During our time at Summer Game Fest, I was able to get my hands-on with Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball Sparking Zero. I walked away from my time with the game, smiling like a little kid because not only does it do the original Budokai Tenkaichi justice, but it builds upon a beloved franchise, and modernizes it for newcomers to join in on the fun.
Creating Unique What-If Stories in the Dragon Ball Universe
One staple landmark of the original game was the ability to create What-if stories in the world of Dragon Ball. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to explore non-canon Dragon Ball events, but I saw a few opportunities that got me excited.
For instance, one of the first things to happen in the Dragon Ball Z anime is Goku’s older brother Radditz kidnapping Gohan. In the show, Goku and Piccolo end up going to fight him together, but there is an option for players to go without him, and instead of fighting alongside him, you’ll be with Krillen instead. That was just a small aspect of the kind of stories that players can create while playing through the story.
Play as Iconic Characters: From Dragon Ball Z to Super
Players will have plenty of opportunities to create unique stories. In true Dragon Ball fashion, you can play as various characters, but the story being told will start in Z and end in Super.
Even though Dragon Ball Sparking Zero gives the players a lot of creative freedom to make their own stories, the gameplay mechanics can be a bit redundant. The main combat system consists of you mashing on a few buttons. A lot of them end up just being how many times you can press X without being hit. Even though it can be a bit dull, it makes up for it in its aesthetics.
Even though the main combat isn’t all that engaging, it makes up for it in its super moves. Similar to the original Budokai Tenkaichi, you’ll have a chance to essentially have unlimited ki for a very short amount of time. But the catch is you may not be able to use everything at once because you won’t have enough power. So, to gain power for it, you have to get up close and personal. But once you’ve met both requirements, the game begins to shine. Each character has various special moves, and if they can transform, their special moves will completely change. Going through all of Goku’s forms mid-fight kept things interesting because guessing what the moves were would be fun.
Exploring the Custom Battle Mode: Creativity Unleashed
Lots of little details went into the combat to keep you engaged. One small thing I found myself in awe of was seeing Goku’s hair and clothes move in all directions while powering up. But that’s not where the small details stop because, at the start of each fight, every fighter looks clean and well-put, as they do in the show. But as the fight progresses and the attacks strengthen, they begin to look more battle-damaged. And watching the city get destroyed as I smack another Saiyan across the battlefield was a nice cherry on top.
Although I couldn’t get my hands on it, the team at Bandai explained that there’ll be a new custom battle mode for people to toy around with. As the name suggests, it’ll allow players to pick the arena they’ll be in, who’ll be fighting, and even the rules. The dev team explained that once they’re created, they’ll be able to share them with anyone they want. This is a feature that, in theory, has a lot of room to grow because it allows the player base to be as creative as they want, similar to how Halo’s Forge mode works. Lastly, Bandai did confirm that Dragon Ball Sparking Zero will have a split-screen mode, so older players such as myself will be able to recreate childhood-like memories.
Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is scheduled to come out later this year on October 11. It’ll be playable on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
