Highlights
- Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is the true successor to Budokai Tenkaichi, offering top-notch art and the largest roster yet.
- However, there will be no custom characters in Sparking Zero, as it's all about celebrating Dragon Ball's legacy and delivering dream matches.
- While Dragon Ball should revisit character creation in other games, Sparking Zero stays true to Budokai Tenkaichi's goals.
Many Dragon Ball fans are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, the next arena fighter from the franchise. Although it may sound like an average game for the series, the truth is that Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is anything but, owing to it being the inheritor of the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi legacy. Back on the PlayStation 2, the Budokai Tenkaichi trilogy was legendary for collecting the most original Dragon Ball, Z, and GT characters ever seen in an anime-accurate DBZ battle simulator, and fans have been waiting for another Dragon Ball game to top it ever since.
It looks like that successor has finally arrived, as Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero has pulled out all the stops to meet and exceed modern fan expectations. The art style and animation quality of Sparking Zero are a step up from the last few Dragon Ball arena fighters, and the initial launch roster has been demonstrated as the largest base Dragon Ball fighting game cast yet. Even Budokai Tenkaichi's mechanics are coming back with accuracy other titles inspired by it couldn't manage. That's not to say the other Dragon Ball games made between Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and Sparking Zero are worthless, but their best ideas should be saved for another time.
Every Playable Character in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero seems destined to have more playable characters than any of the Budokai Tenkaichi games that came before it.
Dragon Ball Games Have Turned Character Creation Into A Staple
By this point, Dragon Ball game fans should be familiar with custom avatars. Whether they are part of Dragon Ball Heroes’ gang of avatar characters, a member of the many races available in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 1 and 2, or a civilian Survivor from Dragon Ball: The Breakers, plenty of Dragon Ball games have dedicated slots for original player creations. Some games, like Dragon Ball Xenoverse, even put these characters into their stories’ spotlight and let them shine with all the greatness of a regular Dragon Ball hero.
Ultimate Tenkaichi’s Hero Mode Is More Influential Than Most Realize
The original global Dragon Ball title that introduced custom characters was 2011’s Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi. Hero Mode only allowing players to make male Saiyans is archaic by Dragon Ball Xenoverse’s diverse race standards, but it still allowed players to live out an authentic adventure of gathering the Dragon Balls and saving the world from Omega Shenron. Since then, Dragon Ball Xenoverse’s refinement of the idea has become successful enough that others Shonen Jump games like Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows, and even Jump Force have adopted the idea, but that doesn't mean Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero should do the same.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Doesn’t Have Room For A Custom Character
As appealing as the ultimate Dragon Ball fight simulator supporting custom player avatars sounds, that's not what Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is going for. The game is intended to pay homage to Budokai Tenkaichi's legacy of being a celebration of all things Dragon Ball, and original characters lie outside that scope. Dream matches and what-if scenarios, even ones included in Sparking Zero’s single-player content, are all still part of the conversation, but anything like Ultimate Tenkaichi’s Hero Mode would be missing the point. It just isn't on fans’ wish lists for Sparking Zero.
Other Dragon Ball Games Should Revisit Character Creation, But Not Sparking Zero
That's not to say Dragon Ball should abandon the idea of custom fighters with their own campaigns; in fact, it's still supporting fan creations through Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and The Breakers’ ongoing updates. Getting rid of a successful trend it helped establish isn't in Dragon Ball's nature, so fans should expect another evolution of Ultimate Tenkaichi’s Hero Mode, even if it's years away. Until then, however, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is perfectly fine pursuing the goals Budokai Tenkaichi set for it, and fans should have plenty of Dragon Ball fanservice on hand either way.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
- Franchise
- Dragon Ball
- Platform(s)
- PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
- Developer(s)
- Spike Chunsoft
- Publisher(s)
- Namco Bandai
- Genre(s)
- Fighting , Action
