros has a Meteoric Burst form which is very similar in appearance to Super Saiyan 3. They both also put enormous stress on the user's body.
• In video games, when Goku (GT) transform into Super Saiyan 3, most of the time he doesn't have any vocal audio.
• In the original Japanese anime and related media, Goku changes his personal pronoun to ore while using this form. This applies to his Super Saiyan 4 transformation too. In Dragon Ball Super however, he uses the personal pronoun ora in this form, just like he usually does.
• This form shares some similarities with Super Saiyan Third Grade.
  • They are both the third stage in power from Super Saiyan, albeit Third Grade being an enhancement rather than going beyond.
  • They both were broken out after Vegeta was defeated. Future Trunks activated Grade Three to fight Cell to save his father, and Goku activated Super Saiyan 3 after Vegeta had perished.
  • Both forms were hidden from Vegeta as the user did not want him to know they surpassed him.
  • Both forms have a glaring weakness that stopped the user from defeating their foes. Super Saiyan 3 has a terrible stamina issue, and Grade 3 makes the user too slow.
• In the Funimation dub of the episode "Super Saiyan 4 Fusion", Goten mentions that at some point in the past, he and Trunks took the Super Saiyan 3 form, and then fused.^[18]

Gallery

Close-up of Goku's face as Super Saiyan 3 Super Saiyan 3 Goku during his fight against Majin Buu Goku's face seen from two angles Super Saiyan 3 Goku fighting Majin Buu Goku as Super Saiyan 3 Super Saiyan 3 Goku in brushed Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks seeing himself in the mirror Full body of Gotenks as Super Saiyan 3 Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks after opening a portal Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks mad at Super Buu Super Saiyan 3 Goku in Fusion Reborn Super Saiyan 3 Goku in Wrath of the Dragon Goku after his victory over Hirudegarn Super Saiyan 3 Goku in Battle of Gods Super Saiyan 3 Goku in Dragon Ball Super Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks in Dragon Ball Super 17 fights toe-to-toe with Super Saiyan 3 Goku Goku goes Super Saiyan 3 during the Tournament of Power Super Saiyan 3 Cumber clashes evenly with Super Saiyan Blue Goku Close-up of Goku's face in GT Super Saiyan 3 Goku after hitting a punch in Baby Vegeta's face Full body of Super Saiyan 3 Goku in GT Super Saiyan 3 Goku rushing toward Baby Vegeta Goku powering up up into Super Saiyan 3 in GT Opening Goku transforming into Super Saiyan 3 in Dragon Ball GT The fur of the tail becomes gold in Super Saiyan 3 Super Saiyan 3 Goku during his fight against Super Baby Vegeta 2 Goku as Super Saiyan 3 in Dragon Ball GT Super Saiyan 3 Goku grabbed by the tail Super Saiyan 3 Goku in Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks in Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Super Saiyan 3 Goku (GT) in Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Super Saiyan 3 Goku in Raging Blast 2 Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta in Raging Blast 2 Super Saiyan 3 Goku art for Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta art for Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle Super Saiyan 3 Goku and Vegeta arts for Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle Vegeta, Goku and Future Trunks as Super Saiyan 3 in the GM10 trailer Artwork of Super Saiyan 3 Female Saiyan Elite Artwork of Super Saiyan 3 Female Saiyan Berserker Artwork of Super Saiyan 3 Saiyan Heroine Artwork of Super Saiyan 3 Saiyan Hero Artwork of Super Saiyan 3 Male Saiyan Elite Artwork of Super Saiyan 3 Male Saiyan Berserker Super Saiyan 3 Vegito in the JM3 trailer Super Saiyan 3 Xeno Bardock in the GDM3 trailer Super Saiyan 3 Xeno Bardock in 8th Dark Demon Realm Mission opening Super Saiyan 3 Shallot (DBL00-01) performing his Death Beam Special Move Arts learned from Cooler (DBL02-15S) in Dragon Ball Legends Raditz as a Super Saiyan 3 in World Mission Nappa as a Super Saiyan 3 in World Mission Bardock as a Super Saiyan 3 in Xenoverse 2 Future Warrior as a Super Saiyan 3 in Xenoverse 2 Xeno Goku SSJ 3 in Hell Xeno Vegeta SSJ 3 in Hell SS3 Gotenks Picture Art SS3 Xeno Gogeta Dragon Fist SS3 Goku SS3 Future Gohan Card from CCG

References

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