The Dragon ball series is an IP that doesn't even need an introduction. Inspired by "Journey to the west", mangaka Akira Toriyama created the legendary adventure of Son Goku in 1984. The series emphasizes the adventure of the heroes but also the spectacular over the top battles. This work is considered a masterpiece
as 40 years later people are still talking about the adventures of Goku and company. The IP itself continues to make profits through advertising products.
Needless to say Dragonball had many games throughout the years. Some found massive success, like Dragonball FightersZ, Dokkan, etc, others found a long
lasting series (like Xenoverse2 which is going strong for the last 8 years) and others came and went by like Dragonball Breakers. However, there had always
been one title that people kept bringing back and that is the Tenkaichi Series(Sparking in Japan). Dragonball Tenkaichi was a series released back in the PS2 era 2005,2006 and 2007. The
games were considered the ultimate Dragonball Experience. The games are higly praised and are regarded as the fans No1 game. After Tenkaichi 3, the modders kept the spirit of Tenkaichi by creating
custom characters, custom Raid missions, custom maps and alot lot more that kept reminding the fanbase of how great those games were.
In 2023, during Dragon Hour, Sparking Zero was first tease. Soon later, Bandai the publishers of the dragonball License announce that together with Spike Chunsoft, they ll be ressurecting
the Tenkaichi series. In the game awards of 2023, they announced the game will NOT be called Tenkaichi 4 and instead will be called Sparking Zero as a nice reboot that would bring both the Japanese and the Western
audience together. All the way until the release of October 2024(10 months), the devs kept showing trailers whilst slowly revealing all the available characters that would be found in the game on day one. All 182 heroes
raging from dragonball, Z, GT, Super and Movies. Weeks before it's release the game was spotted being top selling on the PS store, Steam, Amazon, Bandai and other indicated that this was going to be huge. People who had
early access based on their purchase bundle picked on 91k(on steam alone) and the game found it self with 3M sales in 24hrs.
On October 2024, the game was released in the following forms:
Standard
Included the game alone
Deluxe Edition
Included the game,the future Season pass and 3 days early access .
Collector's Edition
Included the game, a steelbook case, digital content, a metalic Bookmark, 3 DBSTCG cards, Early accessand a giant statue of Goku(Ui) vs Broly (super)
Story of the Game/ Episode Battles
Sparking Zero took an original spin that is slightly inspired by the Tenkaichi 3 approach when presenting its narrative. In Episode battle the players can choose the hero whose prespective they want to follow when playing
the story. The Option of heroes are:
Goku
Vegeta
Gohan
Future Trunks
Piccolo
Frieza
Goku Black
Jiren
During Episode Battle, the game will show different still frames of the heroes whilst a text is narrating the story that lead to the events and will soon transition to ingame models exchanging the dialog building to the fight that will
soon follow. During these model cutscenes, the players can change their camera POV and turn it into first person giving the players a real prespective of how these iconic battles would look in person. Whilst fighting the heroes will
also share dialog usually close to the one found in the source material. Episode battles have certain conditions to be met, otherwise things may change and these what-ifs are where the game shines.
As seen in many trailers, the game loves its what if scenarios. What if Goku never teamed up with Piccolo againts Raditz and went Solo, or what if Future Trunks never left "our" Universe 7 timeline. The way these re triggered as either
by a choise within a cutscene or by completing an objective in combat. For example, instead of surviving an opponent for a time limit, win the battle. All of these can trigger different type of events. The what-ifs seperate themselves in
two types. The "plain ones", and the well developed. Plain ones usually occur when the compat finishes unexpectedly. For example, if fused Zamasu defeated Goku and Vegeta quick enough without letting Trunks intervine. This will triggered a
few scenes where it shows Zamasu conquering the world, succedding his zero mortals plans as it fates to darkness. On the other hand, well developed what ifs follow a storyline with multiple battles leading to its end. As mentioned, what
if Future Trunks stayed in the main timeline and joined the Tournament of Power. Once he joined, who would he go off againts and who will he team up with, all these open routes to many stories. Other crazy scenarios Follow Gohan defeating
Golden Frieza leading to Zamasu getting his body instead of Goku's and so many more.
The gamemode once the hero is selected shows you a map. If a battle encounter has two or more paths going off of it, means that the mission has multiple ending conditions. At any point the players can exit and re-enter the mission and try
to clear the objectives. The alternative scenarios can only be triggered in normal difficulty and will not be fulfilled if the players lower the difficulty. If a case is too hard and the player is stuck, the only available option would be
to gather the Dragonball and wish for a skip. The "skip" allows the players to play the mission on a lower difficulty without cancelling the side objective.
Thoughts on the story
Personally i fell in love with the Episode Mode. As someone who barely skipped any Dragonball game, i am very well aware of the story and giving me all these what ifs was the perfect act to seperate itself from all the other games. I was really into
the what ifs and i was trying to think in advance how many changes can occur given the playable hero. Sometimes i was correct whilst others i was completely wrong. What i did not expect was how epic some scenarios where. For example, aside from the
canon event during saiyan saga, all the other 2 scenarios have all the Z warriors working together to defeat their foe. All of Gohans what ifs are literally all of the fanbases dreams and fantasies about how epic his character could ve been within the
Super timeline. I also never minded the presentation slides like storytelling cause as i mentioned, we ve seen the story multiple times and the presentationish design was seen in Tenkaichi 3 before. Most of the interesting what ifs had the cutscenes
with the models.
Gameplay
Spike Chunsoft did the unbelievable and release a game that was not only a blast from the past but it was also enchanced and improved to make it even better. At its core the game is a standard 3D Arena Fighter. The player can choose to play
single Battles(1vs1), Team battles (5vs5) and DP Team Battles. The players can choose their mode, the map of preference, the audio to play in the background and the hero or heroes of their choice out of the available 182. Single and team are very
straight forward, you choose the characters and you re ready. In DP(Destruction Points) the players must choose a team of heroes whose points are less or equal to 15. Sparking zero has the strongest characters(Fusions, Gods etc) cost alot of points
which mean building a team with one of them will limit the size of the team, on the other hand a team with "weaker characters" usually cost less DP which might result in a DP battle of 2 vs 5. DP is a "fair way" to balance the online games.
Once the round begins, the players will have a single goal, eliminate the opponents playable heroes. The battles re fast pace and allow the heroes to have a battle looking similar to the anime where heroes fly through cities, destroy everything in
their way and teleport through out the screen. During combat the players can use different button combinations to mix combos with light and heavy attacks. The other player can choose to block, dodge, counter or even parry the attack. This makes the
face to face combat intense and strategic. Skill is involved as parrying and dodging requires perfect frame input. If an opponent moves away from the other, the player can use ki blast, beams, rush and rush attacks in order to attack or close the
distance. If they dont want to clash again they can always charge their Ki which will allow them to use their specials/ultimate attacks.
A thing that stand out alot in the older games where the Clashes. The game allows the players who thought alike to get themselves into a clash. Clashing can occur when both players try to grap each other at the same time, if both choose to throw a
beam(Beam struggles) or if they rush at the same time towards the other. During these clashes a cinematic is happenning in the background and the players will have to play a small mini-game to see who will come on top. The minigames start the same for
both players but then another minigame happens based on the controls(spin or tap). Controls come in 2 pairs, standard(which are new to Sparking Zero) and Classic(which are based on The Tenkaichi games (PS2)). All the mechanicks are the same but the
button combinations differ.
In sparking Zero characters charge Ki and use 2 types of super, usually a beam or a rush attack. The cost of the attacks can be seen on the attacks name. Another blue line under the profile picture of the hero slowly charge by itself through combat and time.
When it fills, a player gets a stack which can go all the way to 5. If a player has atleast one bar, they can fully charge and enter Spark mode. During Spark the characters move faster, do longer combo expansions and they can unleash their ultimate power blast.
On the other hand, the players can use that stack in order to evolve further beyond. For example transform into a super saiyan. Stronger evolutions(Oozaru, Broly berserk etc) or jump into deeper power up(From base into Ssj3) or even fusion(in team battles) require
more than just a bar. Last but not least, all heroes have 2 defensive/passive attacks. These attacks can only be used by spending the bars with the right combinations. As mentioned, some are extra defensive abilities (Shield, Explosion waves etc) counter attacks
(Afterimage, wild sense), buffs that grand speed, extra damage, extra shields(like saiyan pride, finish sighn), some heal the heroes(sleep, Senzu Bean, Meditate) and instantly filled your energy bar to full(Gods wrath).
The game offers more complex mechanicks that explainning it will be pointless. Its the type of game that unless you try it for yourselves you wouldnt get it. For example, there are many ways to expand the combo or reset the combot during close battle. Some attacks
might cause you small shields in order to give you priority and push the enemy away. There are many ways to extend the combo with follow attacks after you launch the opponent away, some heroes can expand it multiple times whilst others are more limited to the generic number(3).
Defensive attacks were added that use the blue energy bar to grand protections such as sonic sway(a sinematic dodging ability), z counter which absorbs 2 bars to counter and get out of a combo, cancel grap, deflect a beam, punish and many many more. Some mechanics are free to use, others are
using the normal ki bar and others are using the stacks of energy. During a fight the player should be aware of all their available resources including the defensive specials. Perfect timing the defence button can cause the hero to teleport behind the opponent and attack back or teleport
away from an upcomming projectile.
Thoughts on the Gameplay
I was always a huge fan of the Tenkaichi gameplay. Its probably one of my most played dragonball games ever and i would go as far as considering it one of my most played Ps2 games. When i saw that the trailers resembled that i was always excited cause im not gonna lie, Spike chunsoft latest
3D arena fighters werent the best for me. Both Jump Force and One Punch Man were alright but not something unique and granted they became boring sooner than expected. This game seemed promising and all the trailers and small skill teasers seemed right for me. Then the
game dropped and the firstbthing i did was to jump online with Android 17(one of my mains) and try the competitive scene. I went in with the classic controls and let me tell you it felt like i played this game before, as everything i knew were there. Ofcourse i hit the practice mode to see and
learn the new stuff but everyone with basic knowledge from teankichi1-3 should be easy to adjust. The battles are fast, cinematic and can last long enough. Ofcourse so far i mostly found myself playing 1vs1 and my only complain is the unfair fair balance. What do i mean. I play Tapion in competitive and
climbed all the way to B3+ rank. However, in comp and especilly single battles people tend to use the "broken heroes " like fusions, gods, Ultra instict etc. Me with Tapion can have a perfect game where i hit my combos, dodge the opponent and defend properly but then my opponents can land one level 3
or even a level 1 and drop my life low enough for them to catch up because of their high damage. Pretty much in the 1VS1 formula the majority of players will abuse the overpower heroes which can be frustrating, but then again noone is stopping you/me from doing the same.
The 7 Dragonballs
The game wouldn't be called “Dragon ball” without the 7 balls.
In the anime, when one has collected all 7 orbs he can summon the magical dragon Shenron who will grant him any wish. Since Sparking Zero takes includes all of the series the developers added all three sets of cannon
Dragonballs.
Earth set: Shenron
This set can be given to the player by doing some of Whis's missions and by randomly getting them during battles with the CPU(P1 vs CPU)
Namekian set: Porunga
This set allows for three wishes to be granted. The dragonballs can be gathered during P1 Vs CPU
Super Dragonballs set: Super Shenron
This set can only be aquired during Story mode. The balls can only be used for a limited ammount of times.
The players can summon the dragons from the main menu screen by heading to the option summon. The players can see all three of the sets and can choose which dragon to summon. The player can then summon the dragon who
will appear and request you for your wishes. The wishes that can be granted will either reward players with Zeni(games currency), Titles (to put on your player card), Items(music/outfits etc) and story orbs( item that
can be used to skip certain story events. )
Other available Game modes
Sparking Zero allows the players to compete in other ways aside from the Normal, Team and DP battles. Even though these are the core modes for both competitive and skirmish, there are a few more options. As mentioned earlier, one
option is to go to Arcade and compete vs the CPU. The other option is to watch the CPU fight the CPU and the final option is a split screen battle between P1 and P2. Local coop can be in the form of any 3 battlestyles and is limited to
only one map. Tournament mode returns in Sparking Zero. Tournaments allows players online and offline to compete againts others and rise to the spot place to claim the price. Some tournaments have unique rules whilst others are normal.
For example, in Tenkaichi tournaments, ring out can eliminate a player, in cell games the players continue with the life they had left from last battle, in Yamcha's tournament he is selecting the hero for you, in Tournament of Power there re
ring outs and no flying rules. All of them are different and some offer team and single battles. Needless to say the goal is to rise to the no1 spot.
Battle Mode
Battle mode its pretty much every fan's dream. Not only does it offer battles made by the developers to test your skills but it allows the players to create their own custom battles. This mode allows people to create their own cutscenes with
dialog options(with over 5000 options) that will lead to the eventual fight. Another thing the players can do is add cutscenes during the game, during victory and during defeat. They can also add conditions in their fights. For example if the enemy's
life drops below 10%, they get into sparking mode, they start healling and they have permanent buffs. The "game mechanics" can also be beneficial for your hero, for example if the enemy hits you with an ultimate you get to transform and permanenlty
heal whilst your damage is double. Pretty much this game mode allows you to create your own moded missions. It also allows every player to share their custom battles online so that other people can experience it. With a gamemode like that, im sure
the game will survive the test of time just like its predecessor.
Sound and Graphics
Sparking Zero easily takes the crown as one of the best looking 3D anime and Dragonball games. The game looks stunning. It may not be FighterZ level but that was a 2D fighter with hand drawn corrections with limited roaster. This game features a whooping 182 roaster and
yet most of the characters models look very good. The environment are well design and each area has many minor details that most players will miss such as Hercules Poster outside of the tournament, the red ribbon army cafe and others. The maps react to the heroes
which is a very nice touch and theirs a dynamic destructive environment. What do i mean by that is that a hero can throw a ki blast at the side of the building which will cause only that area to break down. When powering up or throwing a beam the grass and land will react
based on the occasion which adds a nice touch. In story mode, as mention theres a lack of many cutscenes but theres a great addition of the first person camera which allows you to see prespective from the heroes eyes. During battle is easy to tell what is happening and what direction
you should be blocking. The only negative thing regarding the graphics that i had was with specific models and angles that looked weird. For example having Goku Black's finger looking broken in his victory pose, to Goku'ssj3 2 seconds frame during his dragon fist, Kefla's smirk and other
small touches.
On the sound department the game doesnt dissapoint. Iconic songs from the series(Show), OSTs from past games and new Osts will escort you during battle. Theres an option to purchase alot of bundles that inlcude anime music which can make your experience even closer to the anime.
The voice actors both the japanese and the English ones did a fascinating job and put alot of passion behind their character portayal. The special effects for the beans and the punches do feel satisfying when laned and overall the experience that escorts the image will leave you
satisfied. During Gallery, you can hear Videls, Chichi's and Bulmas description of all the characters. Some interactions are very interesting, such as Chichi's reaction to future Gohan, some are funny like Videl finding out Bulma used to date Yamcha and some others have references to
other media such as Team fourstars fish joke on Android 13.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Dragon ball: Sparking Zero is probably the ultimate Dragonball experience till date. The game features the biggest roaster found in a DB game with 182 and has 20+ coming in future DLCs from the movie Super Hero and the series Daima. It offers the story of the heroes
from the prespective of certain individuals and allow the players to go through unique what ifs which are well developed that offer unique moments and fanservice. The gameplay is fun, fast and very destructive that looks straight out of the anime. It has a very well developed combat
system that allows the players to have multiple options to attack, defend, use their ki, transform and fuse. It also has a nice way to keep balancing fair when building a competitive team through the DP system. It also reward players who will choose a base form over a transform one. If
you chose Goku and transform into a super saiyan, the player who picked Goku in his super Saiyan form will be slightly weaker than yours. The same can be told when fusing into a character.
The players can also spent time doing Tournaments which are unique ways to face off opponents with different sets of rules. Both tournament and battles can be online or offline. Local Coop exists but its only limited to one Map. Originally there wasnt gonna be local coop but was added because
of the demmand. The limitation to just one map(Time Chamber) is because of the dynamic lighting, dynamic destructive environment and all the particle effects. Another great addition to the game is its battle mode, which allows players to create their own unique battles and scenarios for
everyone to play and enjoy. There are a few customizable options but those are limited.
Where i found the game lacking abit was at some of its animations, as some models during some cinematics look weird. Small stuff like finger, smirks and hair clips that can easily be fixed or not even be noticed. The online competitive scene in Single Battles is filled with the same heroes
such as Gogeta(Z,Super, GT), Vegito, Ui Goku and others as those are by far the strongest characters. In a 1VS1 in high ranks you re guarantee to only see these heroes. To some(not me) Episode battles might turn them off because of the powerpoint presentation which is understandable but not a
reason to hate on the game. I belive the spike of sales and the records the game broke before and after its release speak of its value.
This is a video with my Honest review close to when i played the Game
