What would have happened if Piccolo and Tenshinhan had fought against all the Saibaimans?

[SIAD]

Surely they 2 would have finished easily with the 6 Saibaimans.

  Then Nappa would have had to face them 6. How would the story have developed?

 

[Emmeth]

It would literally be the same except Yamcha dies later.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Considering Piccolo showed his ability to easily oneshot a Saibaiman and Yamcha had confidence in taking on the remaining 4 until the self-destruction, the pair would clean up without using much stamina.

With Yamcha there, things may change somewhat as his Sokidan could prove a decent distraction when catching Nappa off-guard. Not by much, with Chaozu and Ten still dying, but for the sake of the scenario I'll say Yamcha manages to survive as Kuririn did and make it to Namek. He'd get his potential unlocked which whilst not changing things against Reacoom, may do so against Ginyu. As the only one of the 3 Earthlings who was once an enemy to Goku, Yamcha would channel his past feelings into beating up Goku Ginyu, effectively taking Vegeta's place in the Ginyu fight. As for the battle with Freeza, however, the power creep would become too much and aside from some temporary distractions with the Sokidan just to stall, all it'd mean is that Yamcha would be extra fuel to the fire along with Kuririn for Goku turning SSJ.
Overall, all this would accomplish is Yamcha becoming far stronger than in canon by staying nearly equal to Kuririn until the end of the Cell Arc. He and Bulma would still break up eventually and there wouldn't contribute anything significant to the plot.

 

[withheldforprivacy]

The only way this scenario can make a difference is for Bulma to see (through Baba's ball) Vegeta beating up Yamcha and not leaving the latter for the former later, though I don't think it's very likely; I mean, in canon, she saw Vegeta beating up a 4 year old (Gohan) and still fell for him.

 

[SIAD]

Considering Piccolo showed his ability to easily oneshot a Saibaiman and Yamcha had confidence in taking on the remaining 4 until the self-destruction, the pair would clean up without using much stamina.

With Yamcha there, things may change somewhat as his Sokidan could prove a decent distraction when catching Nappa off-guard. Not by much, with Chaozu and Ten still dying, but for the sake of the scenario I'll say Yamcha manages to survive as Kuririn did and make it to Namek. He'd get his potential unlocked which whilst not changing things against Reacoom, may do so against Ginyu. As the only one of the 3 Earthlings who was once an enemy to Goku, Yamcha would channel his past feelings into beating up Goku Ginyu, effectively taking Vegeta's place in the Ginyu fight. As for the battle with Freeza, however, the power creep would become too much and aside from some temporary distractions with the Sokidan just to stall, all it'd mean is that Yamcha would be extra fuel to the fire along with Kuririn for Goku turning SSJ.
Overall, all this would accomplish is Yamcha becoming far stronger than in canon by staying nearly equal to Kuririn until the end of the Cell Arc. He and Bulma would still break up eventually and there wouldn't contribute anything significant to the plot.

And if we assume that it was instead Tenshinhan who survived the fight against the Saiyajins and accompanies Gohan and Krillin to Namek, how would the story have developed?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Depends how much of Kaio's training you believe contributed to Ten inventing the Shin Kikoho or if his 3 year training was what fully created it. In both cases, nothing of significance changes on Namek as the Kikoho wouldn't be strong enough to change things against any of Ten's opponents. If you believe the 3 year training is what made it entirely, nothing changes other than Ten remaining the strongest human throughout the remainder of the series (other than Oob and Ultra Instinct Manly GAINZ Roshi of course ).

If you believe Kaio's training was crucial in creating the Shin Kikoho, Ten can't distract Cell, so #18 gets absorbed far earlier. Goku still arrives to save Piccolo he tells Cell that he'll soon be strong enough to defeat him, to which Cell gets the idea to create the Cell Games. Knowing how far out of his league he is now, Goku's training with Gohan is even more intense. It wouldn't lead to anything game-changing for their SSJ forms, but for the sake of creating a scenario more interesting than "things go the same from here" by saying that (taking some inspiration from filler), Goku's intense training causes Gohan to achieve SS2 in the Rosat and had no qualms about killing Cell. Gohan is sent as the first opponent and quickly kills Cell before he can attempt a self-destruction. Kuririn uses the 2nd wish to revive #17 and #18, wishing a year later to remove their bombs.
As for the Boo Arc, Gohan easily kills Dabura, thus preventing Boo's revival. Beerus doesn't get mad and Goku wishing to learn about the SSG goes on with far less tension behind it. Super remains the same from here.

 

[withheldforprivacy]

Depends how much of Kaio's training you believe contributed to Ten inventing the Shin Kikoho or if his 3 year training was what fully created it. In both cases, nothing of significance changes on Namek as the Kikoho wouldn't be strong enough to change things against any of Ten's opponents. If you believe the 3 year training is what made it entirely, nothing changes other than Ten remaining the strongest human throughout the remainder of the series (other than Oob and Ultra Instinct Manly GAINZ Roshi of course ).

If you believe Kaio's training was crucial in creating the Shin Kikoho, Ten can't distract Cell, so #18 gets absorbed far earlier. Goku still arrives to save Piccolo he tells Cell that he'll soon be strong enough to defeat him, to which Cell gets the idea to create the Cell Games. Knowing how far out of his league he is now, Goku's training with Gohan is even more intense. It wouldn't lead to anything game-changing for their SSJ forms, but for the sake of creating a scenario more interesting than "things go the same from here" by saying that (taking some inspiration from filler), Goku's intense training causes Gohan to achieve SS2 in the Rosat and had no qualms about killing Cell. Gohan is sent as the first opponent and quickly kills Cell before he can attempt a self-destruction. Kuririn uses the 2nd wish to revive #17 and #18, wishing a year later to remove their bombs.
As for the Boo Arc, Gohan easily kills Dabura, thus preventing Boo's revival. Beerus doesn't get mad and Goku wishing to learn about the SSG goes on with far less tension behind it. Super remains the same from here.

Can't Tien defeat Recoome with a normal kikoho after Guru has unlocked his potential?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Can't Tien defeat Recoome with a normal kikoho after Guru has unlocked his potential?

The gap would be even larger than between he and casual Nappa, so it's not going to do anything other than be a minor distraction.

 

[withheldforprivacy]

Can't Tien defeat Recoome with a normal kikoho after Guru has unlocked his potential?

The gap would be even larger than between he and casual Nappa, so it's not going to do anything other than be a minor distraction.

Against Nappa, he was heavily wounded.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Against Nappa, he was heavily wounded.

Irrelevant when it wasn't implied to have affected the limit of his Kikoho's power when it and if it did, Ten would've used it far earlier . The only difference if he was fresh would've been that it wouldn't have killed him.

 

[Void]

Against Nappa, he was heavily wounded.

Irrelevant when it wasn't implied to have affected the limit of his Kikoho's power when it and if it did, Ten would've used it far earlier . The only difference if he was fresh would've been that it wouldn't have killed him.

I'm not sure how Ten being half dead isn't relevant. If the Kikoho risks a person's life to begin with, I'd have to imagine that someone mortally wounded would have trouble putting forth an attack like that at it's full capacity.

As far as not using it from the get go, Tenshinhan needed an opening to use that attack. It's not like Nappa is going to stand there and take it on. He's quite shocked at the attack and even says something like "Don't scare me like that!" Nappa would've dodged it if Ten had stood there charging it up to fire.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I'm not sure how Ten being half dead isn't relevant. If the Kikoho risks a person's life to begin with, I'd have to imagine that someone mortally wounded would have trouble putting forth an attack like that at it's full capacity.

Yes, it's known to drain a person's life force, but it's never suggested that their current condition affects the amplification. If it did, the Shin Kikoho should've gotten progressively weaker with the toll it was taking on Ten, yet its affect remained constant.

As far as not using it from the get go, Tenshinhan needed an opening to use that attack. It's not like Nappa is going to stand there and take it on. He's quite shocked at the attack and even says something like "Don't scare me like that!" Nappa would've dodged it if Ten had stood there charging it up to fire.

He had a good opportunity when Chaozu latched onto Nappa to self-destruct (of which he could've told Chaozu to dodge just in time), or after Piccolo and Kuririn's surprise attack.

 

[Void]

I'm not sure how Ten being half dead isn't relevant. If the Kikoho risks a person's life to begin with, I'd have to imagine that someone mortally wounded would have trouble putting forth an attack like that at it's full capacity.

Yes, it's known to drain a person's life force, but it's never suggested that their current condition affects the amplification. If it did, the Shin Kikoho should've gotten progressively weaker with the toll it was taking on Ten, yet its affect remained constant.

As far as not using it from the get go, Tenshinhan needed an opening to use that attack. It's not like Nappa is going to stand there and take it on. He's quite shocked at the attack and even says something like "Don't scare me like that!" Nappa would've dodged it if Ten had stood there charging it up to fire.

He had a good opportunity when Chaozu latched onto Nappa to self-destruct (of which he could've told Chaozu to dodge just in time), or after Piccolo and Kuririn's surprise attack.

I guess I'm just not understanding how Ten's maimed state, low on stamina, and ki would somehow be any different from anyone else in that condition. Every other time someone is in that position their attacks are weakened. Look at Goku vs. No.19 or Gohan vs. Cell. I'm not sure why the Kikoho would be exempt from weakening when being using by a severely injured and fatigued fighter.

Also, I doubt Ten was in the state of mind to fire it off on Nappa when Chaozu did that. Ten was pretty shocked at the whole thing and froze up.

Ten sucks anyways.