Super Saiyan 3

"And this... i-is... to go, even further BEYOND!!"

- — Goku ("Super Saiyan 3?!")

Super Saiyan 3 (スーパーサイヤ人 スリー, Sūpā Saiya-jin Surī; lit. "Super Saiya person Three") is the third form of Super Saiyan and the successor to the second transformation. 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 Goku's example.

This form was once referred to as Ultra Super Saiyan (ウルトラスーパーサイヤ人; Urutora Sūpā Saiya-jin; lit. "Ultra Super Saiya person") by Trunks.

History
The form was thought of as an advancement and successor to Super Saiyan 2 by Goku so that he could he could fight future enemies, specifically the fore-coming Majin Buu. After several vigorous and intense years of training in the Other World, Goku's Super Saiyan power skyrocketed to the point he was capable of transforming into a Super Saiyan 3--and he transformed for the first time during his first encounter with Majin Buu and his creator, Babidi.

Description
To use, the user must have gone through several years or an extended yearly period of training to become capable and strong enough to maintain and access Super Saiyan 3, and already have Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2. The user then must channel extreme, incredible amounts of Earth-shaking amounts of energy that travels around the entire world. They must channel their ki and energy to the epitome of their strength, speed and overall capabilities so that it can multiply many times over. Finally, extracting every drop of their Saiyan potential they can transform into a Super Saiyan 3 successfully.

Hybrids may be able to access this form much easier, as Gotenks, a fusion of two hybrids, Goten and Trunks, obtained Super Saiyan 3 very easily and it wasn't nearly as environmental shaking as it was when Goku achieved it.

In appearance, the Saiyan's hair grows out, thickens and lengthens all the way to their waist or their thighs. The hair also always remains a bright golden yellow, regardless if they activate their aura or not. Although Gotenks is a special case, as when he is not surrounded in aura his hair fades to the normal yellow-ish white. The eyebrows completely fade and they are very pronounced, and their eye color is no longer a turquoise-green, as it is instead a complete green. The eyes themselves are also very pronounced as well, appearing sinister-like. Sometimes the Saiyan's clothes may even be heavily illuminated by the immense energy, causing the energy to reflect off of their clothes. Their voice also deepens, sounding almost sinister as well. Their muscles are very defined and so is their hair.

When they're surrounded in aura, the aura is now oval-shaped and hundreds of aura spikes surround the user. The aura has so much energy radiating around the user that it almost becomes static. Much more frequent bright blue bio-electricity surrounds the user as well. The sound of the aura is also slightly high-pitched because of the massive energy of the form.

The purpose of Super Saiyan 3 is to expand enormous amounts of ki and energy for extended usage, a perk Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 did not have. The form is extremely powerful and the user's base power is multiplied x400 its normal amount, 8 times more powerful than Super Saiyan and 4 times more powerful than Super Saiyan 2. Their speed and strength as well as their overall capabilities are pulled to unimaginable levels. The form can easily take on, defeat and kill any enemies Super Saiyan 2 could not handle.

With all of these perks however, Super Saiyan 3 has more serious consequences than it has perks. It was claimed that if a Saiyan, no matter if they're strong enough or not to access Super Saiyan 3 could potentially obliterate himself while attempting to transform for the first time because of the massive energy output. The energy consumption, unlike Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 is massive and drains very fast, which can exhaust and tire the user easily if maintained for a while and using ki attacks that use massive amounts of ki, even when powering down. The strain while maintaining this form is also massive, much more than Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2's strain. Even when dead, the strain is still significant but it is reduced somewhat to make the form more manageable. It is sometimes theorized that mastering the form is even dangerous, as the user might not make it out alive to train and master the form. Goku used the form as his primarily strongest form for a long time before Beerus arrived. Goku has never mastered Super Saiyan 3, and seemingly plans not to after abandoning it for Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue.

Although, it is revealed that the transformation into Super Saiyan 3 can be controlled and made far less catastrophic after using the form several times, evident by Goku's usage after defeating Kid Buu to prevent catastrophic damage around the environment, and the world.

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 nearly appear to have the same exhaustive effect on the user that it does have when used for prolonged periods of time at all.