Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO is out now for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC players worldwide. With over 122,000 peak concurrent players on Steam at this time of writing, it’s set a new record for both Dragon Ball and fighting games on the platform. It’s also received some pretty strong acclaim from critics for its gameplay, visuals, massive roster, and capturing that Dragon Ball fantasy.
Of course, it’s not perfect. Several issues stand out, some dragging the experience down (like aspects of Episode Battle), while others feel odd given how polished everything else can be. Then there’s the lack of certain playable characters. As incredible as the experience can be, here are ten things that players dislike about Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO.
Slideshow Scenes in Episode Battle
I loved revisiting some of Dragon Ball’s more iconic battles in Sparking! ZERO’s new story mode. There are some scenes which are handled quite well, like the finale of the Cell Games. Unfortunately, much of the enjoyment is undercut by other scenes, which run like a slideshow (with some animation here and there). Granted, this isn’t meant to be some in-depth showcase of Dragon Ball’s story – even your average fan has seen or read all of this before, whether it’s the original airing of Dragon Ball Z, Kai, or even Super – but it still comes across as underwhelming.
Lack of Narrative Voiceover in Slideshows
Another aspect contributing to that low-budget feel of Episode Battle is the lack of a voiceover for these slideshows. Whether in English or Japanese, Dragon Ball Z ended episodes with a narrator talking about what just happened and teasing the next episode. Would it have been too much to have the same thing in Episode Battle? Those who want to get more immersed in the story could latch on to something, while others could turn it off if they want to blitz through. It’s hard to say why Spike Chunsoft didn’t opt for the former, aside from concerns that players would skip it anyway.
Episode Battle Length Discrepancies
Yes, Goku is the protagonist of Dragon Ball, and it makes sense that other characters’ Episode Battles would be shorter. However, it’s downright baffling how some have their stories cut short, even though they play major roles in Dragon Ball Super. Vegeta is a good example.
While he gets to fight Babidi, Dabura, and Majin Buu (and buy time for Goku by facing Kid Buu, which can lead to a unique branching path), his story ends with the Buu Arc. No battle against Beerus or tackling Zamasu and Goku Black. Forget going up against Toppo in the Tournament of Destruction. At least Frieza gets his time to shine in Super, with the Resurrection of F storyline presented without qualms. Maybe the other Episode Battles will expand further in future updates, but it remains to be seen.
Missing Fights
Aside from some characters’ stories ending prematurely, some important fights are missing in Goku’s Episode Battle as well. The Tournament of Destroyers going missing is perhaps the most egregious. Though Goku does eventually take on Hit in the Tournament of Power, we don’t get to see the likes of Cabba against Vegeta or even Beerus going up against the other Destroyers in a free-for-all (even if it would have been non-playable). On the bright side, at least Custom Battle is available to attempt to recreate some of these conflicts.
Difficulty Spikes
You’ve probably heard by now, but playing Episode Battle on Standard difficulty results in some difficulty spikes. Oozaru Vegeta is the first, especially with how quickly he can gather Ki and how much damage he deals with. However, subsequent battles, like facing Goku Black, Zamasu, and Fused Zamasu in succession, can be even more challenging. Heck, some players have reported facing issues with the Ginyu Force. I could argue that the only reason I survived most fights was due to some AI hiccups and abusing Sparking! Mode. Regardless, it would be interesting if Spike addresses this or balances the AI further.
Lackluster Branching Path Requirements
The branching paths in Episode Battle, known as Sparking! Episodes are unique outcomes that don’t follow the main canon. Some examples include Goku defeating Cell and facing Android 16, 17, and 18 on his own, Vegeta defeating Kid Buu and going up against Goku, Raditz’s defeat without Goku sacrificing himself, etc. There are plenty of intriguing and unexpected outcomes.
Good luck figuring them out on your first go-around, though, since the requirements aren’t clearly specified. I’d be fine with completing a character’s Episode Battle and then having the option to reveal their conditions (or keep them hidden if you prefer the trial-and-error route). In the meantime, it’s more guesstimation than anything.
Only 50 Slots in Edit Mode for Creations
Custom Battle is an impressive tool kit with various ways to create unique battles and share them with the community. It feels like directing an episode of Dragon Ball, complete with dialogues, camera cuts, and whatnot, with the spice of adding alternate outcomes depending on who wins. Unfortunately, it only offers 50 Slots for storing creations. There’s no word yet on whether the developer will expand on this or provide a way to back up your creations offline to make more room. The limit may not bother players right now, since the game just came out, but it could become a problem down the line.
Custom Mode Filters and Manual Searching
Custom Battle also desperately needs more filters when editing. Let’s say you want to create a 2D Cut for a scene and venture into all the available scenarios. There are about 254 to sort through, organized willy-nilly. The filters allow for specifying different arcs or other things like melee combat, number of fighters, and whatnot.
But if you have a scene in mind and whatnot to search for it manually, you’re out of luck. The only option is to scroll, scroll, scroll, and hope it shows up. Don’t even get us started on sorting through all the captions for dialogue. Aside from more filters, a search bar for finding a specific scene or dialogue would be ideal.
Missing Playable Characters
The fact that Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO has so many different playable characters, making each of the Transformations and different arcs of each feel unique, is incredible. However, for a roster of 182 characters, some of the omissions are more than a little baffling. These include the likes of Great Saiyaman 2 (aka Videl), Supreme Kai, Super 17, Pikkon, and many more, who were all present in Budokai Tenkaichi 3.
Then there are some cooler, unexpected characters from the branching storylines, which are unplayable. As for whether they’ll ever be playable, Spike Chunsoft’s roadmap only confirms characters from Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and Dragon Ball Daima, but maybe there will be some surprises down the line.
PC Issues
If you’re playing on PC, you may have noticed the stutters occurring with Unreal Engine 5’s shader compilation. Even if you get past that, there’s the issue of locking gameplay to 60 FPS. And if that’s not enough, there’s no Ultrawide display support. Maybe the latter is too much to expect from Bandai Namco or Spike Chunsoft, but playing at higher frame rates on PC should be a given.
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