Here at Qualbert we don’t usually provide a numerical rating for games… but this one is definitely OVER 9000!

Earlier in 2024 we lost the icon himself, Akira Toriyama but as a writer and an artist he will never be forgotten. In the gaming sphere alone he is famous as being the artist/character designer behind one of the greatest RPG series of all time in Dragon Quest, and also the literal best game of all time Chrono Trigger.

The man, the myth, the legend. Not Goku, I’m talking about Akira Toriyama.

Really though, Toriyama is best known and considered as a luminary in the manga world for his legendary creation, Dragon Ball. The first appearance of Goku was in the Weekly Shonen Jump manga way back in 1984. The original series started as more of a comedy re-telling of the classic Chinese story Journey to the West but over time Goku’s adventures took on more of an action/fighting focus, with distinct references to Hong Kong cinema. Over the past 40 years we have read and watched Goku adventure all over earth, through space to planet Namek, to a dismal alternate future and even to meet the creator of the multiverse.

Time to go hunting some balls… Dragon Balls!

We have also had the pleasure of playing no less than 54 different video games (many of them Japan-only releases though) dating from the original NES to the current console generation. Being a shonen (fighting) anime/manga, Dragon Ball games tend to lean towards the fighting game genre. Back in the PS2 era we were graced with two series of fighting games, the original Dragon Ball Z: Budokai trilogy and the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi trilogy, which in Japan was known as (you guessed it) Dragon Ball Z: Sparking.

Let the (Cell) games begin!

Budokai Tenkaichi / Sparking 3, the last entry in the series, was released in 2007. Now we are graced with a brand-new entry in the series, and the first since Goku and friends’ adventures were significantly expanded in the Dragon Ball Super manga and anime. With dozens of new characters and fights to experience along with technology that is three whole generations removed from the previous edition, Find out what we thought in our Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Review!

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Review – Story

The episodic adventure mode housed within Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero follows the progression of Toriyama’s acclaimed story from Raditz’s appearance at the start of the ‘Saiyan Saga’ all the way through Dragon Ball Z to the end of the Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super (as far as the anime run goes). The base story exactly mirrors what you would have seen or read before, but as a huge Dragon Ball fan it was great to re-experience the classic moments therein.

Any Dragon Ball fan would be a fool not to pick up this game.

Each of the main characters, and some of the lesser ones, has their own story progression adventure. These can be completed in any order, though you do need to reach certain points in Goku’s adventure before the other character options become available.

A bit disappointing that you can’t start with Dragon Ball’s true main character… Vegeta.

Fortunately, this isn’t just a simple re-telling of known stories. At various points throughout the adventure, there are opportunities to make different choices and to obtain alternate outcomes in a number of important battles. These lead to short spin-off adventures where a divergent ending can be obtained. These keep the experience fresh for even the most baked on Dragon Ball fan. Wouldn’t you like to know what happened if Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan during his battle with Vegeta on Earth before he ever visited planet Namek?

I wonder if Goku goes both ways? Let’s find out. 

Whilst there are a (huge) number of playable characters present from the various Dragon Ball movies and the spin off/non-canon series Dragon Ball GT, it is a little disappointing that these tales are completely absent from the story mode in Sparking Zero. One of the important story arcs in Dragon Ball Super – the Tournament of Destroyers – is also strangely missing. Additionally, all of Goku’s adventures (and all of the characters) from the original Dragon Ball series are absent as well. The Bandai Namco team is obviously aware of the popularity of some of these characters and stories, so I wouldn’t be surprised (and I hope we do) to see some expanded stories appear in the future as DLC.

The true Legendary Super Saiyan – Broly.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Review – Gameplay

A fighting game lives and dies based mainly on the quality of its combat mechanics. Like other big franchises, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero has multiple previous entries to build and expand upon. For those not versed in the Budokai Tenkaichi/Sparking systems (or more likely, for those like me who just have no recollection of the previous entries from 20 years ago), Sparking Zero does a great job of introducing the basic moves in a forced opening tutorial fight.

There is also a fully fleshed out training mode where Piccolo takes that slacker Gohan through his paces the ensure understanding of the more complicated moves and abilities like character switching, transformations and special moves. Once you are done with training up to full power (hopefully it doesn’t take you 5 episodes this time) it’s time to battle.

Gohan got more training from his fake Dad, Piccolo.

As with any game in the fighting genre you will exchange punches, kicks, throws and energy blasts in an attempt to whittle down your enemy’s health first. In the screenshot above you will note a health bar at the top, with each little square to the side of it being another full bar of health. Underneath this is the ki gauge, which will charge naturally over time as you hit (and get hit), but it can be charged up by holding R2 (though you are defenseless while doing so). Once you have the required amount of ki you can use some of the game’s basic moves like dodges/dashes or your characters over-the-top special attacks.

You will hear this word a lot while playing Sparking Zero.

Finally, there is a skill count gauge that will also charge slowly over time. This is used to perform character fusions, transformations or the ‘revenge counter’ (a super strong high-level ability that you will see used online a lot). You can take plain old black-haired/base Goku into battle, but he can transform multiple times if you gain the required skill points.

Broly can transform into the Legendary Super Saiyan mid-battle to overpower his opponent.

Although, why would you take base Goku into fight when you could simply take an immediately stronger version such as Super Saiyan Blue Goku? Well, in the main online mode of Sparking Zero each available character has a rating of Destruction Points (or DP) from 1 to 10, with more points being a stronger character. They will do more damage with their attacks, have more health, or even the ability to utilise other powerful special abilities including passive ones like Ultra Instinct Goku being able to dodge basic attacks. Online battles allow you to gather your own team of up to 5 different fighters, but only up to a maximum of 15 DP. Bringing God of Destruction Beerus (10DP) means you will only be able to use 5 more points for your 4 remaining slots (though you can bring a team of less than 5 fighters).

Five characters that have never interacted with each other before. Let’s see their teamwork blossom!

Unlike many modern games, Sparking Zero doesn’t give you access to everything from the first time you boot up. Characters, costumes, music and more are all locked behind the game’s shop, and must be unlocked with Zeni earned by completing fights and additional quests. Call me crazy, but I also actually enjoy the requirement to unlock many of the games characters as it gives more ‘quests’ for the player to complete over time.

Locking Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta (GT) behind the shop… I want him NOW

The Budokai Tenkaichi/Sparking series is a 3D fighter, but unlike Tekken it utilises a unique over-the-shoulder view, which can be jarring for those not used to this type of combat. When there are multiple particle effects, ki auras and explosions happening it can occasionally be difficult to see where your opponent actually is. Some fighting game purists may find this frustrating, but it’s all part and parcel of the Dragon Ball experience. Indeed, there are some skills that you can use, like Krillin’s Solar Flare, that temporarily ‘blind’ your opponent and allow you to hide on the other side of the map powering up to maximum strength before they can find you.

I’ll also briefly mention the brand new Custom Battle mode of Sparking Zero. This feature empowers players to craft their own unique scenarios, harnessing an extensive array of options to bring their dream scenarios to life. By customizing every detail, players can tailor their experience to their exact specifications, including the characters fighting, the arena in which the fight takes place and even specific rules or challenges (e.g. no transformations allowed). You want to see Full Power Jiren take on Yamcha? I guess we already know how that will turn out…

Poor Yamcha…

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Review – Online Multiplayer

I have only spent a little time playing Sparking Zero online so far. As with most games, you have the option of standard player matches or ranked combat where you aim to move up the rankings table to be the best of the best of the best. The few games of Ranked mode I played were not too bad, but as your opponents get better you will definitely need to do more than just button mash to get by. I can imagine that playing for the top ranks could definitely get quite ‘sweaty’, but as long as you master the basics of dodges and counter attacks you can enjoy lower level matches well enough.

Five on five matches against your friends are great fun.

Due to the massive arenas in Sparking Zero, rollback net code can’t possibly work. However, online gameplay here with 4 or 5 bars of connection run smoothly. Anything less than that and you’ll have some decent amount of lag to deal with. However, because combos aren’t as big of a deal here the skipping and missed inputs don’t hurt as much as in other fighting games.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Review – Visuals

I don’t want to waste your time here. Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is without a doubt the best-looking Dragon Ball game ever made. Character animations look great across the board, whether you are talking about main characters like Vegeta, or more unkown ones like Kakunsa (do you even know who she is?). This is even more crazy when you consider the simply massive number of playable characters on offer. There is currently a whopping 182 different characters (or variations of characters with about 10 different Goku’s included) on offer!

The only disappointing thing about this image from Bandai Namco is that you don’t actually use this in game to select fighters

There is no shortage of impressive super attacks, transformations or fusions. Some of the best moments from the anime have been faithfully translated to Sparking Zero. Many of them look better than they ever have before, giving Dragon Ball fans an amazing refreshed take on some of the classic moments from the anime!

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Review – Audio

Not only do all of these characters look great, they sound great too. Whether you choose to play with original Japanese audio or the English dubbing, everybody sounds just like they did in the anime. These legendary voice actors didn’t phone in their efforts either. Part of me is sad that Masako Nozawa’s Goku can’t interact with Christopher Sabat’s Vegeta, but the fact that they (and every other actor) have recorded new audio for this game just points to the authenticity of what is on offer.

An incredible voice cast as always!

If you have played any Dragon Ball games before, you can probably already guess what the music is going to sound like. The soundtrack here doesn’t break any new ground and I would even go as far as to call it ‘generic’ as far as anime or fighting games go. I don’t think it is bad necessarily, but it isn’t a highlight of Sparking Zero and you won’t be whistling any of these tunes absentmindedly when you aren’t playing the game.

​​Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Review – Conclusion

I do have some minor concerns regarding the longevity of a title like this. However, we do already know that multiple rounds of DLC are planned. Will this just be some more characters as we already know that Beast Gohan and Gamma 1 & 2 are the first DLC coming to represent the Dragon Ball Superhero movie, or will Bandai Namco expand the existing game modes (give me my Broly movies in story mode!) or even create all new game modes?

Give me my Broly movies in story mode Bandai Namco, or I will destroy you!

Overall, the battle system here in Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is frantic and fast paced. I personally am a massive Dragon Ball fan, and this has been a blast to play since release. It has been a joy to re-experience the best moments from Dragon Ball Z and Super, voiced by some of the best talent in the business. Dragon Ball is a massive franchise with a huge worldwide following, so as long as the game is well supported by Bandai Namco there should be reasonable online activity for years to come. Regardless, I can see myself coming back to replay this with my Dragon Ball loving friends online, particularly as future DLCs are dropped. Ultimately this is definitely a Dragon Ball game Akira Toriyama would be proud of.

So, why should you play Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero?

• Without a doubt, this game is an absolute must-buy for any Dragon Ball fan.
• If you enjoy gaming with and against your friends (or randoms) online and allows more experienced players to even the field by using naturally ‘weaker’ characters on their team.
• Absolutely bonkers animation and special effects, this is a beautiful game to look at.

But, why shouldn’t you play Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero?

• Fighting game fanatics probably won’t like character imbalances or the over-the-shoulder view. These people would be better served sticking with Dragon Ball Fighter Z.
• If you don’t like people yelling, there is a lot of that happening here all…the…time.

A review code was kindly provided on PlayStation 5 by Bandai Namco Australia for our Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero review. Are you ready for the next battle? Check out our review for Bandai Namco’s other big fighting franchise’s most recent release – Tekken 8. Cel shaded games or anime in general not really your style? Maybe the eerie atmosphere of Silent Hill 2 Remake is more your kind of thing. If you need a break from the grind of playing Dragonball: Sparking! Zero online, but still want to talk about it, then come and join the Qualbert Discord Server and say hi!