Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero Review: Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Top Features

Bandai Namco

Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero from developer Spike Chunsoft has no easy feat in front of it.

The new fighting game isn’t just based on a historic international powerhouse of an anime. It is the long-awaited fourth effort in the Budokai Tenkaichi series, which is underselling it a bit—it’s the first console entry in nearly two decades, following up 2007’s Budokai Tenkaichi 3.

On top of everything else, it has the gall to drop right in the middle of a golden era for fighting games, following stellar releases such as Tekken 8 and others.

Fittingly, though, like the anime’s heroes, Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero has the offerings capable of helping it overcome any potential foe, which includes outright gigantic expectations.

Graphics and Gameplay

Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero is a shakeup for the series in all kinds of ways well beyond its naming convention.

Take, for example, the fact it is the first in the series to lean into the power of Unreal Engine 5. The effect of this is immediate, given how eye-catching and impressive the game is in motion.

This is pretty inarguably the best-looking DBZ game to date, with all the little details just creating stunning moments. It really is an anime in action, if not better, given the proper shadows and particle effects, physics on things like strands of hair while powering up, and the sudden, dramatic change in weather when something really impactful starts to happen.

Making this all the more impressive is the fact the roster checks in at a stunning 180-plus characters.

Now for a real highlight—the 180 number itself includes variations of characters. But these aren’t cut-and-paste jobs. For example, different versions of Goku aren’t just cases of swapped cosmetics. Variations can carry unique abilities, ultimates, forms, fusions, and more on top of the accurate costume and appearance changes.

Stages are a highlight, too. Like in past efforts, they are fully free-roaming 3D arenas that are lore-accurate, detailed and crisp. Nothing in the way of destructibility has been lost with time, either. If anything, it feels like players can do more harm to battlegrounds and use them to their advantage than in the past. That also includes simply finding cover while powering up.

Ki remains the central point of combat, as charging it up enables moves and abilities, which includes new features such as a teleport dodge. As Budokai Tenkaichi has taught players over the years, though, there are a staggering number of possible things to pull off to match the anime’s fast, flashy style.

There are many, many things going on, compared to most fighting games. We’re talking multiple vanishing attacks, multiple smashes, three-plus types of counters, high and low guards, etc., etc.

Yet, the game flows well and emulates a fast-paced anime in big, expansive, open battle arenas in the process. All of the jargon mentioned above is nice to have for depth and skill gaps, but a very basic, fun pick-up-and-play potential exists, too.

Of course, basic combos and ultimate attacks come out to play. The series has spent the hiatus adding some new wrinkles that dramatically shake up the flow of combat beyond what veterans might expect, too.

The top example there is a short dash that lets players get around the environments faster and better dodge quick enemy ranged attacks. But don’t sleep on a revenge system that is basically a parry, yet effective nonetheless and reminiscent of some epic scenes from the shows. Ditto on that later point for the new Vanishing Assault, an instant teleportation attack.

Also, like in the past, Capsules are a huge deal and earned or even purchased in the shop, enabling players to modify characters to their liking.

Notably, players who feel attached to the control schemes of old can actually swap to the old controller inputs within the options menu. Otherwise, the game arrives with a standard, default, and modern-feeling set of controls.

Story and More

Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero launches with a handful of character campaign episodes that serve as story content, and the breadth of them is rather impressive.

Players progress through these bits of narrative at a nice pace and as they go, a world map opens up and offers multiple branching paths, win conditions and rewards.

What’s absolutely wild about these episodes is that things can play out differently from the decades-old stories with new “what if?” outcomes. The easy example is players not choosing to have Goku team up with Piccolo against Raditz early in Z, or doing well enough to have Goku survive that battle with his life, but that’s just the beginning on this front.

Overall, it’s a blatant love letter of fan service, considering Dragon Ball GT characters—and newly arriving Dragon Ball Super characters—make the roster.

Admittedly, some characters are just plain overpowered. Some are easier to use. Others require more complex setup to pull off feats. It goes on and on. But that’s the result of lore-accurate characters, which speaks to the love and care that went into this offering.

The progression of unlocks, like in the past, is earned through the collection of Zeni, the in-game currency available in all modes. It feels fair enough and the grind is never not interesting, frankly, because there’s so much for players to unlock.

Matching the source material, the World Tournament is the big online and offline mode beyond simple Vs. Showdowns. To round out an impressive suite of the more basic-type mode options, the training offering is robust and informative for players of all skill ranges.

The World Library might be where the utmost replayability comes from, though. There players can try battles created by other members of the community. Because yes, there’s also a Custom mode where players can craft their own scenarios, stages, combatants, etc.

Those Custom Battles let players tweak more than they might expect. We’re talking full-blown scenarios, including intro cutscenes, things that can happen in the middle of matches, post-fight cutscenes and more. It’s an incredibly fun thing to toy around with at launch and the mind wanders both at what else might get added as options and what the community might create over time.

As mentioned, there are droves of things to unlock, and yes, via Come Forth mode, players get to summon the dragons for a wish via the dragon balls that help fuel those unlocks.

Gallery and theatre modes offer a treasure trove of lore, cinematics and others, while there are plenty of interesting stat breakdowns for players to browse, too.

Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero also features plenty in the way of planned post-launch support, including season pass DLC that will beef up the experience. Given the way things could expand on the roster and hopefully, in terms of Episodes and things players can create in battle scenarios, it’s nothing short of good news.

Like other fighting game contemporaries, Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero goes huge in the options menus. There are many accessibility features atop a standard suite of options, including the mentioned control schemes lists. Also like others, it runs well, which is both important and impressive, given all the game has going on during battles.

Conclusion

For the most part, Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero is exactly what Budokai Tenkaichi fans have been waiting for over the course of 10-plus years.

It is, before anything else, oozing love and care for the world of Dragon Ball. The detail packed into every little corner of the game is so well done that it’s a prime example of how to handle the trickiest of adaptations.

As a game, Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero is just plain fun for players of all skill ranges, too. Like the combat itself, the Episodes manage to somehow bridge the gap between players new to Dragon Ball and longtime veterans and there’s so much to earn that things are always interesting.

Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero isn’t likely to dethrone some of the other stellar fighting game releases on best-of lists over the last few years. But in the Dragon Ball realm, it takes over the throne and feels like it could stay there a decade-plus, especially if post-launch support is done as well as the initial launch.