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

[Bardock God of Time]

I do hope Giant Characters are a thing, I have a feeling they won't be

[omegalucas]

https://twitter.com/dragonballgames/sta ... 5349550324

This confirms there's a Super version of Goku and probably a separate Z version

Wish they just went with the bare minimum of Gokus based on his overall age.
Like Kid Goku (early DB), Teen/Early Goku (23rd TB - Saiyan), Adult Goku (rest of Z + Super), Kid Goku (GT) and (only if he can't overlap with any of the other Kid Gokus) Kid Goku (Daima).
I don't see the need to separate Super Goku from Z Goku, just give access to all transformations to a single adult Goku or have them be equippable and you customize the character the way you like.

[Rinsankajugin]

New Saikyo Jump scan, nothing new aside from some extra screenshots, but it does reiterate (again) that the game is going to have a bigass roster. Bamco REALLY wants people to know this game is going to have a bigass roster.

Spoiler:

[Yuli Ban]

New Saikyo Jump scan, nothing new aside from some extra screenshots, but it does reiterate (again) that the game is going to have a bigass roster. Bamco REALLY wants people to know this game is going to have a bigass roster.

Spoiler:

Good. Tenkaichi is not the technical FighterZ/Super DBZ style game; it's a dumb Dragon Ball Z simulator. More characters = better. And remember, as long as it's coming to PC, the mods will be unreal. I just know for a fact some Mexican fellow is already examining the graphics and designing Xicor, Majin Bra, and Super Saiyan 10 Goku models as we speak.

[Rinsankajugin]

One thing I forgot to mention was this text here:

Characters from Dragon Ball Super will also participate!!

This line is stated right above Jiren, Future Trunks, 17 and Tien. Considering the DB Games twitter recently confirmed Goku (Super)'s existence, then that means not only is DBS Future Trunks his own character, but also DBS 17 and DBS Tien. It really makes me wonder how many DBS variants of characters exist on the roster.

[Nickolaidas]

One thing I forgot to mention was this text here:

Characters from Dragon Ball Super will also participate!!

This line is stated right above Jiren, Future Trunks, 17 and Tien. Considering the DB Games twitter recently confirmed Goku (Super)'s existence, then that means not only is DBS Future Trunks his own character, but also DBS 17 and DBS Tien. It really makes me wonder how many DBS variants of characters exist on the roster.

That's .... weird. I honestly don't know in what way would a DBS Tien be different from a DBZ Tien in terms of moves and abilities.

Good. Tenkaichi is not the technical FighterZ/Super DBZ style game; it's a dumb Dragon Ball Z simulator. More characters = better. And remember, as long as it's coming to PC, the mods will be unreal. I just know for a fact some Mexican fellow is already examining the graphics and designing Xicor, Majin Bra, and Super Saiyan 10 Goku models as we speak.

Don't they constantly do that 'Blanco' meme with Gohan and Jiren? XD

[Rinsankajugin]

Tien used his Four Witches and Multi-Form techniques in DBS. Sure, they're not new considering he used them in OG Dragon Ball, but Tien never used those techniques again during DBZ, which in turn lead to most games not including those moves. I do wonder if they'll bring back the Volleyball Fist though...

[donkeyjack]

New Saikyo Jump scan, nothing new aside from some extra screenshots, but it does reiterate (again) that the game is going to have a bigass roster. Bamco REALLY wants people to know this game is going to have a bigass roster.

Spoiler:

Good. Tenkaichi is not the technical FighterZ/Super DBZ style game; it's a dumb Dragon Ball Z simulator. More characters = better. And remember, as long as it's coming to PC, the mods will be unreal. I just know for a fact some Mexican fellow is already examining the graphics and designing Xicor, Majin Bra, and Super Saiyan 10 Goku models as we speak.

So? I still want some unique string and not how it was before. No one said that we want it like Super DBZ or FighterZ and it is not a dumb DB SIMULATOR.

[Koitsukai]

Aside of hoping they give us the good stuff the PS2 games had, like personalized combos and reactions, I really hope we get some kickass stages.
XV2 had a couple of good stages but others were lackluster and looked the same.
I don't think we've ever got the saiyan arc stages where Goku and Nappa fought. The rocky mountains is always there, but I want the previous stage.
Half-fucked up Namek would be cool, not just going right into the lava filled Namek. The part green-ish with lightning, part dark, and with a big hole in the middle.
Earth stages are usually decently represented. Ginger Town would be nice, and the destroyed future cities which XV2 did pretty well.
I've never seen the stage where Perfect Cell broke Trunks' spirit. However, I never liked any Cell Games arena, XV2 was way too small, and the one with the destroyed CG arena is even worse. Let's see if we get a proper Cell Games stage, with broken tiles and all.
The Buu arc tends to be well represented, although the TB arena was really small in XV2.

Original Tenkaichi Budokai would be nice to have, Kakarot outdid itself with it.

[Yuli Ban]

That's .... weird. I honestly don't know in what way would a DBS Tien be different from a DBZ Tien in terms of moves and abilities.

Likely the main difference is he's wearing his hanfu rather than his original gi.

In terms of moves and abilities? I mean, they can BS whatever they want at this point.

So? I still want some unique string and not how it was before. No one said that we want it like Super DBZ or FighterZ and it is not a dumb DB SIMULATOR.

Some do. One of the criticisms of the large roster I hear is that "Everyone will play the same, when it'd be better to have under 50 characters who all play very differently." Typically by those who already disparage the Tenkaichi series and vastly prefer Super DBZ/FighterZ and other more technical fighters ala Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Tekken, etc.

Admittedly there is always the possibility of having 200 characters who do still have nuances to each other (even Tenkaichi 3 had subtle nuances between characters). It's easy to forget, but the Tenkaichi series pulled off what it did on hardware that was extraordinarily weaker than the current gen, or even last gen, or even the gen before that. The PS2 only had something like 32MB of RAM and its DVDs could only store around 4GB of data. I think its processor had 150MHz of power and it could pull off 6.2 gigaFLOPS of processing ability. Just writing that out makes it feel like an electric brick by modern standards. There's only so much you can load into the game at once with that little power. It's honestly amazing that a game like Tenkaichi 3 was even as detailed as it was, but that's what devs could do by 2007 once they understood the hardware as well as they did.

Sparking Zero is doing something that I approve wholeheartedly: sticking to the current console generation. Xenoverse 1 was a 7th gen game, and Xenoverse 2 was barely an improvement beyond it, as it probably could have been released for the PS3/Xbox 360 if Dimps really wanted to. This greatly limited its scope and potential. Likewise, if Sparking Zero had to be developed for the PS4 and Xbox One just because of their install bases, it'd probably be a worse game than what it might turn out being.
But being made from the ground up for the PS5/Series X and S (fuck the Series S by the way) means it can utilize the full scope of modern hardware power, and if that's the case, then yeah, I can imagine that it could be a "technical fighter-lite" akin to Super DBZ while still having a massive, bloated roster if they utilize the power well. Imagine 200+ characters, but none of them play the same and there's combo potential differences between all of them. Not to FighterZ's level, but still enough to give fighting game aficionados something to appreciate. That would be kino. But, speaking as someone who grew up putting in hundreds of hours into Tenkaichi 2, it's not NECESSARY. I'll be happy if it really is just a dumber anime arena fighter as long as it still scratches that Tenkaichi itch.
Though truth be told, Tenkaichi 2 and 3 DID have technical nuances. There were absolutely moves and combos that no beginner or even intermediate player could reliably pull off, including some semi-hidden moves that were very much situational for what was "just" an arena fighter. Like I said, if the devs really put love and care into it, Sparking Zero could scratch both itches.

Also, it is a dumb DB simulator. That's always been its biggest draw: an over-the-shoulder "destroy the battlefield" kind of simulation of what you see in the show, complete with beam struggles and high-speed at-tat-tat-tat-tat combos. Being a dumb DB simulator isn't a bad thing. If anything, I want more of that. Xenoverse and Kakarot aren't that; they're pale imitations of it.

[Rinsankajugin]

Considering 'largest roster in the series' seems to be a lock for the game, my other main hope is that we get a fun story mode. Something akin to Tenkaichi 2, though with more cinematic elements. Flying around the world looking for fights and searching for dragon balls was always fun back in the day. Tenkaichi 3's story was too stiff and short, just one battle after the next with many events glossed over. As much as I don't like Ultimate Tenkaichi, the fact that they went back to the BT2 kind of story mode does give me a slight hope that they stick with that formula with Sparking Zero.

[donkeyjack]

That's .... weird. I honestly don't know in what way would a DBS Tien be different from a DBZ Tien in terms of moves and abilities.

Likely the main difference is he's wearing his hanfu rather than his original gi.

In terms of moves and abilities? I mean, they can BS whatever they want at this point.

So? I still want some unique string and not how it was before. No one said that we want it like Super DBZ or FighterZ and it is not a dumb DB SIMULATOR.

Some do. One of the criticisms of the large roster I hear is that "Everyone will play the same, when it'd be better to have under 50 characters who all play very differently." Typically by those who already disparage the Tenkaichi series and vastly prefer Super DBZ/FighterZ and other more technical fighters ala Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Tekken, etc.

Admittedly there is always the possibility of having 200 characters who do still have nuances to each other (even Tenkaichi 3 had subtle nuances between characters). It's easy to forget, but the Tenkaichi series pulled off what it did on hardware that was extraordinarily weaker than the current gen, or even last gen, or even the gen before that. The PS2 only had something like 32MB of RAM and its DVDs could only store around 4GB of data. I think its processor had 150MHz of power and it could pull off 6.2 gigaFLOPS of processing ability. Just writing that out makes it feel like an electric brick by modern standards. There's only so much you can load into the game at once with that little power. It's honestly amazing that a game like Tenkaichi 3 was even as detailed as it was, but that's what devs could do by 2007 once they understood the hardware as well as they did.

Sparking Zero is doing something that I approve wholeheartedly: sticking to the current console generation. Xenoverse 1 was a 7th gen game, and Xenoverse 2 was barely an improvement beyond it, as it probably could have been released for the PS3/Xbox 360 if Dimps really wanted to. This greatly limited its scope and potential. Likewise, if Sparking Zero had to be developed for the PS4 and Xbox One just because of their install bases, it'd probably be a worse game than what it might turn out being.
But being made from the ground up for the PS5/Series X and S (fuck the Series S by the way) means it can utilize the full scope of modern hardware power, and if that's the case, then yeah, I can imagine that it could be a "technical fighter-lite" akin to Super DBZ while still having a massive, bloated roster if they utilize the power well. Imagine 200+ characters, but none of them play the same and there's combo potential differences between all of them. Not to FighterZ's level, but still enough to give fighting game aficionados something to appreciate. That would be kino. But, speaking as someone who grew up putting in hundreds of hours into Tenkaichi 2, it's not NECESSARY. I'll be happy if it really is just a dumber anime arena fighter as long as it still scratches that Tenkaichi itch.
Though truth be told, Tenkaichi 2 and 3 DID have technical nuances. There were absolutely moves and combos that no beginner or even intermediate player could reliably pull off, including some semi-hidden moves that were very much situational for what was "just" an arena fighter. Like I said, if the devs really put love and care into it, Sparking Zero could scratch both itches.

Also, it is a dumb DB simulator. That's always been its biggest draw: an over-the-shoulder "destroy the battlefield" kind of simulation of what you see in the show, complete with beam struggles and high-speed at-tat-tat-tat-tat combos. Being a dumb DB simulator isn't a bad thing. If anything, I want more of that. Xenoverse and Kakarot aren't that; they're pale imitations of it.

I mean you're right about that. It is supposed to re-enact the anime so it is dumb in that manner.

[Hellspawn28]

I want customization for the characters. Like you can give a character a Halo or Scouter to wear in battle. It would be also awesome if they give characters different outfits that they never wear before. For example, you can have GT Vegeta wearing his Cell saga armor or GT Kid Goku his classic orange gi.

[Yuli Ban]

Considering 'largest roster in the series' seems to be a lock for the game, my other main hope is that we get a fun story mode. Something akin to Tenkaichi 2, though with more cinematic elements. Flying around the world looking for fights and searching for dragon balls was always fun back in the day. Tenkaichi 3's story was too stiff and short, just one battle after the next with many events glossed over. As much as I don't like Ultimate Tenkaichi, the fact that they went back to the BT2 kind of story mode does give me a slight hope that they stick with that formula with Sparking Zero.

I'm split on what I want to see here. On one hand, we've had "Raditz to Boo" so disgustingly often in games for 30 years now, following the story in varying amounts of adaptational accuracy, that a Tenkaichi game with its own original story sounds enticing. I'd love something that does its own thing like FighterZ.

But on the other hand, we've never really had a "Beerus to Broly" game, have we? The desire to follow the story ended right as Super began, and outside some loose adaptations in cheaper games like Heroes and Xenoverse 2, we've never had a game dedicated to going from the start of Z to the end of Super. So on some level, I can give Super material a pass. It'd be interesting to see them tackle a Super story mode.

So to that end, my dream scenario for a "follow the manga/anime continuity" would be "start at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, treating the fight with Piccolo as the tutorial, then picking up in earnest with Raditz' arrival, and going all the way through Super, and into GT. And there are copious what if scenarios as well."

My dream scenario for a Dragon History mode overall, though, is absolutely just it being either a giant bundle of (well written) what ifs, or one big original story.

[sangofe]

Considering 'largest roster in the series' seems to be a lock for the game, my other main hope is that we get a fun story mode. Something akin to Tenkaichi 2, though with more cinematic elements. Flying around the world looking for fights and searching for dragon balls was always fun back in the day. Tenkaichi 3's story was too stiff and short, just one battle after the next with many events glossed over. As much as I don't like Ultimate Tenkaichi, the fact that they went back to the BT2 kind of story mode does give me a slight hope that they stick with that formula with Sparking Zero.

I'm split on what I want to see here. On one hand, we've had "Raditz to Boo" so disgustingly often in games for 30 years now, following the story in varying amounts of adaptational accuracy, that a Tenkaichi game with its own original story sounds enticing. I'd love something that does its own thing like FighterZ.

But on the other hand, we've never really had a "Beerus to Broly" game, have we? The desire to follow the story ended right as Super began, and outside some loose adaptations in cheaper games like Heroes and Xenoverse 2, we've never had a game dedicated to going from the start of Z to the end of Super. So on some level, I can give Super material a pass. It'd be interesting to see them tackle a Super story mode.

So to that end, my dream scenario for a "follow the manga/anime continuity" would be "start at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, treating the fight with Piccolo as the tutorial, then picking up in earnest with Raditz' arrival, and going all the way through Super, and into GT. And there are copious what if scenarios as well."

My dream scenario for a Dragon History mode overall, though, is absolutely just it being either a giant bundle of (well written) what ifs, or one big original story.

Never had a game that follows the DBGT story closely either (Don't say DBGT transformations). That would be fun.

[donkeyjack]

I want the traditional DB game story.

[Rinsankajugin]

Yeah, on top of having the free-roaming Tenkaichi 2 world map, it would be neat to include as many sagas as possible. Probably even in chronological order, with some what-if missions unlocking with each saga.

• Bardock/Jaco (The Origins)
• Pilaf/21st Tournament (The Beginnings)
• Red Ribbon Army/Baba Tourney (The Army)
• 22nd Tournament/King Piccolo (The Demons)
• 23rd Tournament Saga/Garlic Jr. (The Coming of Age)
• Saiyans/World's Strongest/Turles (The Invasion)
• Frieza/Lord Slug/Cooler/Garlic Jr. Returns (The Super Saiyan)
• Cell/Meta-Cooler/Super 13/Broly/Bojack (The Androids)
• Buu/Broly/Bio-Broly/Janemba/Hirudegarn (The Primordial)
• Yo Son Goku/Battle of Gods (The Gods)
• Resurrection F/Universe 6 (The Return)
• History of Trunks/Future Babidi/Goku Black (The Future)
• Tournament of Power (The Multiverse)
• DBS Broly/Superhero/End of Z (The Passing)
• Black Star Dragonballs/Baby/Super 17 (The Grand Tour)
• Shadow Dragons/End of GT (The Culmination)

Daima and video game stories like FighterZ or Heroes will probably be DLC, though it wouldn't surprise me if Daima Goku, 21, Towa and Mira at least appeared on the base roster for some what-if scenarios.

[WittyUsername]

I still don’t really get why people prefer the story of BT2 over BT3. Sure, it’s long, but it’s also really repetitive. You fight the same enemies over and over. Even the free roaming map is just a shallow copy of the one from Budokai 3, and most of the “cutscenes” are just characters standing around with those stiff models. The GT portion of the story is especially awkward because Goku’s kid self from that series isn’t even in the game. They even flat out changed the ending.

I much prefer how streamlined the story of BT3 is, and I always loved the addition of having the dialogue play out during the fight. The fact that it includes OG Dragon Ball is a bonus, even if they’re out of order.

[Rinsankajugin]

I'll admit, It's a combination of nostalgia and potential. There is definitely some faults to BT2's story, but if they veer it more towards Budokai 3 as well as fleshing out the story in a non-repetitive way, I think it could be pretty fun. Hell, maybe they could even bring back the chase sections and boss fights from Ultimate Tenkaichi. Like, I still want giants to be playable, but the story mode could definitely do some crazy stuff with them if they brought back boss fights.

[WittyUsername]

I'll admit, It's a combination of nostalgia and potential. There is definitely some faults to BT2's story, but if they veer it more towards Budokai 3 as well as fleshing out the story in a non-repetitive way, I think it could be pretty fun. Hell, maybe they could even bring back the chase sections and boss fights from Ultimate Tenkaichi. Like, I still want giants to be playable, but the story mode could definitely do some crazy stuff with them if they brought back boss fights.

I can certainly agree on the potential part. On paper, the idea of an expansive story mode that retells the events of the entire series is a really fun idea. BT2 simply didn’t have the resources to properly utilize that idea. That’s why I’m glad that BT3 didn’t even bother and instead did its own unique spin.

I wouldn’t be opposed to this game actually using the idea behind BT2’s story mode to its full potential. Ultimate Tenkaichi sort of tried to do that, but it was too rushed, and its roster was too small.