The fact that he wanted to spare Vegeta's pride makes sense. In fact, that's also the exact same reason why Future Trunks didn't show his true power when Vegeta was fighting Perfect Cell.

DBZ has got to be the only series where plot holes conveniently had an explanation for everything, or sometimes it created the best parts about the series

There's also the fact that Super Saiyan 3's increase in energy could awaken Buu faster.

Goku always hold back fighting a friend and even his own son.

Thinking about this objectively. It'd be a waste for Goku to use SSJ3 against Vegeta: - It'd only revive Buu quicker - Most importantly, it'd shorten Goku's time on Earth. He only had 24 hours to spend as per Baba's instruction. Going SSJ3 twice in a day would significantly shorten it. If he showed Vegeta SSJ3, whilst he'd beat him quickly, it would mean he doesn't get to show it off to Trunks and Goten as he went to fight Buu afterwards. Therefore SSJ3 Gotenks wouldn't have happened at all.

Goku was just sparing Vegeta's feelings 😂just like future Trunks did in the cell saga

LOL SS3 multiplier is 400x base power level while SS2 is only 100x base power level. Goku would've TRAMPLED Vegeta extremely fast in this form.

It’s definitely because Toriyama didn’t think of the form yet. He was never one to plan out too far in advance, which in his defense worked out well the majority of the time.

People forget how, back in Saiyan saga, Goku asked Krillin to spare Vegeta because he wanted to fight him again and prove himself stronger. In their first fight Goku was weaker than Vegeta in their base, and he had to use x4 (!!!) Kaioken to beat him. Goku wanted to prove _himself_ stronger than Vegeta, transforming into SS3 would have been like admitting defeat in a way.

Goku would def have trounced Vegeta had he transformed into the form and the fight would have been over quickly. Beyond the time limit though I think even then it's a taxing form so if push came to shove he'd be worse off in the next fight. He goes SSJ2 to "ënd the fight quickly" only for Vegeta to bust it out too and he tries to explain the issue when Vegeta comes back as well

Great content as usual with great perspective. If Goku had pulled this stunt he would have won, but would have nerved his change to fight Buu/mentor Trunks and Goten with the Fusion technique. Definitely would have won the battle to totally lose the war. If we consider all of these perspectives this is some of the best foresight Son Goku has had from a tactical perspective.

goku would have dogged majin vegeta with ssj3

The sparing his pride thing was made up by fans. If anything, Goku knew that holding back would humiliate Vegeta much more. Goku likes fair fights, simple as. he probably didn't even know he would use up his time as an SS3.

Canonically you know that if Babadi didn’t happen then it would’ve been used in their match. And if it was to much for the arena than they would’ve taken it out for one last all out brawl.

I remember it being more that Toriyama planned Super Saiyan 3 to be obtained on screen, meaning Goku was not meant to have it already. But he made Vegeta fight Buu and unable to win without blowing himself up, which even then didn’t work, so when Goku had to fight Buu to buy time for Trunks to get the Dragon Radar, he had to give Goku the form early so that it would make sense he could hold Buu back easily, since Goku in Super Saiyan 2 was said to be equal to Vegeta roughly. And again, Vegeta had to blow himself up to even have a chance of winning. That’s what I remember hearing, though whether that is true or not I could not say. Toriyama was a guy who wrote as he went and didn’t pre-plan all that much.

Simple answer: He didn’t want to roll vegeta up in a backwood

Goku should've used SS3 and beaten vegeta down. Screw Vegeta's pride. Lol

Something else I feel like makes sense, who knows if using ssj3 wouldn't have just woken up buu early, babidi was harvesting energy from their fight so its possible ssj3 would have just given buu all the energy he needed

Yeah I think Goku would've burn up his time faster than beating Majin Vegeta 🤔. Also I do believe Vegeta could go ssj3 if he didn't know the side effects of it.

SSJ3 wasn’t invented yet. That’s why.

It’s as simple as he didn’t wanna reduce his time on earth when he knew he had to still face Majin Buu

Goku's main goal was preventing Buu, SJ3 would only accelerate Buu's freedom. Plus he possibly didn't need it, he was pretty even with Vegeta even gaining the upper hand before calling for a truce just to get cheap shotted. Goku was trying to truce with Vegeta the whole time, had he gone all out perhaps he'd win without SJ3. Everyone chalks the fight as a win for Vegeta but Vegeta KO'd him after they called truce; the fight was already over.

That was also his ace up his sleeve 😂

Mannn when I was 12 years old I thought he got that zenkai boost from when Vegeta knocked him out, only to find out I was wrong later 🤣

Think about it, like he really really want to defeat Goku to the point he sells his soul. He has already lost his mind and top of that if Goku didn't gave a fuck about the situation and turned ssj3 to stunt on him, vegeta would've gone into homicidal depression.🤣

The lengths everyone has to go to protect Vegeta's ego 😂

Plus, Goku had to teach the boys Fusion in that time too.

Thank you people don’t understand goku was going too burn out on vegeta if he did that

toriyama didn't think of ss3 at the time thats why.

In continuity, Yeah it’s 100% he didn’t wanna lessen his time too much before getting to buu. He’d probably hoped he could get vegeta to turn back onto his side

Thinking about it, the fact goku knew super saiyan 3 would shorten his time limit implies somehow he did actually know about its stamina issues even though it’s implied while dead you have no stamina issues and thus can train 24/7 which goku did

In the abridged series he was going to use until vegeta knocked him out from behind

Goku Discovered super Saiyan 3 in the hyperbolic Time chamber with Gohan

We know it's cuz Toriyama just didn't wanna draw all that hair 🤣🤣🤣

Goku in super Saiyan 3 mode said he could've defeat fat Buu who was way stronger than Vegeta in his limited time, but he wanted to give Trunks and Gotenks a chance to save the world because he didn't want the world to rely on him. So if Goku in his own words was able to defeat fat Buu in his limited time. Mind you what he could've done wit Vegeta who was much weaker than Fat Buu..

Vegeta was not happy when he found out what he did. Also apparently in DBZ Kakorot, Vegeta figures out how to match Goku’s ssj3 at the end without getting it himself. Felt a bit weird but they’re rivals so they got to be even I guess.

To be honest the whole majin part of the buu arc was just a huge kick in the nuts for vegeta

the only other factor is not wasting his time but defeating vegeta in time wasn't one of them

I get that the forms are technically multipliers, but doesn’t the fact that he could use super saiyan 3 mean that he has access to more energy in general, meaning he should just be stronger even as super saiyan 2

I always thought another reason was because it would hatch Buu faster, but im probably wrong, and that is just how my kid brain worked back then. Lol

Imagine if DBZ broke the 4th wall and when Begeta confronted him about Goku replied "Toriyama didn't make it yet!"

If we think hard about this. If Vegeta knew that Goku surpassed him that much, he would have grown more angered, fueling Majin Buu 3x as fast.

Goku knew tĥat vegeta wouldn't destroy the earth, so i believe he held back in order to spare vegeta's pride

Goku knows that vegeta would of train harder to achieve ssj3.

Guarantee it was because king kai told him not to because it would burn out all the time he has left on earth and he wanted to save some time in order to see what fights were coming up ahead

I thought it was pretty well known that Toriyama literally didn't create ssj3 during the time of their fight.

Makes the most sense that Toriyama hadn't thought of ss3 yet... I kind of like that, makes the fight more legit

I think I’m my head cannon it’s because they had already known that buu was getting resurrected from the energy they were using to fight so he was trying to limit it so buu wouldnt get resurrected

Exactly what I've been Saiyan. Ss3 used a lot of stamina just to maintain. Goku would have stomped Vegeta.. for like 5 minutes before he reverted back to his base form, then Vegeta would mollywop him.

It's all of those reasons, + super saiyan 2 was the best transformation in gokus arsenal

The real reason goku didn't use ssj3 is because he wanted to have a long fight with vegeta to release the energy needed to free Buu so they can fight him. Goku came back to earth for a tournament that was ruined so he had to get his squabbles in before he went back

Wouldn't wanna power up an evil vegeta with extra S cells either.

Because he knew vegeta would get so mad he would turn super saiyan 3.5 becoming too powerful for him

Lemme remind y'all to goku still has yet to master SSJ3

And also goku cant stay in the form long enough. Its a powerful technique but he didn't have time to truly master it.

Anytime you have to explain things in DBZ it’s cause either Toriyama forgot or hadn’t created it yet 😂😂😂

Ssj3 doesn't reduce his time the longer he stays in the form, that makes no sense, the reason king kai said not to use it was because he didnt have much time left to fight Buu and the transformation takes a long time, but in the vegeta situation time wouldnt have been a big factor

If we throw out the obvious answer, which is Toriyama hadn't made ssj3 up yet. I think the best in universe reason Goku didn't use ssj3 was he didn't think he could end the fight quick enough. There's no doubt ssj3 Goku would beat the dog crap out of Majin Vegeta, but if we got to give Vegeta props on anything is the man can take a beating. Ssj3 Goku basically asked Vegeta to die slowly against kid Buu. Vegeta may not get any memorable wins but he definitely takes his time taking his L's.

Well technically Super Sayian 3 or SSJ3 is full power of Super Sayian, Lord Beerus confirmed it as well. It kinda makes sense that way, they way all the sayian warriors just kept on powering up like in ascended form and ultra form or even SSJ2 just was SSJ1 to their fullest Ki or powered up auras and their own power wells

From a tactical standpoint it would not be smart to use SS3 due to the stamina drain fast he won’t have a lot of time to finish the battle anyways he was not looking to murder Vegeta just simply KO him but Vegeta wouldn’t not hesitate to do that to Goku

The REAL question here is... Wtf is my time back on earth tied to my ENERGY OUTPUT??? Like plot aside that's not fair...just sayain

Nah it’s probably because even if he tried to go SS3 it would leave him open and he probably figured vegeta would have just straight up killed him the second he got an opening like that

And thats why odas the goat

Cause at the time of their fight, Toriyama hadn't even come up with ssj3 so...

He would have one shotted him bro 😂

Imagine ss3 with ultra instinct

Vegeta with a definitely use final explosion on him instead of Majin Buu

Maybe it is as you say. Maybe he didn't think Vegeta would let him actually finish the transformation. The sequence, while certainly drawn out for dramatic effect, took about 5 minutes. Even the second time for the kids was 25 seconds. The third at least was only 10 but having already done it twice on screen could easily justify hastening it and all 3 showed it as pretty substantial effort.

Is kinda hard to believe that SSJ3 just didn't exited because of the early draft sheet. Was Goku supposed to regrow his tail mid transformation originally or what?

I thought it was to prevent buu revival

It wasn't about pride at all it was legit just the time limit

Well the reason we were told that Goku was saving this form for the much bigger threat and probably at the end of the fight if Vegeta didn't sabotaged Goku and agreed to fight with majin buu together Goku would have probably used super Saiyan 3 or maybe they both would have beaten fat buu in ssj2 only

New Transformation = complete stomp in DBZ

Toryiama made ss3 up while writing the story

People always sparing Vegeta’s feelings. Dude is an asshole. The hell with his feelings lol.

I saw this on cable

In-Universe Reason: Another possible reason Goku didn't use Super Saiyan 3 is that, even though he could've taken out Vegeta easily/quickly, Goku knew that each blow dealt to each other transfers whatever Power they're using to Majin Buu. So the Power output from Super Saiyan 3 alone would've possibly Released Majin Buu instantly. So Goku was hoping he could defeat Vegeta soon enough as a Super Saiyan 2... ...Unfortunately, Goku greatly underestimated Vegeta's Power and Determination; thus Majin Buu was Released anyway from their prolonged Fight. Most Likey Actual Reason: Super Saiyan 3 didn't exist at the time. 😆

Because Toriyama hadn’t thought of it at that time. Dudes said it a million times. Theres no “theory.”

goku would’ve pooped on vegeta in ssj3 and vegeta knew that that’s why he was so mad……..goku was just being a W mans for sparring his in that fight

He would've killed Vegeta 😂

He could definetly kick vegeta ass before his time limit ended, we have seen what buu did to vegeta, and ssj3 goku was strong enough to kick buu around quite a bit. Goku was just mercifull, he should had just smash vegeta pride right there, before the fight even begun. The fight would probably be over before it even started.

Or its because Majin Buu would've received a lot more energy and would've emerged even stronger than he already did

SSJ3 is incredibly taxing and Goku had obtained it while dead! Sure he was technically dead during the confrontation with Majin Vegeta but he was temporarily resurrected by Baba's witchcraft which resulted in his time limit! SSJ3 is basically focused on Ki output which is why its so draining (Super Saiyan 3rd Grade is focused on physical power through increased muscle mass at the cost of speed) so it would likely have provided more Kili/Damage Energy which Babidi could use to release Buu through the fact Goku was fighting Majin Vegeta! Yes, Goku may have been able to overpower Majin Vegeta but he'd probably waste time for himself while also prematurely freeing Majin Buu! Using the transformation was a dangerous gamble! We also have to remember that while he doesn't show it too often Goku sees Vegeta as a rival as his original reasoning for asking Krillin to spare Vegeta's life was cause he thought it was a waste & that he wanted to fight him again someday! Goku knew Vegeta wanted this fight given he allowed himself to be manipulated by Babidi to reawaken the evil in his heart just so he can face Kakarot without reservations! Goku likely wanted to throw down as much as Vegeta did (after all he came back to life for the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai which Vegeta entered just to get one last shot at fighting Kakarot, but unfortunately Shin comes in and informs them of the threat forcing Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, & Krillin to leave the Tournament to confront Babidi's Forces & unfortunately Shin didn't provide Vegeta with any alternatives like offering to let the two duke it out on the World of the Kais cause he sucks at his job as he didn't do any research on Goku & his friends which explains why the Saiyans keep surprising him with their power), but he knew Babidi's plan to free Buu were a serious threat to the Earth! Additionally Goku was likely prepared for the possibility of them failing to stop Buu from being released and held back SSJ3 just in case he needed its power to defeat Buu, especially in light of the fact he probably wouldn't have enough time to teach Vegeta the fusion dance if Majin Vegeta had followed through on their truce instead of knocking Goku out so he could fix the mess he made (Vegeta likely has some survivor's guilt over Goku dying cause of Perfect Cell who Vegeta could have stopped in his Semi-Perfect firm had Cell not taken advantage of his Saiyan instincts)!

I used it while beating the shit of majin vegeta in Budokai 3, complete humiliation

No guarantee? He could've one spotted him.

People complaining about how SSJ3 should be good always forget about that freaking energy drain because they don't want to read. If this offends Raiyuden, I'm sorry.

Honestly idk how people scale goku to outer he is hyper and or low multi depending on how you scale him but I know he isn’t outer cuz im pretty sure the gods are outer and Zeno is boundless

Ssj3 would erase ssj2 Vegeta out of existence regardless of his time limit 😂

Bro what, SSJ3 Goku would've defeated Vegeta SSJ2 Majin in one punch and knock him out cold.

Goku would need a hell lot amount of time to transform into ssj3, vegeat would not afford him the time to do so.

Are you kidding me 1 punch and Vegeta finished

Bro he didn't use SSJ 3 cause he would've spanked Vegeta

The power output would have awoken buu quicker

And they would have woke Majin Buu waay before.

Crazy how vegeta with the majin boost was only equal to goku, so goku would’ve beaten him even in ss2

Did goku say at one point that SSJ3 was draining on the body

Vegeta is stronger in base form therefore the multipliers hold more value, people need to understand that the difference between majin vegeta and super saiyan 3 is NOT that far, goku would have simply drained all of his remaining ki and as shown in saiyan saga vegeta can take a beating.

If Goku would've went SSJ3 Vegeta would just give up and then they would together go to kill Majin buu

It's also worth mentioning that Super Saiyan 3 drastically drains stamina, so overall a bad form

I dont understand what you mean by Goku burning out of Super Saiyan 3 when he stated that he could've killed Majin Buu "Who stomped Vegeta at the time" He definitely would've won but understandable why he didn't use it