The latest entry of the Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi series not only lives up to the legendary franchise but also serves as the game that Dragon Ball & fighting game fans have been long panning for.

2024 has been a pivotal year for fans of Dragon Ball, for better & for worse. With the sudden passing of series creator Akira Toriyama in March, the whole community was left shaken. Long gone was the person responsible for the creation of arguably the biggest name in Japanese manga & anime, yet there was still hope, a little spark. First, there was Dragon Ball DAIMA, a short animated series created by Toriyama prior to his passing that would release in October, but the more shocking announcement was yet to come. Back in December, publisher Bandai Namco announced that the classic Dragon Ball: Budokai Tenkaichi franchise would be returning & reinvented for modern consoles. Now under the name Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, the game would release on the same day as DAIMA, with nostalgic gamers & Dragon Ball fans flocking en masse to throwdown with Goku & co. Yet after selling more than 3 million copies in less than 24 hours, does the game still hold up? Well other than the fact that you read the article title & this review is beyond late since release, you tell me.

One Goku, Two Goku, Red Goku, Blue Goku

Full disclosure, I’ve never actually never grown up with Dragon Ball, nor the Budokai Tenkaichi games. All my exposure of watching Dragon Ball’s varied shows & movies came from a bet with my friend Michael at the end of 2023. However, booting up Sparking Zero for the first time felt oddly charming & nostalgic. From Goku jumping to different areas & people as you scroll through menus, to the endless creative character interactions that happen before very fight. You can tell how much love & time went into the game well before you actually start throwing hands.

Then you have arguably the biggest selling point of Sparking Zero, the 180+ character roster. Although some of the spots can be easily summarized as “insert form here” Goku or “insert form here” Vegeta, you’re still given over 100+ different & unique characters ranging from Dragon Ball, Z, GT, Super, & even the movie characters which I found to be an ample surprise. Now, you’d assume that most of these characters would be reskins of pre-existing characters but all of them have their own unique identities & skills that keep them interesting. From the Androids having an auto-charge for Ki attacks to characters like Yajirobe & Jiren having abilities that grant healing capabilities to have matches last longer. Everyone offers something new that helps keep ever match diverse & not just simply spamming energy attacks from Broly (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Also each character has been powerscaled, which helps give each character a well needed oomph. if you pick a newer, more powerful character like Broly or even Beerus, prepare to wreck havoc, while older characters like Yamcha & Tien are still capable, but have less of a chance to win. It keeps the game interesting, while still providing a great challenge who want to main old favourites against the current big players like Zamasu or Future Trunks. There are some fighters that should’ve made the core roster like Supreme Kai & Super 17, but it’s apples to oranges in the grand scheme of things & a small nitpick that I personally have. This is even before we consider the first round of DLC fighters from the Dragon Ball Super Hero film, alongside the newly released Dragon Ball DAIMA.

Mind you, with a massive roster like Sparking Zero’s, being able to access & unlock everyone initially sounds like a challenge onto itself. However, while you could go through the various challenges to unlock everyone separately, your in game level (depending on how much you play Sparking Zero) will let you gain access to these characters through the in game shop & in game currency (which thankfully isn’t paid micro transactions). Rather you’re looking to collect them all at your own pace, or you want to jump head first with someone like Bardock or Janemba, Sparking Zero has you covered.

Side Note: While there is optional DLC like new fighters, I don’t like the idea of selling iconic songs from the anime as two DLC packs that cost $20 CAD each, when they could’ve been added into the base game.

The Journey Continues

Considering that this is a Dragon Ball game, you’d imagine that the campaign portion would mostly consist of retelling the events of Dragon Ball Z with the newer content from Dragon Ball Super, and this is true. You do play through both stories, but with a twist. First, there’s a small pool of characters that have their own campaigns, ranging from Goku to Gohan, to more out there characters like Goku Black & Jiren. However, say you manage to perform a feat during these campaign missions that goes against the story, or maybe you defeat the impossible villain. Instead of retrying to get the expected outcome, Sparking Zero offers new “Sparking Episode” scenarios that warp the existing stories of Z & Super with a new twist. Not only does it prolong the content of Sparking Zero, but for those sick of seeing Goku fight Frieza for the millionth time, it adds a new flavor for fans & newcomers alike to experience. Combine this with the ability to view each cutscene in first person, it adds a whole new depth to every conflict.

I won’t give away too much since it spoils the surprises, but be ready to challenge yourself because the game expects you to know the ins & outs of Sparking Zero in order to unlock each route, which can sometimes be a real pain in the ass to deal with. Take the first scenario, in where you fight with Raditz. You’re supposed to beat him in a small amount of time, but the game never specifies how much or even provides a timer, so you’ll be fighting and then the mission will turn off & you have to quit & retry every single time. That’s not even taking into account some of the gameplay glitches or how some challenges require you to defeat up to four characters at a time. You want to know why this review took so long? These missions are solely to blame, alongside another big reason that I’ll touch onto later.

Now, what if you don’t want to play the main campaign or any of the custom tournament modes? Well you have the Custom Episodes option, where you can generate your own custom matchups with graphics, a small story, and perfectly tailored to match any story you want. Want to create a scenario where Broly was sent to Earth & trained under Master Roshi? Maybe create a story where the Androids protected the earth against the invading Saiyans. You can get away with almost anything (yes, you can even give Krillin hair).

I Suck at Sparking Zero

As I mentioned previously, I did not grow up with these games, nor have I really played many 3D fighting games, so a game like Dragon Ball was a new prospect for me. Needless to say, I am terrible at Sparking Zero, but I view it more in the way of a learning opportunity. From what I’ve seen of past games, the gameplay for Sparking Zero doesn’t stray away from its roots. You’re given range over a selection of iconic locations from Dragon Ball ranging from bustling cities, Kame House, and even the farthest reaches of space. All arenas have aspects of destruction, allowing you to feel the weight of how powerful every attack is as it decimates your opponent. As you begin to fight, you’ll see that most fights will naturally proceed into three stages.

1. Close combat that ranges from strikes, dodges, counters, and even short range projectiles.
2. Long range attack spamming, deflections, & charging up your Ki so you can launch more devastating attacks at your opponent.
3. A standoff moment where you & your opponent wait to see who will make the first move.

It’s not simply button mashing & its gameplay that awards careful planning & executing the proper maneuvers. However. I tend to play very aggressively in fighting games, which means no blocking or any attempts to counter. So I was in for a rude awakening where during the campaign, I met my match against the infamous Ozaru (Great Ape) Vegeta fight & had to alter how I handle fighting games. Thankfully, the training mode with Piccolo (which you will need) offers new & returning players with many references in how to pull off the game’s more necessary maneuvers & techniques. So after spending an hour with Piccolo, I went back to fight Vegeta & I still lost, but each fight had me learn more & more & adapt to what to do & not to do in certain cases. When I did eventually beat him, I was ready for the next impossible challenge that didn’t arrive until much later on, simply because I had built myself up on an earlier boss that was well beyond what many players (myself included) expected from Sparking Zero. Not once did I ever change the difficulty to fight a boss, because most of the fun of Sparking Zero is seeing the insane potential of each fight & learning how to be more insane. That’s not to say that there are some issues.

For one, the A.I. can flip between try hard & barely trying on a whim. Some fights during the campaign, like the fight with Anilaza, had them standing in the open to take a massive hit. Or fights where the enemy will try to attack you through an impenetrable object. Then there’s some of the attacks, mainly the charge attacks where you’ll dash right at your enemy & unless you’re at pixel perfect precision, you’ll go right through them without any reasonable excuse The amount of times I’d lose a match because of this one problem is immense & is my biggest problem, especially when the game expects flawless matches from their players. Also the rate of projectile items hitting your opponent can also vary sometimes. The amount of times that Goku or Vegeta would miss a downed opponent with a projectile attack was embarrassing, especially when the enemy has no chance to dodge & you end up with egg on your face. Speaking of multiplayer, I found the local multiplayer aspect of Sparking Zero to be lackluster. Sure you can do local multiplayer, but you’re only given one map that’s empty & lacking any personality. I know the developer said that local multiplayer support is coming soon but this should’ve been a priority considering that this is a fighting game. However, I had no problems with the online multiplayer, outside of everyone in their mother playing SSGSS Gogeta (yes, that’s a real thing). Fights worked well & I never had to worry about any lag or connection loss.

Overall, Sparking Zero is a massive offering for the fighting game community & those who grew up with the Budokai Tenkaichi games. It’s a game that I hope to dedicate many more hours into playing simply based on how much there is left for me to learn. Yes, I am still not done with Sparking Zero’s massive cavalcade of content, nor am I turned away from any of its flaws, but considering that this review is already late as it is, alongside the fact that a game like Sparking Zero isn’t meant for a single run through then left to rot on the shelf. Also Goku Black isn’t available until level 20, so I’m committed to playing Sparking Zero for a bit more.

8/10

(try to find me online, I’m learning to main Fused Zamasu)