"Sparking! ZERO" Official Announcement & Pre-Release Discussion Thread

[Lukmendes]

So I saw talks around about Piccolo and Broly not having multiple versions based on the way the Japanese website named them, and I decided to double check:

https://dbsz.bn-ent.net/character/

If a name has something between parentheses then there's multiple versions of that character, from this we can conclude, or at least theorize:

- Super Broly's name has nothing between parentheses, so there's probably no Z Broly, and I say "probably" because there's nothing in Super Trunks' name that indicates he is from Super, even though we have Trunks (Fight) there, on the other hand, Super Trunks is called "Future Trunks", while Z era Trunks is just called Trunks (Fight), so maybe this means they're keeping the naming convention for Z Trunks, and came up with a new one for Super Trunks. Following this logic, them coming up with nothing for Super Broly means Z Broly isn't included in the base game unless he got another name that doesn't use parentheses, and if Trunks is any hint, they're not doing that.

- The fact we have Trunks (Fight) can be used to confirm Trunks (Sword) is there too.

- Unlike BT3, there won't be multiple versions of Piccolo to represent different eras, at most I can see King Piccolo being included, the way he's named in BT3 doesn't put his name between parentheses. The most surprising thing is that this means there's no Super version of Piccolo, unless they decide to make him Orange, without his other transformation and base form, or this Piccolo is Super Piccolo and has those transformations included, him being positioned near the Saiyan Saga characters makes me doubt this, but on the other hand, that Freeza is shown near Saiyan and Cell saga characters, and that Freeza is confirmed to be Super's version of Freeza on the website, so either there's no multiple versions of Piccolo which means we're missing out on Super Piccolo, or there's just one Piccolo who is Super Piccolo.

- There's just one Tien, so him positioned near Saiyan Saga characters means he's just regular Tien even though he's Super's clothes.

- There won't be a Super version of 18.

The idea for Z Broly of all people to not be included is huge, because if he's not there, then every character introduced in the old movies except maybe Bardock and Future Gohan are probably not making it in, meaning Cold Skin's theory about the game being like DBFZ and prioritizing Z and Super while leaving pre-BoG Z movies and GT characters being DLC is more likely to be correct.

I say Bardock and Future Gohan are more likely to be included in the base game because they have this "was considered canon" priority, to the point that Z Bardock is still the representation of the character over Minus Bardock in games, and they both got DLCs in Kakarot even though that game skips over pre-BoG movies.

[Hellspawn28]

I feel like DBZ version of Broly will likely be added. They are two seperate characters with a different set of moves.

[Rinsankajugin]

The idea for Z Broly of all people to not be included is huge, because if he's not there, then every character introduced in the old movies except maybe Bardock and Future Gohan are probably not making it in, meaning Cold Skin's theory about the game being like DBFZ and prioritizing Z and Super while leaving pre-BoG Z movies and GT characters being DLC is more likely to be correct.

I say Bardock and Future Gohan are more likely to be included in the base game because they have this "was considered canon" priority, to the point that Z Bardock is still the representation of the character over Minus Bardock in games, and they both got DLCs in Kakarot even though that game skips over pre-BoG movies.

While I do agree that movie characters will probably be DLC, I feel like OG and GT characters might still make an appearance. The trailer roster shows a lot of gaps between Yamcha, Tien, Krillin, Piccolo, Vegeta (Scouter) and Goku (early).


Aside from Kid Gohan, Raditz, Nappa, and Saibamen, there's not really much to the Saiyan Saga, which leads me to believe the the upper left corner of the trailer roster will be OG characters. GT characters are a bit tricky, but I could probably see them being between either OG and Buu Saga (left side), or between the Cell Saga and DBS (right side).

Then again, this is just a mockup trailer roster, who knows what the actual character select screen will look like.

[Lukmendes]

I feel like DBZ version of Broly will likely be added. They are two seperate characters with a different set of moves.

I dunno, the way Super Broly is named makes me think maybe Z Broly won't be on base roster, and he is definitely a character who'd sell a lot as DLC...

While I do agree that movie characters will probably be DLC, I feel like OG and GT characters might still make an appearance. The trailer roster shows a lot of gaps between Yamcha, Tien, Krillin, Piccolo, Vegeta (Scouter) and Goku (early).


Aside from Kid Gohan, Raditz, Nappa, and Saibamen, there's not really much to the Saiyan Saga, which leads me to believe the the upper left corner of the trailer roster will be OG characters.

It could also be where Namek saga characters are at, since the way it's divided it kinda looks like it's Saiyan and Boo on the left, and Cell and Super on the right.

Then again, if that is the case then Cell saga has too many slot since it didn't introduce this many characters... Or at least I don't remember this much.

GT characters are a bit tricky, but I could probably see them being between either OG and Buu Saga (left side), or between the Cell Saga and DBS (right side).

Apparently insider stuff did say it'll go from vanilla DB to Super, and GT as well, but said nothing about movies, though, take that with a grain of salt.

Then again, this is just a mockup trailer roster, who knows what the actual character select screen will look like.

Yeah this characer screen is using screenshots from the trailers themselves to show a picture of each character, plus, if it's done like this then navigating through it will be a nightmare since transformations will be around everyone else.

Who knows though, maybe they'll actually have this as the character select screen... Hopefully not.

[sunsetshimmer]

I don't think we need two versions of Broly. Of course if i had to pick one i would awlays pick Z Broly over DBS. But making two versions is just dumb. It's not like they are the same character in different eras like present Trunks and Future Trunks or kid Gohan and adult Gohan. New Broly is a reboot that is supposed to replace old one. I'd rather see Z Broly being added as a costume and that's it. Yeah they have slightly different moves but is that really a big deal? Although knowing Bandai they will add Z Broly as separate character anyway because of money. The same way i assume we will get 3 versions of Gogeta: M12 (SSJ), GT (SSJ4), DBS (Base, SSJ, SSJB). I'd rather see those character slots being used for entirely different characters but well, we all know how it's going to end.

The same way i don't think we need DBS Goku/Vegeta as separate characters. GT versions are different story cause they have very different appearance (especially Goku who is a kid) and use different forms. But EoZ and DBS could be a single character. The only reason i can think of other than laziness and fanservice for DBS Goku/Vegeta to have dedicated slots is because they do not want to include characters with so many forms at once and forcing players to go through SSJ, SSJ2, SSJ3 just to get SSJ God and latter, but they could always make it so you pick one path. Kinda like Adult Gohan in BT3 could either go SSJ->SSJ2 or turn into Great Saiyaman.

[Rinsankajugin]

I think one of the main reasons why Goku and Vegeta are split across this many movesets is because they have done so many different techniques over the series. When it comes to Tenkaichi movesets, you have your various combo strings (which do differ between characters, even if it doesn't feel like it), 2 Blast 1 techniques (usually either utility or power-ups, and use up Blast stocks), 2 Blast 2 techniques (supers that use up ki), an ultimate (which requires max ki and a blast stock), and which ever transformations are available to them (which also require blast stocks).

Like, I know Raging Blast mitigated this by giving characters customizable movesets, but it also kind of got rid of many characters' combo strings. RB Goku was effectively just Goku (Mid) with SS2 and SS3 tacked on, and RB Vegeta was just Cell-Saga Vegeta with SS2 tacked on. And with DBS giving characters more spotlight, that means characters like Frieza and Android 17 pretty much had revamped fighting styles, so they kinda had to get more slots if they wanted to go back to the Tenkaichi route.

I do wish there was some sort of middle ground, where you could select different fighting styles without taking up an entire character slot. I think the Naruto games has done something like that, but it's been years since I've played one so I can't really remember.

[Lukmendes]

I don't think we need two versions of Broly. Of course if i had to pick one i would awlays pick Z Broly over DBS. But making two versions is just dumb. It's not like they are the same character in different eras like present Trunks and Future Trunks or kid Gohan and adult Gohan. New Broly is a reboot that is supposed to replace old one. I'd rather see Z Broly being added as a costume and that's it. Yeah they have slightly different moves but is that really a big deal? Although knowing Bandai they will add Z Broly as separate character anyway because of money. The same way i assume we will get 3 versions of Gogeta: M12 (SSJ), GT (SSJ4), DBS (Base, SSJ, SSJB). I'd rather see those character slots being used for entirely different characters but well, we all know how it's going to end.

Man I think when two characters are as different as both Brolys, in appearance and personality, it's fine to separate them both.

Like if there's time constraints or they only want to add one Broly, then it's fine to pick one over the other, but if not it looks weird to treat them as the same

The same way i don't think we need DBS Goku/Vegeta as separate characters. GT versions are different story cause they have very different appearance (especially Goku who is a kid) and use different forms. But EoZ and DBS could be a single character. The only reason i can think of other than laziness and fanservice for DBS Goku/Vegeta to have dedicated slots is because they do not want to include characters with so many forms at once and forcing players to go through SSJ, SSJ2, SSJ3 just to get SSJ God and latter, but they could always make it so you pick one path.

The problems aren't really controls since even back then they could come up with different controls for this kind of thing, like say, doing something like Gohan's power up mechanic from DBFZ where he can have up to 7 power ups and you can do all of them at once, so that could be used to skip transformations until a "final" one.

Kinda like Adult Gohan in BT3 could either go SSJ->SSJ2 or turn into Great Saiyaman.

The weirdest thing is how BT2/3 Gohan could transform into Great Saiyaman while Ultimate was a separated character...

I think one of the main reasons why Goku and Vegeta are split across this many movesets is because they have done so many different techniques over the series. When it comes to Tenkaichi movesets, you have your various combo strings (which do differ between characters, even if it doesn't feel like it), 2 Blast 1 techniques (usually either utility or power-ups, and use up Blast stocks), 2 Blast 2 techniques (supers that use up ki), an ultimate (which requires max ki and a blast stock), and which ever transformations are available to them (which also require blast stocks).

Like, I know Raging Blast mitigated this by giving characters customizable movesets, but it also kind of got rid of many characters' combo strings. RB Goku was effectively just Goku (Mid) with SS2 and SS3 tacked on, and RB Vegeta was just Cell-Saga Vegeta with SS2 tacked on. And with DBS giving characters more spotlight, that means characters like Frieza and Android 17 pretty much had revamped fighting styles, so they kinda had to get more slots if they wanted to go back to the Tenkaichi route.

I do wish there was some sort of middle ground, where you could select different fighting styles without taking up an entire character slot. I think the Naruto games has done something like that, but it's been years since I've played one so I can't really remember.

It's only really Goku who changed significantly per DB saga, even then all this amounts too are which Kaioken, and which genki dama, he can do, Vegeta could easily not have base form or maybe even SS1 in his Buu saga version for example, since he never really fights without SS2 for most of the fights in Buu saga, the one time he uses base form, it's not even a fight, it's just Kid Buu beating his ass, and this makes it and SS1 not really need their own slots, so they could just mix Cell saga Vegeta with a SS2 if they really cared about saving slots, but they don't.

Same-ish can be said about Super Goku, why does he need base form and SS1? He rarely uses them as is, only really does so in Broly's movie, and if we use that to excuse their inclusion, then shouldn't SS3 be included too? He did use it against Beerus and Trunks.

Unfortunately Tenkaichi games just want overbloated character select screen, and since Goku and Vegeta are the most popular characters in the franchise, they'll use them to overbloat the cast, and fans like it since I did see a bunch of support for them to be separated like this, so yeah...

[Cold Skin]

Note that Freeza is called "Freeza (Super)", which would imply we'll have a copy of him as the Z version.
Probably to avoid stacking up more than five forms, much like we have Super versions of Goku and Vegeta that seemingly avoid some previous transformations to leave room for the god forms and skip straight to them after the regular Super Saiyan.

So it would be like:

Z Version: Freeza (1st form) --> Freeza (2nd form) --> Freeza (3rd form) --> Freeza (Final form) --> Freeza (100%)
Super Version: Freeza (1st form) --> Freeza (Final form) --> Freeza (Golden Freeza).

Because his 1st form is mostly only used up until he fights in Resurrection 'F' and he appears directly in his final form most of the time, his Super version could also be just Final form --> Golden Freeza.

I wouldn't be surprised if Z Broly was not present in the base game: he would not only be a good incentive to buy some DLC in the future because he's still popular, but he would also be useless to the story mode if it focuses on the main storyline of the various series (which is unproven as of yet, since we don't have a single info about it right now).

[Lukmendes]

Because his 1st form is mostly only used up until he fights in Resurrection 'F' and he appears directly in his final form most of the time, his Super version could also be just Final form --> Golden Freeza.

It seems that's the case, Freeza on the Japanese website is just called "Freeza (Super)", not specifying he's in a transformed state.

I wouldn't be surprised if Z Broly was not present in the base game: he would not only be a good incentive to buy some DLC in the future because he's still popular, but he would also be useless to the story mode if it focuses on the main storyline of the various series (which is unproven as of yet, since we don't have a single info about it right now).

Makes me wonder, if movie characters are DLCs, would their stories be DLC too? 'Cause at least this way they'd get offline content while being included.

Sucks for story and characters to be DLC like this but hey, modern gaming...

[Cold Skin]

^ Very nice catch for Freeza!

Well, if they did keep the movies (and possibly GT) for DLC, I would hope that there are specific sections on the story mode that sort of get completed as more characters get released, so that you have some solo content to play.

Like everytime they add movie characters, they add the battles that go with them in the "Movies" section of the story mode or something.

Especially if they go the BT3 route and simply have the moveset acting as the story cutscenes during battles, then it's quite easy to program more and more "chapters" / fights in a growing section of the story mode.
Just some recorded lines tossed during the battles and the moves being automatically triggered to reproduce the story beats, that's the way BT3 did it and I guess it would still satisfy people as much as it did back then!

[miguelnuva1]

Just eant to point it out since I've seen it. 11 Goku's and Vegeta's don't mean they took up a slot. Goku being split into 5 eras doesn't mean we would have gotten Rilldo for example.

[Rafa Fast]

My biggest question is whether this game will have a theme song or not, Hironobu Kageyama still does a good job, it's been a decade since Dragon Ball games stopped having their own theme songs with vocals, the last one as far as I know was Raging Blast 2, the reason being probably the scandal involving Kenji Yamamoto, he was the composer of these songs, but hey, does this mean that the games can never have vocal theme songs again?
I also wonder if they will include Kikuchi's music again, they could use Sumitomo's too, they could include it in the base game as was the case with the original Sparkings, but they will definitely add it as DLC for a meh price, they could try to make a better selection of Kikuchi music and bring back the ending themes of the movies since they were present in the previous games but no

I think it's better for anyone playing to simply listen to the songs through Spotify or another app.

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

There’s no way they would have done only 80 characters counting on launch. That’s less than BT1.

And BT1 also released on a system that couldn't output anywhere near the polycount of modern consoles, so you could get away with making low-poly models that wouldn't take very long to create compared to the graphical complexity of modern games that we've come to expect.

Raging Blast 1 had 70 characters. The team probably had a brand new engine and were making much more detailed characters compared to the previous games (though I don't necesarilly thought they looked better. I actually think the low-poly look of the Tenkaichi games works well with DBs angular character art). I used Raging Blast as a basis of what to expect, because it just seemed like waaay too much work to try and beat the roster count of any of the previous Tenkaichi games.

Basically, what I'm getting at is that I was not expecting them to launch with a roster this big for a brand new game because it takes way longer to create a character now than it did back in the PS2 era. I seriously thought they were going to compromise the launch roster count and then release a bunch of DLC post launch like with XV2.

[Lukmendes]

^ Very nice catch for Freeza!

Thanks.

Well, if they did keep the movies (and possibly GT) for DLC, I would hope that there are specific sections on the story mode that sort of get completed as more characters get released, so that you have some solo content to play.

Like everytime they add movie characters, they add the battles that go with them in the "Movies" section of the story mode or something.

They could also do it like BT2 and have each saga or movie into its own story section.

Though if they did that then they'd need to make a lot of fights, because that's how BT2 did it...

Especially if they go the BT3 route and simply have the moveset acting as the story cutscenes during battles, then it's quite easy to program more and more "chapters" / fights in a growing section of the story mode.
Just some recorded lines tossed during the battles and the moves being automatically triggered to reproduce the story beats, that's the way BT3 did it and I guess it would still satisfy people as much as it did back then!

Well as long as you have the option of using such things or not, because being too automatic would just suck...

BT3 even used the alternate ways to end fights to throw a quick, goofy alternate ending in some cases, with the funniest one being Satan beating kid Buu, and both Goku and Vegeta wondering if they're dreaming.

And BT1 also released on a system that couldn't output anywhere near the polycount of modern consoles, so you could get away with making low-poly models that wouldn't take very long to create compared to the graphical complexity of modern games that we've come to expect.

Raging Blast 1 had 70 characters. The team probably had a brand new engine and were making much more detailed characters compared to the previous games (though I don't necesarilly thought they looked better. I actually think the low-poly look of the Tenkaichi games works well with DBs angular character art). I used Raging Blast as a basis of what to expect, because it just seemed like waaay too much work to try and beat the roster count of any of the previous Tenkaichi games.

Basically, what I'm getting at is that I was not expecting them to launch with a roster this big for a brand new game because it takes way longer to create a character now than it did back in the PS2 era. I seriously thought they were going to compromise the launch roster count and then release a bunch of DLC post launch like with XV2.

Yeah it's worth noting that character models and whatnot taking longer to make is part of the reason modern fighters cut off rosters, since keeping everyone while updating them would cost a lot of time.

Obviously it's also to keep other characters away for the sake of having DLCs, but time and cost is also a reason, since games are overall more expensive to make.

I think what allows SZ to have so many is just, the nature of the game, with transformations being characters and movesets being repetitive among supers and normals, but it's still a lot of time to program models, specially since now they're bothering to change more how clones look... That and, unlike BT3, SZ didn't have two other games to recycle characters from... So it is noticeable regardless.

[Rinsankajugin]

I remember hearing a rumor a while back about the game supposedly going to have fights in the story mode where you go up against a slew of NPC opponents. I don't usually take such stuff into account because you know how some "insiders" can be, but the prospect of such a thing does make me wonder. What if Sparking Zero's story mode has fights against characters with unfinished movesets, and later down the line completed versions of the characters get added as DLC? I know Mortal Kombat likes doing that, and even Jump Force did it with Kane, Galena and Prometheus.

Like, I know for a fact that if they want to add characters from OG all the way to Super in a 164-character roster, the Tournament of Power might only have a handful of playable characters. But, if they want to represent the ToP without skipping too much, then NPC battles seems somewhat reasonable. Hell, it could probably even flesh out other sagas, like most of the other Tournament arcs.

[pepd]

Broly has "ikari" eyes, but it just says "Broly".

Future Trunks has no "sword" in parenthesis like Trunks (Fighting) does, so maybe Z Broly will just be "Broly (Z)"

Also, there's 48 non-canon characters in BT3, that makes 51 slots for new characters compared to BT3 if they go with the base canon + the rest on DLCs route

[Lukmendes]

I remember hearing a rumor a while back about the game supposedly going to have fights in the story mode where you go up against a slew of NPC opponents. I don't usually take such stuff into account because you know how some "insiders" can be, but the prospect of such a thing does make me wonder. What if Sparking Zero's story mode has fights against characters with unfinished movesets, and later down the line completed versions of the characters get added as DLC? I know Mortal Kombat likes doing that, and even Jump Force did it with Kane, Galena and Prometheus.

Like, I know for a fact that if they want to add characters from OG all the way to Super in a 164-character roster, the Tournament of Power might only have a handful of playable characters. But, if they want to represent the ToP without skipping too much, then NPC battles seems somewhat reasonable. Hell, it could probably even flesh out other sagas, like most of the other Tournament arcs.

I can see characters like Freeza's soldiers being NPC like that, maybe random RRA's soldiers too, and maybe the likes of Pui Pui and Yakon... Maybe Cui too...

Broly has "ikari" eyes, but it just says "Broly".

Future Trunks has no "sword" in parenthesis like Trunks (Fighting) does, so maybe Z Broly will just be "Broly (Z)"

I theorize he's named like that to give him a name that isn't Trunks (Super), since back in BT1/2/3 he was just Trunks and whatever they put into parentheses.

I assume Trunks (Fighting) is called that because Trunks (Sword) will still be a thing.

Broly (Z) may be a thing, but them not specifying that Super Broly is from Super makes me think that Super Broly is the only one there, at least on base game, though, it's also possible they see that Broly as the default now and Z Broly is the one who needs to be specified as a different version... Time will tell.

Also, there's 48 non-canon characters in BT3, that makes 51 slots for new characters compared to BT3 if they go with the base canon + the rest on DLCs route

You can cut off a lot more, someone like Appule may be cut for the sake of adding another random jobber from ToP or whatever, also we may not get a bunch of interchangeable Oozarus.

[pepd]

Also, there's 48 non-canon characters in BT3, that makes 51 slots for new characters compared to BT3 if they go with the base canon + the rest on DLCs route

You can cut off a lot more, someone like Appule may be cut for the sake of adding another random jobber from ToP or whatever, also we may not get a bunch of interchangeable Oozarus.

I really thought I wanted Freeza Soldier and Apul, but after seeing some speculative rosters yeah, I hope they don't get slots that could be for more important ones.

[Lukmendes]

I really thought I wanted Freeza Soldier and Apul, but after seeing some speculative rosters yeah, I hope they don't get slots that could be for more important ones.

I mean they can still be included as a nod to how BT3 just had a bunch of characters, it's just that now I find it less likely since we have ToP, or including them simply because Freeza saga is iconic so they'd include more characters from it specifically, and with that logic, Nail is a possibility too.

Though, I do expect a lot of characters from Super and probably from ToP, the lower right part of that character screen is actually bigger than the rest, and while it looks like it represents Super in general, this can mean a lot of ToP characters.

[IntangibleFancy]

So I saw talks around about Piccolo and Broly not having multiple versions based on the way the Japanese website named them, and I decided to double check:

https://dbsz.bn-ent.net/character/

I just realized, they didn't tag him Broly(wrath). Does that mean they're not adding Base Broly?