| DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO | ||
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| Gameplay & Story | Release Date | Review |
It’s time to tap into your inner Saiyan and power up after 17 long years of waiting in DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Review Overview
What is DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO?
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO is the direct successor of the old Budokai Tenkaichi series of games that were released more than a decade ago. The game is an arena battler that features playable and unlockable characters of the Dragon Ball Z television series all the way up to the latest installment of Dragon Ball Super and the upcoming Dragon Ball Daima. Additionally, the game also includes characters from the various movies that the franchise has, with the latest one, Dragon Ball Super: Super HERO, being scheduled as future content.
The game features a robust story mode that summarizes the key events of what happened during each saga, while including several What If?
scenarios that explore changes to the actual story. The game also features Custom Battles where you can create your own scenarios. In terms of gameplay, the game also features both online and offline versus modes, where you can battle it out against real players or AI opponents to hone your skills and become the best fighter.
Lastly, the game has several unlockable items, including music, title cards, and other items to show off your progress and personal flair. This also includes outfits for most characters, as a lot of characters have been known to have wardrobe changes every now and then.
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO features:
⚫︎ 3D Arena Battler
⚫︎ Engaging Action-Based Gameplay
⚫︎ 182 Playable Characters
⚫︎ Episodic Story Mode with What-If? Scenarios
⚫︎ Online and Offline Multiplayer
⚫︎ Multiple Unlockable Items and Outfits
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO’s gameplay and story.
 DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO |
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 Steam |
 Playstation |
 Xbox |
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| $69.99 | |||||
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Nostalgic Arena Brawler Massive Roster of Fighters "Infinite" Content Deceptively Simple Gameplay |
Clunky UI |
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Overall - 92/100
After seventeen long years, we finally got a new Dragon Ball game in the spirit of Budokai Tenkaichi, which honestly puts all the other arena battlers to shame. DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO is the culmination of all of the franchise into one big video game, with the presentation turned up to eleven. With a massive amount of playable characters, stunning visuals, and several scenarios to explore and complete, this is the best Dragon Ball game we’ve had in ages, and nothing comes close.
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Story - 10/10
Fans of the series would have already read or watched the story of the series one too many times already. However, the game does a great job of summarizing the key events and making it digestible to both watch and play for both fans and newcomers alike. The most important addition in the game is the What-If?
scenarios in the game that explore different outcomes and events that are not canon but could’ve been done if the tale was written or told differently.
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Gameplay - 10/10
The gameplay is simply better than it was before. The game even managed to add even more options for players to use when it comes to combat. Yes, you can get through the AI simply by mashing the attack button and making simple combos with your characters’ abilities. However, the game adds several mechanics that allow players more creativity for both offense and defense, as you have Vanishes, Revenge Counters, Step Dashes, and more to get through and play around against your opponent.
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Visuals - 9/10
From a Dragon Ball fan, this game looks breathtaking. The amount of detail and love to recreate certain animations and sequences from the shows and manga is honestly impressive. Even in motion during gameplay, everything is eye-candy. Granted, there might be too much motion blur and screen shaking with the default settings, but it’s good that the option is there to reduce them for those who dislike looking at these.
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Audio - 9/10
As always, the voice acting of the Dragon Ball series is top-notch and the sound effects in the game are very nostalgic yet feel modern in a sense. In terms of music, there’s a lot of copyrighted music in play, especially when choosing certain tracks from the show's different opening songs. The game’s original tracks are not the most memorable, but they do a great job of setting the stage of a fight that’s about to happen or already happening.
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Value for Money - 8/10
For $69.99, the game offers a lot of content and a lot of different characters for you to enjoy and throw hands with. It’s a triple AAA game through and through, as the audiovisual presentation of the game is definitely top-notch. Additionally, the game’s expansive Sparking! Episodes are great and add more to the story of the original events, as these explore more of what could’ve been
if certain things panned out differently. Lastly, Custom Battle allows for an infinite
amount of content as you can create your own scenarios, complete with triggers and conditions to achieve, only limited by your own imagination.
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Review: The Nostalgia is Over 9000!
Love Letter to Akira Toriyama
It’s no secret that the Dragon Ball series is very popular, so much so that it has inspired a whole generation of people, myself included. Back in the 2000s, the Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi series were an amazing representation of the franchise as a video game, with the latter being a more faithful execution of how fights would be in the anime or manga as it uses a 3D environment.
Fast forward to today, and the series makes its valiant return to form, now with stunning graphics, modern controls, and the inclusion of almost every character that has done battle in the series so far. It’s a perfect love letter to the late Akira Toriyama’s creation, as it is quite literally the best representation of the series as a video game. The meticulous recreation of certain sequences and animations are things that fans like myself will appreciate.
A Few Nitpicks Here and There
There are a couple of issues with regards to the UI in terms of responsiveness and overall clunkiness, but nevertheless, it doesn’t diminish the game’s overall visual. This came into play when trying to unlock the Sparking! Episode in Goku’s Episode Battles, as you have to defeat Raditz in his powered-up state. This took a couple of tries, as you can imagine, but the main issue was that I was still able to complete the battle successfully because of the win conditions.
This meant that I was unintentionally completing the battle, but I wasn’t able to unlock the actual Episode that I wanted to access. Right after winning a scenario, you’d have to go back to the menu and open the Episode Map again if you want to retry a fight. This added unnecessary menu jumping on my part, which was a small annoyance.
Lastly, another issue that was constant was the button prompts when navigating the different screens in the game. Some menus require you to hold the button to confirm or cancel, which was another thing that I noticed in the game. Similar to the slow UI and minor issues with menu navigation, this was another minor annoyance that was noteworthy due to the number of times you’ll be moving through the different screens in the game.
Simple to Learn, Hard to Master
Arena battlers aren’t exactly known for their complex gameplay or mechanics, as you could get through most fights with the AI just by getting close and mashing the attack button, along with blocking and knowing how to use vanish. However, there’s so much more to it than just mashing, as you could be punished if the opponent uses Revenge Counter. Like with all fighting games, there are always answers to certain options, and you could bait out the Revenge Counter with a Step Dash to cancel your Rush Combo.
It’s a simple rock-paper-scissors
type of gameplay, yet it’s always in play at all times. This makes the whole thing super engaging and satisfying when you get down to it. That’s not all, however, as the characters themselves are divided into different types and classes. Without delving too deep into it, it’s quite obvious that the characters in the series all have their own strengths.
One example is Android 17, who is part of the Android type of fighter. They can’t charge their Ki bar unless it’s in max level, but it recharges automatically during combat. This means that Android 17 can continue rushing the opponent down without really thinking about his own Ki usage, as it’ll come back on its own.
Balanced
Ranked Matches
One fear that people had with the game was the existence of literal god-level characters that were completely unbalanced when it comes to their strength. The thought of playing against Whis, Ultra Instinct Goku, Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta, Super Saiyan Rose Goku Black, and Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta is a scary thing. But have no fear, since the devs have implemented a cost system in Ranked called Destruction Points (DP).
To put it simply, the system is built in place to balance out the number of god-level characters that can be allowed in a single team. With each character having their own specific DP cost, teams are only allowed to have a maximum sum of 15 DP points and a maximum of 5 characters in a team. This prevents players from relying on using the most broken characters in a Ranked match and will need to strategize on which character to build around on or to go for a smaller cost total just so you have more characters to use.
Surprising What-If Scenarios
The same old song and dance of anime or manga series adapted into video games is that you’ll have to play through the story again. The Budokai Tenkaichi games in particular have delved deep in the realm of the What If?
scenarios. In Sparking! ZERO, they doubled down on this by making more.
Some of these scenarios aren’t THAT great, as some just add additional fluff or dialogue to things that still end up being the actual canon event. An example is if Frieza never invaded Namek and went to Earth immediately, while Goku and company were fully trained up and prepared for the threat. The outcome is still the same where Frieza meets his end, but one notable change is that Goku never goes Super Saiyan in this particular storyline.
However, there are some storylines that get explored that could make a fan make their jaw drop. It honestly feels like how the community would debate or discuss how certain arcs and stories could have changed had they done one or two things differently in the canon. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say that the Sparking! Episodes for Gohan and Vegeta are some of the ones that shouldn’t be missed.
Make Your Own Stories
One of the additions to the game is Custom Battles. Using this game mode, you can create your own episodes similar to how they are structured in the anime. You can actually make Cabba go up against Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta and prove who the actual strongest being in the DB Verse really is.
Additionally, you can also import and share created Custom Battles online, which means that you can view and play the best custom-made battles from around the world. Limited only by in-game tools and your imagination, this mode can potentially create infinite
content for the game, especially when the community starts becoming more active in modding.
Just Like the Franchise
The best part of the game is how everything is presented. The visuals and sound effects just evoke fond memories tied to the franchise, especially since this may be considered their favorite or their first ever anime series. It captures the feeling of the franchise with the movement, attacks, screams, and everything else. The game is a perfect blend of nostalgia and modernity, where it feels familiar and new at the same time.
The possibilities for the game are endless, as hopefully they can add the manga characters from the original Dragon Ball and the other characters in arcs that haven’t been animated yet like Moro, Granolah, and Gas. If it’s not obvious enough, Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero is definitely the best Dragon Ball game right now and maybe ever, until they make a sequel, that is.
Is DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Worth It?
Absolutely! Both for Fans and Newcomers Alike!
As a fan of the series of both the manga and the shows, this is the perfect game and love letter to the late Akira Toriyama. The Budokai Tenkaichi series has always been the best representation of the franchise as a video game, and it’s amazing that it finally makes a return with Sparking! ZERO. Other arena battlers just haven’t been able to successfully capture the uniqueness and feel of one of the best ones to ever do it. I would even encourage those who are interested in the series to try the game out, as the game summarizes the entire franchise pretty well.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
Playstation |
Xbox |
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| $69.99 | |||||
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO FAQ
What does Summoning Shenron do in DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO?
Summoning Shenron in the game allows you to wish for several different things, like Zeni, Ability Items, Outfits, and even certain characters. However, the most useful thing to wish for is for Dragon Orbs, as they will help you clear or lower the difficulty of battles, which makes it easier to unlock other Sparking! Episodes.
To gain a Dragon Orb, select the "I want to complete an Episode Battle" option when talking to the wish-granting dragon.
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DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO Product Information
| |
| Title | DRAGON BALL: SPARKING! ZERO |
|---|---|
| Release Date | Oct. 11, 2024 |
| Developer | Spike Chunsoft |
| Publisher | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| Supported Platforms | PC(Steam), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action, Anime, Fighter |
| Number of Players | Local(1-2), Online (1-Unspecified) |
| Rating | ESRB T |
| Official Website | DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO Official Website |
