Budokai Tenkaichi and its sequels are easily some of the most iconic titles in the greater Dragon Ball Z video game catalog, and fans have wanted a new entry for years. That's where Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero comes in, promising to take the "legendary gameplay of the Budokai Tenkaichi series to whole new levels." From the moment it was revealed, it has been all hype from the fanbase and justifiably so.

At Summer Game Fest, Game ZXC saw a brief demonstration of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero's game modes followed by some hands-on time. Namely, these are the Episode Battles that explore a character's history within the DBZ universe, with a slight twist; Custom Battles, which allow players to create unique encounters and share them with others; and, of course, the standard battle mode where players can fight their friends or against the AI. Our hands-on time was purely gameplay-oriented, focused on standard AI battles, while developers walked us through a first look at Episode and Custom Battles.

Goku Voice Acting Dragon Ball Sparking Zero-1
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Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero's Episode Battles

Episode Battles are essentially the story mode of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, which allows players to play through a character's history. Goku, since his history is Dragon Ball Z history, was the example given to us. Players will be treated to cutscenes, battles with sometimes unique win conditions, and otherwise fight throughout the entire story. The story of DBZ has been told countless times across various forms of media, but luckily, this isn't just a simple retelling.

Fans will be able to make choices in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero that affect cutscenes, battles, and more. To what degree remains to be seen, but the choice we saw here involved Goku's pursuit of Raditz after he kidnaps Gohan. Players can choose to go it alone or follow the canon path, facing Raditz alongside Piccolo. For this demo, the developers chose to follow the canon path, but they also hinted that things like winning a battle someone isn't supposed to could change the story's direction too. The second feature is the ability to go into first-person mode during cutscenes, with the example being given to us being the first-person perspective of Goku holding Raditz and getting hit by Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon.

It's also worth noting that Raditz seemed to put up a pretty good fight, seemingly taking cues from Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's Raditz boss fight. In some DBZ games, Raditz is disregarded a bit as an early game boss, essentially a tutorial boss fight, so his difficulty isn't too serious. Some DBZ games also tend to be rather static in presentation, meaning a fight's restraints, abilities, health, etc., are all within set parameters that equalize difficulty. It's hard to say for sure since we were not hands-on, but the dev player put up a good fight and Raditz wasn't letting himself be steamrolled. Obviously, he may not be as difficult as later boss fights, like Beerus presumably, but it speaks well of the game's AI.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero's Custom Battles

Custom Battles allow players to choose certain combatants (player characters and AI), set the stage, adjust the victory conditions, and otherwise customize battles. They will also be able to share these with others, which is no doubt an exciting feature for the community. It's almost like the developers are handing the community the same power to create the "what if" scenarios in DBSZ's Episode Battles. While it remains to be seen how modular the feature truly is, it does seem to have all the pieces to the puzzle so far. Players can adjust the following settings and then some:

  • Keywords
  • Title Card
  • Environment Settings
  • Battle Settings
  • Characters and Win Conditions
  • Transformation/Fusion Restrictions
  • Cutscene Settings
  • Thumbnail

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero's Combat

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Of course, at the end of the day, it all comes down to Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero's combat. Each team can have up to 5 characters for intense 5v5 scenarios, but for the purposes of this preview and time, we were limited to 3v3s. We tried out most of the characters available to us, all who were incredibly faithful to the DBZ franchise and their general game identities. Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero's roster should have no problem filling out if each character gets similar treatment because, while controls are similar, the characters feel distinct. For example, one Super Saiyan 3 Goku ability "pushed us to our limits" and saw us dominate our opponent with an incredibly high hit combo counter, while Great Ape Vegeta was obviously big and slow. There was also a clear distinction gameplay-wise between Super Saiyan Blue Goku and SS3 Goku.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero also features destructible environments, minor tweaks to the Budokai Tenkaichi series formula, and ways to clash with opponents or "boost" abilities. The destructible environments add a touch of immersion to the fights, while there are moments that will rely on the player's muscle memory and knowledge of the game. However, it's simple enough that anyone can hop in, enjoy a fast match, and have a good time doing it. Even in 3v3, no fight dragged on too long or ran too short, really striking that Goldilocks zone. It really gives off "easy to learn, hard to master" vibes, though of course, our time was too limited to get a good feel for what mastering the gameplay is like.

Ultimately, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero seems to focus more on being a modern iteration of the Budokai Tenkaichi series as opposed to offering something completely unique compared to other DBZ games. That's not a bad thing, of course, when inheriting the legacy of Budokai Tenkaichi and sharing similarities with other games like Xenoverse 2. DBZ fighting games are popular for a reason, and this is simply a 2024 version of a long-beloved franchise. While it remains to be seen if it "reinvents the wheel" in some fashion, it doesn't have to. It's a new chapter for DBZ games, even if it's still part of the same book, and it's more than enough to leave fans wondering what happens next in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero.