Ask any Dragon Ball Z fan in the mid-00s who the strongest fighter is, and you'll probably hear a million different answers. If you ask them instead to name the best Dragon Ball game, it would almost certainly be a unanimous call for Budokai Tenkaichi 3. In all of the years since the PS2 release, there hasn't quite been a fighting game featuring Goku that's captured that high (although Dragon Ball FighterZ certainly came close). As the 40th anniversary of Dragon Ball as a whole is rapidly approaching, Bandai Namco has revived the fighting tournament with the first new title to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Budokai spinoff series specifically. Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO aims to revive the trash-talking of the late 2000s and have fans decide just who the strongest Saiyan really is.
The rise of Goku from spunky youth to family man to the strongest gold/blue/red-haired fighter in the universe is a tale that's been told innumerable times across both games and anime alike, but Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO hopes to keep that tale on the lips of Akira Toriyama fans once more through the abundance of story modes that go beyond just throwing a few punches back and forth.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO offers a few different story modes depending on where in the Dragon Ball Z timeline you're interested in revisiting, starting with Goku's first encounter with Nappa and Vegeta and beyond. While the story initially focuses on Goku, additional stories unlock, including Frieza and a few other familiar faces. These fights appear to branch off in different paths, based on win/lose conditions and other hidden criteria that might need a couple of extra playthroughs to get the full story or at least some secret unlockables.
If all you're looking for is an excuse to match fists with faces, Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO features a wide array of buffet options depending on your hunger for battle. If you're itching for a tournament, that's readily available to the player. If you want something more customizable, you can create unique scenarios that feel ripped straight from a VHS copy of the Namek Saga. The tools are there to come up with everything from intro cards based off the original anime to unique combat scenarios and win conditions. There are a few preset options to play with out of the box, but the real experience will be getting to connect to other players and trying out what custom scenarios they've come up with.
Nearly the entire roster of Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO was playable in our preview, leaving little surprises to know what's to come and how they may be unlocked. Like any good Budokai fan, I wanted to focus on collecting a full set of Dragon Balls to make a wish and perhaps unlock another character in the roster. Sadly, I came up one short because I didn't have the time to beat down enough invaders during Goku's story mode and thus couldn't make a wish, perhaps for another character to add to the roster of already 180+ (I did make an effort to make a personal entreaty with the game's producer to include the Power Level 5 farmer with a shotgun in their possible DLC plans).
No matter who you pick to back in Sparking! ZERO, they'll have a few tricks up their sleeve when it comes to melee combat. There's a lot going on at once onscreen and that's not including the various explosions and ki blasts being flung around. Players will have to manage not only their HP and Ki Gauges but also a separate skill and transformation system that will lead to the more flashy and devastating mechanics. The Ki Gauge remains the single most important tool in a Saiyan's belt. Without it, you're stuck standing around or throwing weak punches, but with it, you can launch Ki blasts from halfway across the map, evasive and speedy movements, and, of course, the signature superattacks for each character.
There's a delicate balance to meter management and true to the source material, many fights will feature moments of either player standing stationary and charging up their Ki Gauge when safely out of harm's way. In a way, this mechanic could be considered the most important callback to the source material. Beyond managing your precious resources, combat in Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO is relatively simple in practice with its limited inputs and attacks per character but being able to chain them together and create some flashy combos is where the real excitement is. The other crucial mechanic this title takes its namesake from is the Sparking! Mode where abilities get powered up to peak performance for a short time and that's where the real damage will come in.
While my time with the folks at Bandai Namco and their preview event was brief, I walked away feeling quite confident that this new development team understands what made Budokai Tenkaichi 3 such a dorm room staple growing up. Akira Toriyama's legacy will live on in this storied fighting game franchise in the most appropriate way possible: another World Martial Arts Tournament.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC (Steam) starting October 10th, 2024, or three days early on the 7th if you pre-purchase the Deluxe or Ultimate Editions.
