As a long-time fan of Dragon Ball since its early days, I must say that Sparking Zero has truly captured the essence of this iconic series and brought it to life in a way that resonates with me on a deep level. The developers have clearly taken the time to understand the heart of the Dragon Ball community, catering to both hardcore players and casual fans alike.
For me, the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai series holds a special place. Coming from someone who only knew anime through Pokémon in the late ’90s, Budokai broadened my horizons to what is arguably one of the most famous and adored anime worldwide. Although I had chanced upon Dragon Ball Z snippets and recognized characters like Goku and Vegeta, it was only with Budokai that I gained the background to comprehend its significance and popularity.
In 2002, playing the initial Budokai game felt like an eye-opening experience for me, as it showcased the first three storylines from the anime and introduced me to legendary characters such as Raditz, Frieza, and Cell. Although I delved deeper with Budokai 2, my journey didn’t last long afterward. Yet, it served as the motivator that urged me to finally immerse myself in the early arcs of the anime series.
Unfortunately, I didn’t watch long enough or keep up with the Dragon Ball games, only dabbling in FighterZ occasionally. This left me behind on the entire Budokai Tenkaichi series (also known as Sparking! in Japan). So, when Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero was announced, I was eagerly anticipating playing it. Fortunately, I got that chance during Summer Game Fest Play Days in June, and at a small preview event in San Diego, California.
During my initial play session of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero in June, I was amazed at how accurately the intense fighting scenes from the anime were recreated in the game. This impression only grew stronger during my more recent gaming experience. From Goku tossing Vegeta into Planet Namek’s water and continuing their battle underwater, to Trunks shattering Beerus through rocks within the Tournament of Power Arena, or Gohan battling the massive Hirudegarn (whose size is accurately depicted in-game) amidst a city, it can be said that mayhem rules in Sparking Zero.
In a battle that spans land, sky, and ocean depths, you have the freedom to engage in hand-to-hand combat, unleash energy blasts known as Ki Blasts, and accumulate energy to activate unique abilities tailored to your character. By filling your Ki Gauge over time, you can execute special moves; if you extend this charge, you enter Sparking Mode. During this state, the environment transforms, music intensifies, your moves become more effective, and you gain access to your strongest attacks.
In this sneak peek, I delved into the multiple gameplay options available. The initial session focused on single-player team fights, tutorials, custom battles, and bonus rounds. Despite spanning two hours, it barely scratched the surface of what this game has to offer. The tutorials were instrumental in enhancing my counter moves and developing intricate strategies, and I had a great time with standard battles, especially when I filled out each five-member team, making them rather lengthy. I found setting up tournaments with complex rulesets quite engaging, but my favorite parts were the Custom Battles and Bonus Battles. They offer not just imaginative what-if scenarios with custom cutscenes created by the developers, but also extensive scenario creation opportunities.
Sparking Zero’s creators aim to offer a comprehensive battle customization toolset, acknowledging it might seem overwhelming given the array of available tools, even with an extended tutorial. To make it more approachable, Sparking Zero offers a Simple mode that allows you to modify character, environment, title, and thumbnail settings. However, if you’re like me and enjoy delving into details, you’ll find the Normal mode irresistible. Here, you can create cutscenes using template dialogue options, poses, and special mid-battle triggers such as buffs or character transformations. You can even set different win conditions.
Producer Jun Furutani explains to TopMob that there’s a lot of room for customization in this game. In simple terms, it means that you can choose something as straightforward as ‘I want to fight this character,’ which could be a Custom Battle option. However, on the more complex side, you can delve deep into what transpires during the battle, before and after it, offering various options for customization.
Users can share their own projects and access other users’ works to explore creative ideas from around the world, with the option to modify those creations if you think certain aspects might be improved. This platform seems to embody a wish for Dragon Ball enthusiasts when more people start contributing to it, as its potential for depth and creativity is truly inspiring.
Describing Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero as merely ambitious is a significant understatement. This becomes evident from the get-go, particularly on the character selection screen, which takes an unusually long time to scroll through due to its extensive roster. To put it into perspective, the Budokai series peaked at around 40 characters in a single game; however, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero offers a staggering 181 characters in the base game alone. A pre-order bonus character adds an additional playable character, bringing the total to 182. This impressive lineup doesn’t even include any potential post-launch additions.
Furutani remarks that it’s been a considerable time since Budokakai Tenkaichi 3: Sparking Meteor, and the game had an extensive character lineup. Given the passage of time, we couldn’t reuse old assets, so we essentially began anew. The challenge of adding all these characters has been significant, but our goal is to offer players a rich Dragon Ball world experience through diverse characters. We wanted to surpass the roster size of Budokakai Tenkaichi 3 and deliver an enhanced and improved series version, which is why we opted for this expansive cast. Our aim is to provide fans with the finest and most up-to-date iteration of the series.
In a span of nearly two decades since the last game in the Sparking series (disregarding Tenkaichi Tag Team on PSP, making it 14 years instead), it’s understandable to spend some time getting reacquainted. The character lineup is drawn from Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, and various films. As you fire up Sparking Zero for the first time, players can pick from a starting pool of 100 characters, with the remainder being unlockable by completing stages in Episode Battles or specific Custom Battles. Alternatively, some characters can be bought using Zeni, an in-game currency that you accumulate through gameplay.
Managing such a vast array of fighters would turn out to be a dreadful ordeal. Fortunately, unlike other fighting games that have to fret about maintaining a balanced roster so that each character remains relatively competitive regardless of player choice, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero chooses to offer a gaming experience more authentic to the original source material.
Fututani explains that they aimed to keep things true to the original content. This means that if you pick a character who is weak in the story, you’ll face the same challenges as that character would. Unlike Dragon Ball FighterZ where all characters are balanced, this game maintains the original difficulty levels. For instance, if you choose Mr. Satan, you’ll find it tough to fight against Vegeta, reflecting the canonical struggles in the Dragon Ball universe.
Regardless of the significant distinction between FighterZ and Sparking Zero, the creators behind Sparking Zero drew valuable insights from FighterZ and its community. As Furutani explains, “We recognized there are dedicated PvP players who are deeply engaged with esports, but others simply want to savor the story.” To cater to this diversity, the game designers ensured that characters could be unlocked by repeating specific actions such as Episode Battle, Custom Battle, or online play. This means you don’t have to switch modes if you’re not comfortable doing so to unlock new characters.
I wrapped up my latest play time in Sparking Zero right where my fandom of Dragon Ball started in the first place: the story-driven Episode Battle. This time, the narrative of the various arcs is told through the eyes of eight different characters, including Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Frieza, and Future Trunks. Here, you play through pivotal battles in the various arcs represented in the game, stretching from Dragon Ball Z to fights in Dragon Ball Super. As you might imagine, Goku’s Episode Battle story mode is the longest.
That is precisely what I got my hands on: I played through the beginning of Goku’s story, which starts with his iconic battle against Raditz. After the initial fistfight, I’m given the choice to team up with Piccolo to take Raditz down or go it alone; at various junctures in Episode Battle, you can make choices that affect how the battles play out. I love the ability to alter the timeline and see how certain events would play out under different circumstances. At Summer Game Fest, I watched the demo team go it alone, which made the fight much more difficult, so this time, I opted to play it the way the story happened in the source material.
Since the Raditz fights significantly influenced Goku’s narrative, it was an obvious choice for the development team when deciding which battles to incorporate into the story. As Furutani explains, they used the impact on the plot as their compass for inclusion. “We selected the pivotal moments for each character,” says Furutani, “aiming to let players experience Dragon Ball’s essence through their perspective. That’s how we determined which story points to emphasize.
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Following our collaboration to defeat Raditz, I’m thrust into the Vegeta saga, where, for the sake of my gaming experience, it reaches its climax with a battle against Great Ape Vegeta. This battle proves challenging, and I was defeated by Great Ape Vegeta once (leading to a cutscene depicting Vegeta taking over the world), but in the end, I managed to triumph over this powerful monkey-like figure.
Despite mainly focusing on Episode Battles because it allows me to revisit these cherished tales in a manner reminiscent of my initial exposure, I’m still amazed by the variety of modes and characters available. Whether you’re an old-time Dragon Ball fan who has been engrossed in the series through watching, reading, and gaming for years, or if you just have a casual acquaintance with the main characters, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero seems to be a heartfelt tribute to the franchise from a series that had been dormant for too long.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on October 11.
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2024-09-19 17:39