Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO Review – Rock the Dragon

As one of the most influential and popular anime/manga ever made, there’s something special about Dragon Ball that goes beyond mere numbers. Dragon Ball has received several titles over the years, growing bigger in scope as its popularity skyrocketed. I endured the iffy combat and movement of Legacy of Goku, suffered combos ranging in the double digits in Dragon Ball FighterZ, re-revisited Goku’s journey in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, and much more. However, one series felt seemingly unmatched for the longest time – Dragon Ball: Budokai Tenkaichi. Even if it’s been over 17 years since the release of Budokai Tenkaichi 3, it’s still considered one of the best Dragon Ball games of all time.

"Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO is a stunning game. Whether leveling environments with Ki Blasts, unleashing planet-shattering beam attacks or transforming, there is much to love about the visuals and animation."

Spike Chunsoft’s Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO is a direct continuation of that legacy, building on it in almost every way while adding a few new twists and mechanics into the mix. While it does have some rough edges and an average Story Mode experience in Episode Battle, it’s a worthy successor and a must-play for Dragon Ball fans.

If you’ve watched the anime, read the manga or even played through Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and DBZ: Kakarot extensively, a significant chunk of Episode Battle will look familiar. Starting with Goku, it portrays some of the biggest battles throughout the series’ history. Instead of flying over a battlefield in full 3D, you’ll navigate a more traditional map, which helpfully earmarks each battle. For better or worse, however, the first thing anyone will notice is the presentation.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO is a stunning game. Whether leveling environments with Ki Blasts, unleashing planet-shattering beam attacks or transforming, there is much to love about the visuals and animation. The facial expressions before Goku unleashes a Spirit Bomb, coupled with your opponent’s when their existence is wiped away? Chef’s kiss.

However, Episode Battle leans too much on still images with little animation in its dialogue exchanges when it’s not using slideshows to emphasize the passage of time or jump to the next battle. I wouldn’t necessarily mind the latter if there was some kind of voiceover or narration beyond the odd line from its characters.

Episode Battle also suffers from a lack of certain important fights, like Vegeta vs. Cabba or Goku vs. Hit from Super’s Tournament of Destroyers arc. Did the development team opt to skip these to avoid cutting any of the earlier battles? Maybe it didn’t feel they were as vital to the experience as the Tournament of Power. Regardless of the reason, it feels odd and a bit unfulfilling, especially considering this is Super’s debut in the franchise. At least its pacing is quick enough.

"I like Episode Battle as an abridged, no-frills dive into the Dragon Ball timeline, even if it could have used much more to elevate it."

Of course, the other appeal is the various branching paths, known as Sparking Episodes, that can occur if you fulfill certain conditions in select fights, like defeating Raditz before Piccolo uses his Special Beam Cannon or even battling him on your lonesome as Goku. The former leads to a unique non-canon outcome where Goku will remain on Earth, alive and well, to help train Gohan and await the arrival of Vegeta and Nappa.

I’m not too bothered about not knowing the unlock conditions for each Sparking Episode initially, but thus far, I haven’t come across any branches that go beyond the original story. They’re still fun as “What if” twists that intertwine nicely with the narrative, though. Overall, I like Episode Battle as an abridged, no-frills dive into the Dragon Ball timeline, even if it could have used much more to elevate it. There are some difficulty spikes – Great Ape Vegeta being the most infamous, though I managed to beat him on my second try thanks to some iffy AI – so be warned.

Other modes include Custom Battle, where you can customize your own fights and share them with other players online. The interface takes some getting used to, but it’s an otherwise robust toolkit out of the gate, which offers a surprising amount of customization, right down to different camera angles, zoom-ins, and unique conditions that trigger mid-battle. I didn’t spend too much time creating, and while there is already a wealth of player-created content, I would like Spike Chunsoft to implement some way to identify the best. Perhaps a “Trending” tab highlighting the most imminently popular or the best creations as voted by the community.

Outside of this are several Bonus Battles you can complete, which serve as examples of what the Edit Mode is capable of but offer some fun scenarios, like Trunks battling Piccolo (effectively challenging his master’s master), or Cell teaming up with Goku against Majin Buu, Dabura, Babidi and Spopovich. Unfortunately, the tool kit is based on key phrases and sentence fragments, there can be some grammatical errors and odd sentences driving many of these scenarios.

"Adding on to this is the diverse roster. Pretty much any character you can think of from the series, from Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Trunks, Gohan, Cell, Frieza, to Buu to Beerus, Toppo, Jiren, Kefla, and all the transformations in between."

Thankfully, the gameplay is phenomenal, whether you’re unlocking everything from Episode Battle, clearing all the Bonus Battles, or partaking in Tournaments (with the new Tournament of Power offering some fun new rules). Many tenets of Budokai Tenkaichi remain, like charging up Ki and unleashing projectiles, Dragon Dashing towards opponents and executing combos up close.

Build up enough Ki, and you can unleash devastating Special Attacks and whatnot. All of this feels great to control, with solid performance throughout. You may think it gets boring to watch both characters on the field trading blows, vanishing behind each other, countering blows and ultimately unleashing beam attacks to one-up the other, but you’d be wrong.

And while it’s easy to jump into Sparking! ZERO, there’s a lot of depth to uncover. The new Skill Count opens up many battle options, like Revenge Counter for interrupting melee attacks and pressing the advantage. However, it’s also used to transform, fuse, and, when you’ve gathered enough Ki and Sparking energy, enter Sparking! Mode for never-ending Rush Attacks and Ultimate Blasts. The neutral game, as you decide whether to rush an opponent, hang back and charge your Ki while anticipating their beam attack to circle them, or anticipate their combo flurry to counter and get their back, is tantalizing.

Adding on to this is the diverse roster. Pretty much any character you can think of from the series, from Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Trunks, Gohan, Cell, Frieza, to Buu to Beerus, Toppo, Jiren, Kefla, and all the transformations in between. Outside of unique special attacks and Ultimate Blasts, their approaches to the same combos are different, which alters your game plan. Also, and I can’t emphasize this enough, they all look fantastic, especially in battle when executing the big moves and recreating iconic scenes from the show. The voice work and music are also on point throughout, adding to the nostalgia while keeping you immersed in the action.

"Even if the light it brings doesn’t glow for all eternity, Sparking! ZERO ignites the imagination with the best illustration of the Dragon Ball power fantasy yet."

Online play was solid overall with no hitches or lag, and the rules of Destruction Point Battle lend to some pretty unique and fun battles. There’s also a pretty in-depth Battle Training mode for familiarizing one with the basics and advanced tactics, though I would have liked some more options in basic training, like displaying hitboxes. You can customize the CPU’s difficulty and have them adopt different patterns, like focusing on building Ki or rushing the player with melee attacks, but it could use some more advanced options.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO offers some incredible highs and noticeable lows. While I would have preferred a better Story Mode, the rest of its features are pretty robust. The combat is the best it’s ever been, bolstered by the new mechanics and exceptional roster, while the fidelity is off the charts. Even if the light it brings doesn’t glow for all eternity, Sparking! ZERO ignites the imagination with the best illustration of the Dragon Ball power fantasy yet.

This game was reviewed on PC.