DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO Preview — The King of Anime Games Is Back On Top

It’s impossible to overstate the influence Dragon Ball has had on not just video games but all of pop culture. Ask any random person on the street, and they’d likely recognize the name Dragon Ball . That legacy has allowed Dragon Ball to flourish in the world of video games, even while other anime adaptions continue to try and fail. Amidst the pantheon of beloved Dragon Ball games , the Budokai Tenkaichi series has stood proudly at the top of the pack – and I’m pleased to say that it feels like Budokai is back, bigger and better than ever before.

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is a momentous occasion for the legendary franchise, a game that already feels like the definitive Dragon Ball experience. It’s a game that’s flashy, furious, and delectably indulgent in letting fans revel in its absurd roster. The king of anime games is back on top.

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is a blazingly fast fighting game that directly follows in the footsteps of the Budokai games, using the same arena combat formula as the classic titles. This means fast and furious melee combat, where your character or a team of characters takes on an enemy team. If you know Dragon Ball , of course, you know you also have plenty of over-the-top special attacks and abilities. If you’ve played the Budokai games, you know exactly what to expect, but if you haven’t, imagine something that falls in between the complexity of something like Street Fighter and Powerstone .

“DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is a momentous occasion for the legendary franchise, a game that already feels like the definitive Dragon Ball experience.”

We had the chance to go hands-on for roughly four hours with DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO – testing out the game’s absurd roster of over 180 characters, getting a taste for the new story “Episodes” mode, and diving into the surprisingly ambitious Custom Stage creator. The biggest takeaway before we jump into things, however, is that four hours is barely scratching the surface of what this game has to offer. Not only is DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO the most visually impressive Dragon Ball game we’ve seen to date, but it also seems like the biggest in terms of sheer content.

Of course, the bread and butter of any Dragon Ball game is the action, the nail-biting combat that lets you step into the shoes of characters that can blow apart a planet with a flick of their finger. The “feel” of combat is the single most important thing a Dragon Ball game needs to get right, and boy does Sparking! ZERO succeed on that front.

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO manages to nail that sweet spot, where combat is easy enough to understand for anyone but packs a ton of depth for those who want to really dig deep. The speed and intensity of Dragon Ball fights are perfectly represented, with melee combos assigned to a singular button and a host of other options at your fingertips – including special attacks, instant dodges to turn the tables, Ki blasts, and more. I won’t get too nitty-gritty on the details of combat but suffice to say DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO feels fantastic to play, right from the jump. Everything feels tight and responsive, and you can unleash dazzling attacks with ease. The trick to winning, then, becomes whether you can balance your offence and defence correctly and counter whatever your enemy throws at you.

There’s an ebb and flow to how combat plays out in Sparking! ZERO , a kind of satisfying rhythm that emerges as you cycle through your melee attacks, Kamehamehas, Special Beam Cannons, or whatever else is at your disposal. A big part of that, and something I can’t overstate, is how much faster this game feels than any other Dragon Ball fighter. This is the closest a Dragon Ball game has ever come to making me feel like I was truly playing a fight from the anime, and that’s only bolstered by the phenomenal presentation.

“Not only is DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO the most visually impressive Dragon Ball game we’ve seen to date, but it also seems like the biggest in terms of sheer content.”

Rocks, hills, and buildings get demolished in the wake of your fight, the landscape gets cracked and bruised, and your character’s outfits get wear and tear. The sheer amount of destruction you cause in every fight is staggering, and Bandai Namco has done an incredible job with DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO ‘s animations. When some of those special attacks get used you could honestly not be blamed for thinking it’s a frame from the anime.

But the other key component of DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is its roster and gameplay options – both of which are staggeringly massive. There are over 180 characters in Sparking! ZERO (and yes, at least 20 of those are just different versions of Goku). For any other game, that might feel like overkill, but for a Dragon Ball game, it just feels….right.

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is absolutely a celebration of the franchise’s legacy, and its roster represents that. There are wild differences in power and usefulness between characters, but again that feels fitting. Mr. Satan uses a bunch of joke weapons and gives gifts to his enemies, while Super Saiyan 4 Goku can bludgeon enemies with just a series of kicks. Goten is a scrappy little fighter who has a skill where he just throws rocks, Janemba quite literally takes up nearly the entire screen, and my personal favorite character Hit teleports around the battlefield with blinding speed.

“But the other key component of DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is its roster and gameplay options – both of which are staggeringly massive.”

Somehow, nearly every single character I tried (almost 90 in total) feels remarkably unique, with their own little quirks and differences. The power imbalances can also lead to some incredibly fun matchups as you see godlike warriors go up against average joes.

The differences between each character obviously aren’t as pronounced as something like Street Fighter , and everyone uses the same basic combat ideas, but there’s a surprising amount of variety packed into the roster. Each and every era of Dragon Ball is represented in some way, from the original series to GT , Super , and even the nearly a dozen films. There hasn’t been a game to date that more accurately represents the legacy of Dragon Ball , and I honestly had the most fun just trying out different squads and combinations.

There’s already enough content in that roster alone to keep you busy with versus matches for hours on end, but Sparking! ZERO also has two particularly interesting additions. Episode Mode lets you play through the storied events of Dragon Ball Z , but this time from the perspective of certain characters. Goku has his own episode, and we were also able to try out Frieza and Goku Black’s stories.

These episodes let you see iconic events from a different perspective, and even make choices that can change how things play out. The best addition, however, is the cutscenes, which let you view iconic moments from a first-person perspective. It’s a brilliant twist that adds something new for fans who have played through Dragon Ball’s sagas dozens of times. The only thing I’m not sure of, is if the “choices” will really yield anything meaningful or just a different battle. I genuinely hope the story might split off into some wild new directions, but it’s unclear at the moment.

The other addition is Custom mode, which lets you create your very own Dragon Ball levels, editing a stage with unique rules, dialogue, title cards, and more. It’s essentially Mario Maker but for Dragon Ball , and that idea is fascinating. I tried my hand at making a level where Goten has an underdog victory against Goku Black, but it was clear Custom mode has way more depth than I was ready to explore in just a few hours. Still, the idea itself is fascinating, and Sparking Zero has a handful of pre-made custom levels to let players get an idea for how the feature can work.

The dialogue players add can feel a bit tilted and choppy, but being able to customize match-ups for that gigantic roster is undoubtedly a good idea. I’m hesitantly looking forward to the custom mode for now – there’s a worry that it could feel a bit gimmicky, but if Bandai Namco has really provided robust tools, it could turn out to be something really special.

The biggest thought on my mind after playing DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is how this feels like a game made for both the most hardcore of Dragon Ball fans, as well as those who know almost nothing about the franchise. The game is chock-full of Easter eggs, references, and characters that are sure to delight the staunchest of fans, but it’s also approachable enough for anyone to jump in and play.

This is the kind of game you can put on at a party and everyone has fun duking it out for a few rounds. But it’s also the kind that you could spend a whole weekend diving deep into. The slew of anime fighters over the last few years has undoubtedly gotten a bit old and tired, but DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO feels like a step forward for anime video games – a robust package that feels worthwhile for anyone and everyone.

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero launches on October 11 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.