Sparking! Zero Go From Good To Great

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero was among the most hyped game releases in anime arena fighters. The long-awaited sequel to the fan favorite, Budokai Tenkaichi series, promises one of the biggest rosters of playable characters alongside tons of new story content.

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On release, Sparking Zero was showered with a lot of praise for its polish and faithfulness to the Dragon Ball series along with the Tenkaichi games. However, after months had passed, players started to realize its shortcomings.

8

Adding Online Co-Op

Time To Tag Out

One of the most disappointing features missing from Sparking Zero is online co-op. The game introduces a whole new system which allows players to build their desired custom battle with its own cutscenes and dialogues. However, it only allows one player to join the battle, despite having multiple character slots.

The best moments of the predecessor, Budokai Tenkaichi 3, were how multiple friends could join in as a separate character to finish the difficult challenges together. While the previous games did this through couch co-op, there is no excuse for Sparking Zero to not have an online co-op option. Having this feature could infinitely increase the enjoyment players get by trying out the various custom battles online.

7

Increasing Outfit And Accessories Choices

Show Off Your Drip

Sparking Zero has a very small number of costume choices compared to its predecessors. In Budokai Tenkaichi 3, each character was given at least two costume choices. That isn’t the case for this modern sequel as many characters are only given their default costumes.

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Many iconic outfits, like Goku’s Blue Gi from End of Z and Vegeta’s Pink Badman shirt, that could have been fun additions, are completely missing. Allowing players to create their own costumes using multiple individual pieces like Tekken could also be a fun feature. Sparking Zero’s Accessories also need more choices to play around with as the only ones available right now are a Halo Ring and Master Roshi’s glasses.

6

Adding A Challenge Mode

To Become The Strongest In The World

Currently, this is one of the biggest problems in Sparking Zero. As of now, the game’s only major appeals are its story content, online ranked mode and custom battles. However, these can get old very quickly. Sparking Zero is in desperate need of a new mode.

In Budokai Tenkaichi 3, players had the option to play a mode called Mission 100, which would contain several themed battles that required limited fighters. These battles would vary in difficulty and present the perfect challenge for players who wanted to get better at the game. As of now, the only mode close to that in Sparking Zero is its Legendary Warrior Face-Off.

5

Adding What If Missions With Other Characters

Anything Can Happen Here

In Sparking Zero’s story missions, players can pave their own what-if scenarios by making the required alternate objective or picking other choices in a mission. These lead the sagas to a whole new unique ending and also have their own cutscenes.

While these What if sagas are fun to play, they only tend to focus on the major Saiyan characters or some iconic villains. In previous games like Raging Blast and Budokai Tenkaichi 3, what if missions would include various characters like Bardock, Yamcha, Devil Man, Chiaotzu, regardless of their relevance to the series. Adding one-off missions like these could be a lot of fun and attract more players.

4

Releasing More Stages

Let’s Fight Somewhere Empty

Sparking Zero is surprisingly lacking when it comes to stage choices. Despite the abundant number of sagas to choose their battle stages from, the game only offers a total of 12 stages for players. While these do include some iconic ones, like the Cell Games arena from the Android Saga and the Land of Kais from the Majin Buu Saga, they are disappointing compared to their predecessor.

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Budokai Tenkaichi 3 had almost 20 maps, each boasting its own unique landscape. From the snowy Muscle Tower to the cartoonish Penguin Village, it offered a good variety of different stages for players to have their epic battles on. Sparking Zero desperately needs this level of variety and should add more stages quickly in their future DLCs.

3

Adjusting Single Battles

Perfectly Balanced, As All Things Should Be

The online ranked battles were the most appealing aspect of Sparking Zero before its release. Battling against players all around the world to become the strongest is very Dragon Ball at its core. However, to stay true to the series, some stronger characters are given more health bars than others.

While this level of accuracy is acceptable for DP Battles, it takes a lot away from Single Battles. Players end up choosing only a certain number of characters due to their higher health. This should be tweaked for Single Battles by giving each character the same amount of health. By implementing this, players will be a lot more inclined to experiment and pick different characters.

2

Adding Survival Mode

Fight As Long As You Can

One of the most iconic scenes from Dragon Ball is when Goku and Vegeta fight off against hundreds of Metal Coolers. Budokai Tenkaichi 3 replicated that same type of feel with its Survival Mode. In it, players will need to defeat 50 enemies, who are chosen according to the mission’s theme. Defeating each enemy would regenerate a small amount of health for the player.

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Survival Mode can be a tough but satisfying mode that puts your skills to the test. Given the large selection of characters in Sparking Zero, players can have a ton of fun facing off against some of the newer villains of the franchise.

1

Creating A Unique Game Mode

New Mode Equals New Ways to Get Stronger

Sparking Zero’s current stale state is mostly due to its lack of game modes. While challenge and survival modes can be good additions, a completely new mode could be a game-changer. Previously, Budokai Tenkaichi 3 did this with its Sim Dragon mode.

In it, players will choose one character who goes all around the Dragon Ball world. During their journey, they come across several iconic characters, like Bulma, Korin, Kami etc. They help you get stronger. After 10 days pass, you then get to fight off against a randomly chosen character. This mode was exceptionally fun as it would focus on survival skills and simulated exploration.

Released

October 11, 2024

Developer(s)

Spike Chunsoft

Publisher(s)

Namco Bandai

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

ESRB

T For Teen Due To Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

Split Screen Orientation

Vertical

Local Co-Op Support

1-2 Players

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

How Long To Beat

8 Hours

How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)

80 Hours

Expand