Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO Review

When it comes to anime and manga, there are few franchises that have held up as significantly as Dragon Ball over the years. With such a cultural reach, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and its subsequent iterations were for many of us our first foray into Japanese media. And, like any big shōnen, Dragon Ball received a number of video games that let us re-enact our favorite fights from over the years. The most notable of which has been the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series, or Dragon Ball Z: Sparking!, as it was published in Japan. 

With the last entry in the series being Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 back in 2007, it was largely thought that the good old days of anime fighting games were behind us. Until Bandai Namco and Spike Chunsoft decided that 2024 was the perfect time to bring it back, in Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO. It’s arguably the best a Dragon Ball game has ever looked; slick, vibrant, and relatively smooth. But the title chokes on air that’s grown stale, retreading far too much of the same ground while offering little in terms of fresh scenery. 

We've Got Goku For Days

Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO feels very much for the fans, and I say that as someone who has watched the series in its entirety on multiple occasions, filler included. Once again, fans will get to relive classic battles from the series’ past, and enjoy some of the newer additions from the realm of Dragon Ball Super. The latter of which have never been implemented in a Budokai Tenkaichi game before, making it novel for that reason alone. You’ll take control of Earth’s mightiest warriors, and lesser warriors (Yamcha), once more. You’ll fire off Solar Flares, Galick Guns, and Spirit Bombs to your heart’s content, just as you have before. But now, it looks better. Almost as if you’re playing the anime itself. 

Combat feels like it has some depth to it, though can feel a little tricky for a casual fan of fighting games like myself. Counters and blocks are easy enough to pull off after a time, though the responsiveness of the actions often had me questioning if I was being effective. There are plenty of abilities to utilize across the game’s huge roster of playable characters, some of which are available from the start, and the majority being unlocked as you play. Now, I say huge roster of characters, but a significant portion of them are just variations of Goku and Vegeta. Don’t get me wrong — I love these frenemy Saiyans as much as, and likely more than, most. I’d just like to dig a little deeper into Dragon Ball’s supporting cast. Give them some purpose, rather than have them sit in front of the TV at Kame House waiting for Goku to die again. 

You Aren't Dealing With the Average Saiyan Warrior Anymore...

But, Sparking! ZERO has implemented a way to make things a bit more interesting through its Custom Battles feature. Here, you’re able to create your own match-ups with unlocked characters, meaning that you can have characters that never fought each other in the canon duke it out for your own amusement. You can even share your custom battle with the wider community, and play those created by others. It’s a great way to get that little bit more from the roster, though it only really serves to amuse those that are invested in the franchise. Sure, it seems fun to have Piccolo take on the entire Ginyu Force all by himself. Or Master Roshi, Mr. Satan, and Chiaotzu go up against Broly at full power. But the humor in that would be lost on someone without a passing knowledge of Dragon Ball. But that’s okay — Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO is built with fans in mind. 

Where it becomes tricky for even fans of the series is in its Episodic Battles. The campaign is told through fragmented storylines, meaning you’ll pick a character and play through their fights chronologically — but only ones that they had a significant role in. And you’ll be doing this one at a time. Take the Cell Saga as an example. If the game offered its storyline chronologically, we’d play as every character as they fight Cell in the lead up to the Cell Games. We’d fight Cell through all his stages just as it happened in the series. Tien would fight Semi-Perfect Cell, then Piccolo would give it a shot. Vegeta would take over, allow him to transform into Perfect Cell, then Trunks would take him on. But instead you’ll only see it through one character’s storyline. So if you’re playing as Vegeta, you’ll hop straight from Android 18 to Semi-Perfect Cell, without playing as any other character to link the story beats together. Sure, you could technically progress through each character’s storyline simultaneously to thread it together somewhat cohesively, but that’s beyond tedious and still feels fragmented. 

Instead, to fill in the gaps between fights, there are some short stills and text to offer context, and maybe a cutscene or two. Still, that doesn’t quite fill the hole enough to string everything together smoothly. If you’re not familiar with the Dragon Ball storyline, you’ll only grow more confused as the game goes on. Interestingly, despite relying on these stills and cutscenes to tell the story, the game isn’t too worried about accuracy — at least where the non-playable characters are concerned. During Vegeta’s storyline, in the Namek Saga, Bulma appears but she’s not wearing her yellow Namek outfit. She’s actually in the same outfit she wears at the very beginning on DBZ, at Kame House. Y’know, the one she wears for an episode or two, instead of the very popular, frequently cosplayed yellow and black dress. I know this seems like a petty thing to bring up, but it adds to the overall feeling that, in some areas, the bare minimum has been implemented. 

Where is My Saiyan Suit?

Cosmetics, while numerous, offer very minimal changes to the extent that they almost feel pointless. Goku and Vegeta have the largest range of outfits to unlock, but those are often just slight modifications to their fighting gear. Wow, all of Vegeta’s iconic outfits are here, including: Vegeta’s Saiyan armor with all-white boots, Saiyan armor with toe outlines, Saiyan armor with scouter. Hmm, what’s that? You want Vegeta’s pink ‘Badman’ shirt? Or his leather ensemble from Dragon Ball GT? I don’t know what you’re talking about. It all makes me question why outfit customization is offered at all, other than to be an avenue for premium post-launch content.

My gripe with Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO largely stems from its reliance on repeating content. We played through a large majority of fights before, in past games, and what it offers in new fights can still feel repetitious. But the game offers fans a huge amount of customization when it comes to custom fights and post-campaign content, giving those with a passion for fighting games and Dragon Ball something to really sink into. The variety of attacks and customizable ability slots give players a lot to work with, and is really the stand out element of Sparking! ZERO over past titles. The game looks great, feels great, and gives you a huge amount of space to recreate the franchise’s epic battles complete with devastating attacks. It’s a solid return to the Budokai Tenkaichi series, but lacks that little spark that makes it an entry for the ages.