Ultra Super Saiyan

"I know I look like I can, Gohan, but these bulky muscles make it hard to move fast, and if I'm going to beat Cell, I can't have anything slowing me down. I may have great power, but what good is it if I can't catch my enemy? It takes more than brute strength to win a fight."

- Goku ("The Cell Games")

Ultra Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人第3段階|, Sûpâ Saiya-jin dai san-dankai; lit. "Super Saiyan 3rd Stage") is the second branch of advanced Super Saiyan, achieved through intense training in the Super Saiyan form. This form is not related to the third branch of Super Saiyan (Full-Power Super Saiyan). Like the Ascended Super Saiyan stage, it is a forced increase in the power output of the initial transformation, and thus is not in itself an actual transformation. All natural inhibitions of the body are completely removed in this state, resulting in 100% utilization of strength and stamina reserves. It is important to note that "Ultra Super Saiyan" is a fan-made term, but has widely been accepted as a proper name for the form.

Appearance
In this stage, the Saiyan is similar in appearance to the Legendary Super Saiyan form. The skin of the Saiyan may become slightly redder due to increased blood flow, and muscle size is increased to the point of practical ridiculousness. The aura no longer flows upward, but flails outward, with surges of bio-electricity becoming more frequent and prominent.

In the series, the Ultra Super Saiyan form was discovered as an advanced stage of Ascended Super Saiyan (itself an advanced stage of the Super Saiyan transformation) that further increased the physical strength of the Super Saiyan form. However, due to this form being so muscular, whatever speed boost the powerup could have given is negated, making the form useless against foes who were faster than the Saiyan to begin with. In addition, the Saiyan's energy rapidly depletes due to the effort needed simply to maintain the transformation. Altogether, the negatives of this stage outweigh the positives.

Usage and power
Believing that he surpassed his father Vegeta in strength, Future Trunks ascended to the Ultra Super Saiyan form to combat Perfect Cell at the behest of Vegeta's defeat. Although he managed to hold his own for some time, Future Trunks was also unable to defeat Cell because of his inability to maintain equality in speed. Because of his inexperience with these transformations, Future Trunks did not realize that his bulky form would be an inhibitor of his ability to battle, a characteristic that was later noted by both Goku and Cell. Future Trunks assumed that Vegeta was aware of this disadvantage as well, believing this to be the reason Vegeta didn't use the Ultra Super Saiyan form.

Perfect Cell displayed a similar ability to bulk up his muscles when he mocked Future Trunks for using the Ultra Super Saiyan form. When Perfect Cell later fought Gohan in his Super Saiyan 2 form, he ended up losing his temper and resorted to using his slow, Power Weighted form, which failed to help him win the battle.

Video game appearances
In Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2, this form is known as "Super Saiyan 1.5" and can only be used as Super Saiyan Future Trunks' ultimate move, whereas he simply uses its massive power output to fire a powerful Finish Buster and reverts back as soon as the move is complete.

In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, Future Trunks in his Ultra Super Saiyan is called "Super Trunks 2" (Super Trunks being Future Trunks in his Ascended Super Saiyan from).

The Budokai Tenkaichi series and Raging Blast series both include this form as "Super Trunks", complete with its flaws of slow movement and a high tension boost ability called "Inexperienced Power-Up".

Trivia

 * It is hypothesized by Future Trunks that Vegeta is capable of using Ultra Super Saiyan form, but refrained from using it against Perfect Cell, since he knew of its limits. This is highly likely, as Goku immediately realized the drawbacks of the form after attaining it.
 * Krillin once compared Future Trunks' Ultra Super Saiyan form to a Great Ape, as he said that Future Trunks shouldn't scare him with the transformation since as far as Krillin knew, Trunks was going to go 'Great Ape' on him.
 * Daizenshuu 2 speculates about Cell's power-weighted form when talking about Ultra Super Saiyan users due to the similarities between the two forms.
 * In the Budokai Tenkaichi and Raging Blast series, Trunks is labled as "Super Trunks" in this form, much like his father is labled as "Super Vegeta" when he transforms into an Ascended Super Saiyan.
 * Media such as the GBA game Legacy of Goku 2 portray Ultra Super Saiyan as actually slower than the Saiyan's base form as a game mechanic. However, it's worth noting, that in the manga and anime, Future Trunks' performance against Perfect Cell while transformed wasn't much different than Vegeta's (as far as speed goes), suggesting that this transformation not so much literally slows a Saiyan down, as simply fails to actually make him any faster.