Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Preview – To Go Even Further Beyond

As a kid, I lost countless hours to the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series. It practically became the primary way I absorbed some of Akira Toriyama’s greatest work. So like many others, I was stoked to see Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero announced at last year’s Game Awards. 

I got to play almost 30 minutes with the Versus Battle mode, fighting against the computer in some high-octane, action-packed, environment-destroying fights. In many ways, it looks and feels like the old Budokai Tenkaichi games with updated graphics and more blue-haired saiyans. 

But Sparking! Zero also feels like something more special than that. It checks all the boxes my 12-year-old self has wanted in a Dragon Ball game for the past 15 years, but it also feels like a celebration of one of anime’s most legendary shows. 

Faster Than the Eye Can See

Fighting in Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is pretty approachable, so any fan could pick this up and play it. You’ve got light attacks and a heavy attack button, which has alternate effects depending on when you press it in the combo. 

Dragon Ball FighterZ, another fantastic game in the franchise, really nails that frantic yet measured feeling of close-quarters combat. While Sparking! Zero has a lot of those moments, it really shines when you send an enemy flying and follow up with rushes or teleportation.

It effectively captures that too-fast-for-the-eyes action that the series is known for. Additionally, sending enemies flying through the air is a great way to showcase how destructive these battles are. Buildings and rock formations crumble, and it doesn’t take long for the field to become a series of craters. 

For defensive options, you can block, perfect block (which leads to a stun), vanish, or dash out of the way. It’s hard to make defense feel as good as offense, but there’s something about vanishing behind an enemy to send them flying that feels so perfectly like Dragon Ball. 

Of course, we're all here for the big attacks, your kamehamehas and your galick guns. Executing these attacks is pretty easy: simply hold down the charge button and press one of the corresponding face buttons and directions. 

Most of the ones I tried launched into a canned animation of the character readying the attack, and some of them play a second set of animations if it connects, like rush moves or ultimates.

These special attacks are probably the cream of the crop here in Sparking! Zero. They hearken back to the show and movies that made Goku famous, simultaneously hitting the nostalgia and the hype.

Did You Know Piccolo Kills Goku (and Raditz)?

In the hands-off portion of my preview, we got a presentation of what to expect from the Episode Battle and Custom Battle modes, the latter of which might be the best thing to hit a Dragon Ball game in years. 

To this day, people still argue and discuss imaginary matchups in and beyond Dragon Ball. After all, there’s an eternal joy in imagining hyperdynamic hypothetical fistfights. Seriously, if you wander down the right (or wrong?) YouTube rabbit hole, there’s countless videos out there analyzing power levels and zenkai boosts. 

Custom Battles give all these fans an outlet to explore all their wildest dreams. Through a simple menu, you can create custom cutscenes with dialog and motion, and then attach them to battles with specific win conditions. 

Do you want Mr. Satan to save the Earth from Cell’s tyranny, as Kami intended? Or are you a big fan of that one fan manga where Yamcha is actually the strongest character in the show? All these ideas and more can come to life in Custom Battles. 

Even better, these can be shared online, making it a social creative endeavor. It’s the video-game equivalent of smashing action figures together, and it’s maybe the most brilliant thing to hit the fandom since Dragon Ball Super: Broly. 

Episode Battles are more of a known quantity. You can follow eight characters and enjoy a retelling of the story from their perspective. Goku’s story, of course, spans from Dragon Ball Z up through Super. 

We were walked through his first episode, where he and Piccolo fight Raditz. The cutscenes are quick and concise, so even if it’s your 20th time seeing this scene, it won’t take long. No need to wait five episodes for a spirit bomb here. 

Even better, certain scenes will come with a literal new perspective. During the moment where Goku has Raditz in a full nelson, you can toggle to see the scene from Goku’s point of view. 

For the uninitiated, this is the scene where Goku gets a hole blown through his chest by his son’s future godfather. 

It was honestly hilarious to see this classic yet tired scene in a new light, and a spokesperson at Bandai Namco mentioned that other iconic scenes will get a similar treatment. 

I, for one, am hoping to see POV: Ultra Instinct Goku Kamehameha surfing on Kefla’s Christmas beam. Or, seeing Goku’s perspective as he Dragon Fist punches through Hirudegarn would be gross and fascinating. 

To spice things up even more, there are alternate scenarios that can play out, depending on player choice, performance in combat, or even fulfilling certain conditions like using a specific finishing move. 

For example, when Piccolo offers to team up with Goku to fight Raditz, a dialog wheel shows up where players can decline Piccolo’s help. For our preview, we saw the canon as intended, but when I play the game, I’m definitely taking Goku solo to see what happens. 

If I remember right, these what-if scenarios existed in some fashion in previous Budokai Tenkaichi games, so this isn’t completely new. But the Dragon Ball franchise—and its fandom—has changed a lot in the last two decades. "What if" hits different nowadays than it did 20 years ago.

All I know is, October 11 is going to be a difficult day this year. Atlus’ Metaphor: ReFantazio comes out the same day as Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, and I’m torn between them. All I know is, I’m eagerly awaiting to see how the new stories in Super pan out here.

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Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero was previewed at Summer Game Fest Play Days courtesy of Bandai Namco.