Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero preview - a beloved series resparked

After recently going hands-on with Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero it’s without a doubt the best Dragon Ball game I’ve ever played, and that’s quite the accomplishment given what’s come before.

I haven’t even seen what the rest of the game has to offer, but can already tell the full release will steal days of my time as I master the combos, upgrade my characters, and replay the story of Dragon Ball from the Saiyan Saga all the way up to the Tournament Of Power.

Check out the trailer for Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero below

During my hands-on preview sessions I got to play a few hours of normal battles, saw some of the new custom episode mode, and experienced the events of the Saiyan Saga as Goku from a never-before-seen perspective.

Kicking things off with the bread-and-butter of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, the combat. If you’ve played as much Dragon Ball: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 as I have, the controls should come naturally to you, in fact most of the combos are also largely the same too. Of course the last game in the series launched on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii, so you best believe everything looks faster, flashier and breathtakingly beautiful.

New additions to the combat are all about mobility and counters, like quick-dashing, perception, and the z-burst dash. There were times where I had an opponent on the ropes, so a few quick-dashes allowed me to stay in their face as I pummelled their guard away. Other encounters had me on the back-foot, so quick-dashing backwards at the right moment opened up a window of opportunity for my own combo, and for times when I just couldn’t stand an onslaught of attacks, Perception allowed me to knock my opponent back for a breather.

All in all it was easy to learn but hard to master. Now you can say that for most fighting games but something that always puts me off the likes of Tekken or Dragon Ball FIghterz is how much time is required to actually be competent. Dragon Ball Sparking Zero didn’t feel like that, as the training mode was comprehensive and the battles could be customised for both difficulty and AI behaviours.

Bandai Namco

I think the game should also take the award for the most impressive looking fighting game so far, and if you’re a fan of the franchise you’ll feel tears in your eyes by how gorgeous some of the special moves look. Aside from your classic kamehamehas, your galick guns, and your special beam cannons there are loads of moves we haven’t seen in a game before. While the energy blasts and they’re bursts of colour looked fantastic it was the sequence moves that really caught my eye. The Dragon Ball Super version of Goku has a move where he flips around his opponent while creating energy balls each time he lands, before blasting them to cause an enormous explosion. It’s ripped straight out of the anime, is choreographed perfectly and it never got old.

I’d say the same thing for the character clashes, which occurred when both players tried to use the same move at the same time. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see any beam clashes as the AI wasn’t playing ball, but I did encounter grab clashes and standard melee clashes, both of which felt cinematic and a challenge to win.

The roster was also to die for, with more characters than ever before at your disposal. Never in my life did I think we’d see one-off characters like Anilaza from the Tournament Of Power in a Dragon Ball game, which is why I’ve been saying for months that Sparking Zero is comparable to Super Smash Bros Ultimate with how many characters are here to play. After seeing the entire roster with my own eyes I was more than happy with the selection, and I couldn’t help but grin when I saw Super Saiyan 4 Goku, Vegeta and Gogeta after so much speculation they wouldn’t be there. While I didn’t get to try every character in the game, I just didn’t have time, what hit me the most was how each one I played felt unique. Unique movesets, supermoves, actual weight behind the larger characters, and the kaiju-esque battles you could make out of the giant characters, the roster impressed me to no end.

After several bouts with some of my favourite characters we moved on to the Episode Battles. These were separated into two different types, predetermined ones that follow the story of Dragon Ball but with a few twists here and there, and Custom Episodes that let you make your own stories.

Bandai Namco

Now unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to create my own episodes, but from what I saw they essentially let you create your own What If? stories, with an astounding level of freedom.

If you ever wondered what it’d be like if Mr Satan won the Cell games, or if Broly interrupted the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, this is your chance to make it happen. Players are given the choice of the setting, time of day, characters, battle conditions, music, and even the cutscenes that play during the episode. An example shown was a cutscene of Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta powering up in front of Super Saiyan Blue Vegito, with the camera panning around the warriors like one of the film scenes.

These episodes are shareable online too, so if putting one together yourself doesn’t appeal to you, you can at least play other player’s creations instead.

The last part of my preview was a straight-up playthrough of the Goku Episode, and a little bit of Goku Black’s who I was very surprised to see as a playable option. Goku’s is apparently the longest of the selection spanning the Saiyan Saga all the way up to the Tournament Of Power, though I only got as far the beginning of the Frieza Saga.

It all plays out exactly as you’d expect, though there are two new additions for long-time fans to give a go. The first is a new form of What If? that you can choose to do at certain moments of the story. After Goku’s first encounter with Raditz the player is given the choice of either teaming up with Piccolo, the canon storyline, or Krillin instead. As far as I could tell this didn’t change the battle, just the playable characters, and disappointingly Piccolo was still there to hit Raditz and Goku with the special beam cannon so it all played out the same way. I’m hoping in the full release this is an exception and not the rule, as it’d be disappointing to find the What If? battles only changed the roster rather than the story to a noticeable degree.

The other new addition is a strange one, first-person mode. This is a new feature for the cutscenes allowing you to see the action from your leading character’s perspective. It’s a silly addition for sure but a welcome one, and I was fully sold on the idea when I got to see Great Ape Vegeta crushing Goku from our hero’s P.O.V.

Bandai Namco

That was all I had time for unfortunately but it did what any good preview should, got excited for the game and eager to play more. Having access to all the modes, characters, and online play is going to be a real treat, and I simply can’t wait to see what secrets the full game will include.

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is by far the best Dragon Ball game I’ve played, and I’m 99% sure that an additional 100+ hours with the game won’t see that opinion waver.