DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO Preview – A Great Way Back Into The Dragon Ball World

The Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi Series has been a longstanding fighting series in the Dragon Ball world that has been dormant for almost fifteen years. Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi is best known for really making each character feel unique, being the perfect way for fans of the manga, anime, and games to really step into the shoes of their favourite character and put boots to the ground and fists to the face. The other big note for DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is the first time the story mode goes until the end of the Dragon Ball Super .

With our roughly thirty-minute hands-on with DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO , we got to dive deep into the battle mode, which serves as a free battle to try characters out. Before diving into that, we were given a fascinating look at what is to come when it comes to story mode. Not only can you go through the chronology of the entire Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super series, but there are also some really interesting matchups thanks to its “What If” scenarios.

The example we were given was early on in the story when Raditz shows up and kidnaps Gohan. Instead of teaming up with “Demon King Piccolo,” Goku has the option to refuse his help and go at it differently. We were told that instead, he would team up with Krillin, but we were not shown what this would look like.

After teaming up with Piccolo, we were shown the fight between Piccolo, Raditz, and Goku. This went just as anyone who knows the source material would expect, except for one really cool feature during the cutscene that showed off the Special Beam Cannon aimed right at Raditzs chest that now, during some cutscenes for pivotal moments in the series, we are able to go into a first-person mode.

“The other big note for DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is the first time the story mode goes until the end of the Dragon Ball Super .”

So this cutscene had us embody Goku as Piccolo targeted Raditz and shot his beam right through both of them, so we got to see what it would look like to take a Special Beam Cannon to the chest. It’s a cool immersive feature that will be interesting to see in what other moments we will be able to view from this perspective.

During the short presentation showing off this new mode, we were also shown that DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO would be two players, both online and offline, allowing friends to fight against each other together or apart and creating a battle mode that lets the creator pick the arena, characters, and, to a point, their names and features. It’s an excellent way to add some creativity to the player side that is a surefire way to add some real longevity to the game, even for those like me that are pros but just play it for the fun of kicking butt as a multitude of Dragon Ball characters in interesting scenarios and matchups that we have never seen before.

But, the real meat of our hands-on was the free battle scenario, in which we were given a smattering of characters including Gohan, Teen Gohan, Goku in all his various states of being, Piccolo, Vegeta in all his forms, Majin Buu, Frieza, Golden Frieza, Krillen, Yamcha, Android 18, Trunks, Dr Gero, Broly and Beerus. Now, to be perfectly clear, I fell off Dragon Ball Z mid-way through the World Tournament Saga. This means I have no idea who the majority of these characters are, but it did spark an interest in me to go back and finish the series.

“.. DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO will be an excellent way for fans of the series and newcomers alike to jump into.”

Going into it, I would mainly team up three vs three to make sure I went hands-on with every character in DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO . What was interesting was the ability to start at various levels of power; for example, Goku, you could start as Super Saiyan and power up further or reduce your power level. Each level had different move sets when it came to Ki abilities and a different ultimate attack when fully charging your Ki. This made switching levels constantly a tactic that added a bit of strategy into the battles.

However, there is an apparent balance problem when it comes to characters like Yamcha or Krillin, who are prevalent in the series but never reach a higher power level. They feel weaker than other characters like Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan, who outpower them massively and quickly. That said, like in past Budokai Tenkaichi games, Krillins Destructo Disc was a pain to be up against as the bot liked to spam that one A LOT.

“Not only is DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO fun and easy to pull off flashy moves for someone like me who doesn’t gravitate towards the higher level of play in a fighting game but also, it will be incredible to watch people who take the time to master all of its systems.”

Either way, DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO will be an excellent way for fans of the series and newcomers alike to jump into. Not only is DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO fun and easy to pull off flashy moves for someone like me who doesn’t gravitate towards the higher level of play in a fighting game but also, it will be incredible to watch people who take the time to master all of its systems. It was easy to pick up and whip butt, and it renewed my interest in the series, so there is clearly something here for old fans who might have lost their way as well.

It’s not too much longer to wait, either, as DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is scheduled to be released on October 11th, 2024 .