Almost 17 years after the last Budokai Tenkaichi title for consoles, the series makes its long-awaited return with Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO. Developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Bandai Namco, it launches on October 11th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Between all the character reveals, modes, features, and more, what can you look forward to the most? Here are 15 things you should know.
Tutorial Mode
So you’re new to the Budokai series and, by extension, Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO and think it’s a simple arena fighter. But no, there’s a lot more to it than that. There are Vanishing Attacks, Burst Smashes, Dragon Dash, Rush Chains, and Z-Counters – and we haven’t even gotten into Ki Blasts. Fortunately, Spike Chunsoft offers an extensive tutorial mode that outlines everything you need to know to become an honorary Z Warrior.
Length of Episodes
Episode Battle is one of the two biggest modes in Sparking! ZERO, with players controlling one of eight characters and following their journey through established story arcs. As per IGN’s preview, the length varies based on the character, and Goku will have the meatiest route compared to, say, Frieza or Goku Black (obviously).
Jiren may have even less since his battles are restricted to the Tournament of Power. It makes sense, given how often each has appeared throughout the manga/anime, but the different perspectives are always fun to experience.
Branching Outcomes
The twist is all the branching outcomes that become available depending on your decisions. For example, defeating Raditz before Piccolo can unleash his Special Beam Cannon will cause a new series of events to play out in the Saiyan Saga. You could even fight Raditz with Krillin instead of Piccolo, which will surely go without any hitch.
How Extensive are the Branches?
Would too much branching mess with the established canon? Not quite. Producer Jun Furutani told IGN it’s “really hard” to comment on how substantial the branching can be because depending on events, “It could skew very in a completely different direction.” However, he notes that some branches may return to the canon route again.
“For example, when you fight Raditz, there are some smaller branches that have been there,” says Furutani, “but it takes you back to the canonical route. And obviously, after Raditz is Vegeta and after Vegeta is Frieza. Some of them are just blips, some of them kind of take you in a very drastically different direction.” Of course, discovering which ones venture into completely unknown outcomes will be the fun part.
Bonus Battles
By now, you know about Custom Battle and how it allows for customizing match-ups with different rules. However, there are also Bonus Battles – special matches with varying conditions and scenes that showcase the power of the toolset. You could have Vegeta taking on Beerus, and while there’s no time limit or restrictions on transformation, it’s still a high-difficulty fight. There are over 30 Bonus Battles to complete, each with unique scenarios and conditions, so even if you’re not interested in creating your own fights, there is a substantial amount to clear.
Edit Mode
We discussed the power of Edit Mode and how it’s used to customize different battles. The full extent of it is worth delving into, though. You can set conditions to trigger, like entering Sparking Mode once health drops below 30 percent, but also customize different post-battle scenes depending on how a match ends. There are effects and filters, more than 5,000 base texts for creating dialogue (including quotes and laughs), camera zoom levels, and much more for getting the most out of your Custom Battles.
Sharing Custom Battles Online
The best part, however, is sharing Custom Battles online. After creating a Custom Battle and clearing it (to prove it’s beatable, of course), you can share it with other players. You can also download Custom Battles with different tags to filter through and find your preferred choice of fights.
Tournaments
Putting together your own Custom Battles is cool, but you can also create Tournaments. There are also several pre-made formats, including the Cell Games, where you only heal about 20 percent before the next fight and the Tournament of Power, where flying is turned off, but defeating opponents by ring out is a legitimate strategy. And for those who want to embrace the chaos, there’s the Yamcha Games.
Encyclopedia Mode
Want to learn more about each fighter or admire their character models? That’s where Encyclopedia Mode comes in. You can check out each character and their move sets or listen to Chichi, Bulma, and Vedal commenting on each (like what they really think about Goku in his Ultra Instinct form).
Ranked Mode
How do you accomplish balance in a series where some characters are much stronger than others? Sparking! ZERO may have found a way in its Ranked Mode. Players have 15 Destruction Points each and can use them to build teams of characters with different values for both.
As showcased at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, you could have Goku, Vegeta and Cooler on one team or Beerus, Vedal and Pan on another. Heck, it’s even possible to have the Ginyu Force on one side or go into battle with two powerful fusions and transformations. There’s also the added strategy of choosing a lower-cost character and transforming in the middle of a fight (if you get enough time between your opponent’s flurry of attacks).
Split-Screen Limitations
As previously announced, local split-screen multiplayer allows two players to battle. However, there are some caveats. Only the Hyperbolic Time Chamber is available as a stage to cut down on the taxing nature of environmental destruction in other modes. The other restriction is that both players can’t select characters simultaneously. It’s annoying, but the local play looks solid based on the footage thus far.
Season Pass Characters
The launch roster includes 182 characters from all across the series, but even more are inbound post-launch with the Season Pass. It offers three DLC packs, which add more than 20 additional characters. While they’ve yet to be fully revealed, Gamma 1 and 2 from the movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero are confirmed alongside fighters from Dragon Ball Daima.
The 182nd Character
Speaking of Dragon Ball Daima, the 182nd character is Goku (Mini), available as a pre-order bonus. While further details and gameplay will be revealed later, he’s confirmed to wield the Power Pole in combat, just like in the upcoming anime series.
Summon Shenron
Throughout the Dragon Ball franchise, from Budokai and Tenkaichi to Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Shenron is a mechanic for unlocking things. He returns in Sparking! ZERO and can be used to receive Zeni or unlock costumes. However, Season Pass holders gain a bonus that allows them to summon the dragon regardless of the number of the Dragon Balls. Ultimate Edition owners can go even further beyond, summoning Super Shenron to receive Zeni or unlock characters irrespective of the Super Dragon Balls in possession.
Early Access
Another benefit to purchasing the Deluxe and Ultimate Editions is receiving early access. Instead of jumping into the fray on October 11th, you can start playing on October 8th and get a head start on unlocking characters, finishing the Story Episodes or creating and uploading Custom Battles.
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