Summary
- Sparking! Zero promises fast-paced combat with revamped movement mechanics for an intuitive and cinematic experience.
- Skill Count adds depth with unique features like Revenge Counter and deflecting special Ki Moves for strategic gameplay.
- Attention to detail shines through with damaged clothes feature, showing commitment to every aspect of the game's design.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is one of the most anticipated fighting games, and the most anticipated anime Dragon Ball game in years. Part of the Budokai Tenkaichi family, this game promises to carry on the legacy of previous iterations and provide the premier Dragon Ball experience. With the turn of the year, news and reveals related to Dragon Ball:Sparking! Zero have steadily increased, culminating in the recent Showcase.
While most fans of the series, and of this genre in general, were in awe of the gigantic battle shown between Goku and Vegeta, the Gameplay Showcase already revealed tons of new features that many fans might have missed. These little sprinkles of information depict a lot of what the game will be like. Some of the most important details shown recently are outlined below.
6 Movement Changes
Be Ready For Fast-Paced Combat
From the get go, Sparking! Zero has made big changes to the systemic movement of the game, differentiating itself from the rest of the Budokai Tenkaichi series. Movement is a lot faster and slicker, with normal movement being on par with dashes in the previous games. This is complemented well by the smooth animations and the improved frame rate.
The game has introduced short dashes, in the vein of DBZ Kakarot, which make the fights feel a lot more intuitive and cinematic, and open up tons of options for offense and defense alike; be it avoiding Ki Blasts, or barraging an opponent with quick strikes. The revamped movement already promises to be a focal point of the game.
5 Skill Count
This Unique Feature Adds Incredible Depth
A new feature that players may not have noticed in the battle Showcases, be it in the fights involving Super Trunks, or with some of the newer characters, there is a new resource to manage, currently called Skill Count. While the underlying mechanics are yet to be fleshed out, so far there are two distinct uses of this feature.
Firstly, if players have the adequate Skill Count, they can use a Revenge Counter, essentially tanking incoming hits and launching a heavy, damaging counter-attack which looks very similar to something from the anime. Players can also use Skill Count to deflect special Ki Moves such as the Galick Gun and Kamehameha.
4 Damaged Clothes
Incredible Attention To Detail
One of the coolest features in the Budokai Tenkaichi series is the tons of different iterations of every character, and access to a multitude of different costumes reflecting different sagas and movies from the Dragon Ball franchise. In the Dragon Ball anime, throughout the show's best battles, the Z-Fighters would get injured, damaging their attire as well, leading to some of the most iconic looks in the franchise. For example, the initial Super Saiyan Goku with his damaged Gi is one of the franchise's most iconic images.
The Showcase revealed that the clothes/armor of most characters will get worn out and damaged as a fight progresses. Not only is this a cool feature, but it shows how much attention is being given to every aspect of Sparking! Zero.
3 Big Focus On Graphics
The Game Already Looks Better Than The Anime
Even though the game is still in development, and we have only seen a few gameplay clips, it is safe to say that Sparking! Zero is an incredible looking game. The graphics are top of the line, even for most games in the current generation. The destructible environments look great, the character models are solid, and the Ki attacks look amazing.
What makes this impressive is the scale of the game, and the sheer technical aptitude needed to make a series like Dragon Ball, with all its transformations, special moves, and massive fights look good. So far, the focus seems to be on ensuring that the game looks better than the anime, and that is a welcome and promising sight.
2 Attribute Differences
Power Vs Speed
The Gameplay Showcase focused a lot on highlighting different attributes, particularly Power (or Strength) and Speed, and this was done by highlighting characters such as Super Trunks, Jeice, and Burter to show the clear differences between characters who were focusing on different stats.
While it isn't completely obvious what these differences entail in gameplay, it is already clear that characters like Super Trunks do high damage, and utilize their Skill Count well. Meanwhile, faster characters like Jeice are rapid, good at evading, and at overwhelming opponents with a flurry of attacks. It will be interesting to see how these differences influence the meta.
1 Massive Roster
The Largest Roster In Modern Fighting Games
Fans were concerned that a new Budokai Tenkaichi game would not feature the gigantic roster the series was known for. Fortunately, the official release website has a screenshot that shows the potential size of the roster, and it looks huge, with well over a hundred characters.
It also promises to feature tons of character variety, be it the original Z-Fighters, the gallery of Saiyans, newer characters introduced in Super, or characters from the movies. All in all, players should be excited about the inclusion one massive and unique roster.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
- Released
- October 11, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Spike Chunsoft
- Publisher(s)
- Namco Bandai
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Fighting, Action
