Sparking! Zero Custom Battle Showcase Thread

[Makaioshin]

PS5

Assassin's Determination
ID: 0-172-221-848
Premise: Tenshinhan confronts Hit on his path as a martial artist.
Difficulty: Intermediate

Spoiler:

Super Trunks's Strength
ID: 4-314-215-972
Premise: Vegeta and Goku get into a familiar argument. Gag based fight and tribute to forum arguments of old.
Difficulty: Easy

Spoiler:

Defiance in the Face of Despair! Super Garlic Jr. Vs. Merged Zamasu
ID: 3-414-877-486
Premise: Zeno has erased the timelines. Yet, two immortal remain.
Difficulty: High

Spoiler:

The unswerving Champion of Justice, Zamasu, is on the scene!
ID: 3-409-216-424
Premise: Cell has slain the future Trunks of this world. Desperate to save universe 7, Shin seeks outside help...(This is the first one I made in general I will probably revisit this in the future)
Difficulty: Easy

Spoiler:

Glad to see others have posted new ones. Look forward to trying them out.

[Kanassa]

Mechanics:
- Landing Blast 1's triggers character switches.
- Your Ki Charge is nerfed as much as possible, recover ki with successful melee attacks.
Phase 1
- Baby is trying to possess you, if you take enough damage, your fighter switches to his side and won’t return until you beat them.
- Your health is draining throughout this phase, and you're on a timer. Defeat Baby before his infection takes over entirely.
Phase 2
- While Baby cannot infect you anymore, his new transformation still allows him to be a stubborn menace. His defence is buffed, his attacks can quickly make a turnaround and blocking your attacks heal him greatly.
- To do the most efficient damage, use your Blast 1's to force him into a vulnerable state (sparking)
- Beware that, when he leaves sparking, he will throw his ultimate blast.
Phase 3
- Black is deadly enough in his base form, but push him far enough and he'll show you his true power.
- Black may not have retained the fill power of Zamasu's immortality, but while tapping into this divine Rose form, his advance regeneration makes him practically invincible.
- You'll only be able to inflict damage upon him by using your Blast 1's to knock him out of Rose.
- Stay vigilant and keep your ki bar charged, even when weakened, Black's super attacks will knock you out of your transformations and debuff you, and the relentless ultimate blast he'll unleash when his sparking meter runs out will end the battle if it hits.

[Kanassa]

Sorry for the double-post, but I thought you guys might wanna know that this recently got updated with filters for dialogue:
https://www.sparkingzeroteambuilder.com/custom-battles

[Gyt Kaliba]

Sorry for the double-post, but I thought you guys might wanna know that this recently got updated with filters for dialogue:
https://www.sparkingzeroteambuilder.com/custom-battles

Whoa, now that's gonna be a very useful resource! I'm assuming it's got every dialogue option in the game listed (or is it still being updated)? If it is complete, that's almost a slight bummer - I've run into a roadblock working on my third custom battle because I need dialogue along the lines of 'where are we' or 'what is this place', 'how'd we get here', something along those lines, and as far as I can tell looking through dialogue myself and looking at this site too...there's nothing really close to that here. So I'm gonna have to re-think that opening scene a bit, seems like.

Defiance in the Face of Despair! Super Garlic Jr. Vs. Merged Zamasu
ID: 3-414-877-486
Premise: Zeno has erased the timelines. Yet, two immortal remain.
Difficulty: High

Spoiler:

Really liked your Tenshinhan V.S. Hit one, but oh man - I cannot beat this one for the life of me. When you say 'high difficulty', you mean it - frankly I'm impressed you were able to beat this thing to post it even! Gonna keep trying it over time and hopefully I'll eventually pull it off.

[Kanassa]

Sorry for the double-post, but I thought you guys might wanna know that this recently got updated with filters for dialogue:
https://www.sparkingzeroteambuilder.com/custom-battles

Whoa, now that's gonna be a very useful resource! I'm assuming it's got every dialogue option in the game listed (or is it still being updated)? If it is complete, that's almost a slight bummer - I've run into a roadblock working on my third custom battle because I need dialogue along the lines of 'where are we' or 'what is this place', 'how'd we get here', something along those lines, and as far as I can tell looking through dialogue myself and looking at this site too...there's nothing really close to that here. So I'm gonna have to re-think that opening scene a bit, seems like.

I'm not sure if it's complete.

Maybe try "Huh? What just happened?!", "I gotta be honest, I don't know what in the world I'm lookin' at.", or have the narrator go "Huh? Where'd they go?"

[Makaioshin]

Really liked your Tenshinhan V.S. Hit one, but oh man - I cannot beat this one for the life of me. When you say 'high difficulty', you mean it - frankly I'm impressed you were able to beat this thing to post it even! Gonna keep trying it over time and hopefully I'll eventually pull it off.

I guess I should have included tips. The Makyo Star does heal Garlic Jr which is key to victory. It is more of a challenge but I wanted to emphasize that despair of Garlic fighting Zamasu at the end of existence. Also glad you liked the Tenshinhan and Hit one. That was really fun to make.

[Koitsukai]

I've uploaded a battle that recreates the Saiyan invasion.

I don't know where or how to get those screenshots people posted here about their custom battles, so I'll post some Nappa pictures.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

It's basically Tenshinhan, Chaozu, Piccolo, Gohan, and Goku vs Nappa. And then Goku vs Vegeta.

Tips:
- Try to dodge Nappa's initial attack, for some reason he uses an attack from the get go and it'll trigger a character swap. (Need to re-code it)
- Vegeta is really difficult at first, but his CPU level is reduced after Goku goes Kaioken.

Effects:
- I coded it so that things happen as faithfully as possible. Ten gets fucked, Chaozu dies, Piccolo and Gohan can't keep up, and Goku comes in when Piccolo dies. Then Vegeta trashes you, triggers Kaioken until he needs to turn ozharu, improving the CPU level. Then, Gohan will jump in to save Goku, and eventually, Goku will come back with a genki dama.

It still has some room for improvement, for instance, I wanted to have a beam clash, but for that I need to have Goku in sparking mode and then have Vegeta shoot his Gyaric Ho, but the user has to do their own blast for the beam clash to work. I'll re-publish it later, it's not perfect but I think it's a decent take of the fight.
I also think maybe Nappa could use a higher CPU level.

ID 4-628 703 935

--
I'm also working, ATM, on a Broly movie, however, I'm not sure how to make him blow up Namek and access the lava stage. A character would need to miss their attack (I think, at a specific area of the map, too), but when you code an attack it ALWAYS hits, it cannot be dodged. If somebody has a way to do this would be much appreciated.

[Cold Skin]

Here is a simple but fun battle to get you back to the early Dragon Ball era with a twist!

____________________________________________________________________
YAMCHA TRANSFORMS
(ID on PS5 : 4-667-748-597)

Young Yamcha is fighting young Goku in the desert. But suddenly, as he uses his Roga Fufu Ken (Wolf Fangs Technic), he unexpectedly turns into an actual humanoid wolf, much to everyone's surprise!

Includes:
- intro cutscene
- mid-fight cutscene
- victory cutscene
- defeat cutscene

Detailed battle mechanics / Walkthrough:

Spoiler:

- The player actually plays Bergamo, which is Yamcha's wolf form in this scenario, fighting Teen Goku with a reasonable CPU level (the earliest "Normal" difficulty).
- Because their use wouldn't make sense storywise, Bergamo's ultimate attack and Goku's ultimate attack are deactivated.
- When Goku is reduced to 50% health, a cutscene triggers and Goku, taking the fight seriously, unleashes both Blast Hits: he performs an unavoidable Kame Hame Ha immediately followed by rushing on the player with an impressively staged combo. Both Blast Hits are reduced to 50% though, so it's like taking only one.
- Winning triggers a specific cutscene, while losing triggers a different cutscene.

Full story/cutscenes spoilers:

Spoiler:

- Goku takes his Nyoi Bo with impressive acrobatics, ready to face Yamcha. Yamcha calls him a fool and triggers his Roga Fufu Ken. But then he feels something unusual and turns into a big humanoid wolf. He doesn't understand but quickly deduces it is a side-effect of the technic called the WOLF Fangs Technic. Goku has trouble following what's happening and ask why Yamcha isn't here anymore, but the wolf confirms he is indeed Yamcha, the desert bandit, to which Goku is perplexed and replies that he's a little weird right now, but still the fight begins...

- When reduced to 50% health, Goku seems hurt and in trouble, while Yamcha confidently states he likes his newfound power. Ready to attack again, he says he'd almost feel pity for Goku now, but the young boy gets ready and more angry, saying he hasn't shown everything he's got yet (which leads to a raging automated combo in-game right as the cutscene ends).
- If Yamcha wins, he throws Goku away in the dirt, saying the boy's clearly outmatched. Suddenly, his transformation seems to end, much to his surprise. The situation turns for the worst when a threatening, unusual Goku stands before him, unleashing his energy. But is it Goku? He looks different (it's actually GT Goku)... Then the boy turns Super Saiyan and rushes to him, looking angry like he's going to beat him to death. Seeing that strange version of Goku appearing out of nowhere, Yamcha is terrified and begs him not to hurt him, whoever he is! As he screams in terror, he awakes in West City in present days. It was all just a bad dream, which explains the weirdness of all these events... Yamcha is very glad that it turns out to be just a strange nightmare...
- If Yamcha loses, Goku is unimpressed and Yamcha is stuck to the ground, unable to find the strength to move on. Bulma appears, looking down on him with despise. She's supposed to be all over him in this era, but she scolds him here, being disgusted by his weakness. She mercilessly tells him to get lost as the wuss that he is, she never wants to see him again and their relationship never happens. As he screams in terror, he awakes in West City in present days. It was all just a bad dream, which explains the weirdness of all these events... Yamcha is very glad that it turns out to be just a strange nightmare...

[Kanassa]

After being out of the game for a few months due to sickness and hardware issues, I finally finished my Legacy of Gohan battles. I spent so many attempts getting to the final phase only to realize an important event wasn't working.

Spoiler:

Description: Zamasu unlocks the potential of a Baby-Controlled Trunks, causing a startling Great Ape transformation, and unleashes him on the remaining fighters. Pan is determined to bring Trunks back to his senses, even if she has to beat it out of him, while the android duo hope to delay Zamasu.

Mechanics:

• Landing attacks buffs Player.
  Enemy attacks debuffs Player, heals the enemy and takes away ki.
  Skill 1 heals.

Phase 1 - Baby and Great Ape Trunks

• Baby is using Trunks as a shield, weaken Trunks enough to force Baby to intervene and lay into him.
  Baby only remains on the field until his sparking meter runs out. Reset it by hitting him with blast attacks.
  When Baby is damaged enough, his control on Trunks slips. Wail on Baby with Ape Trunks, resetting his sparking meter with every hit. If you don't defeat him before his sparking meter ends, he regains control of Trunks.

Phase 2 - Black

• Black is still invincible with no way to knock him out of his transformed state. Survive for 60 seconds.
  16 gives 13 his parts, allowing 13 to transform into Super 13 and do damage to Black.
  Super 13 lasts as long as Black's sparking meter, when it runs out he'll switch by to 16 who can do no damage and trigger Black's ult.
  Switch to 13 by powering up to sparking.
  Reset sparking meter by hitting Black with 13's blasts.

Phase 3 - Baby Vegito (Zamasu)

• This unstable fusion is strong, but not immortal anymore.
  Whilst sparking, Vegito is extra vulnerable.
  Trigger sparking with blast moves.
  Black tries to blow up the Earth. Beat him before his sparking meter ends.
  Reset his meter with any attack.

In actual news, PC modding is already on it's way to modded custom battles with custom dialogue since your battles are stored locally.

Spoiler:

[Mr Baggins]

With the release of the Hero of Justice DLC, I come bearing four additional episodes! As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

"Special Forces, Assemble!"
ID: 0-197-757-444 (PS5)
Characters: SSG Goku, SSB Vegeta, FPSS Broly, Orange Piccolo, Gohan Beast vs. Syn Shenron / Yi Xing Long
Stage: Land of the Kais
Alternate Endings: Yes (1 failure)
Premise: In the sequel to "The Power Saiyans", Team Saiyans is back and more colorful than ever! After Black and Trunks return to their dimension to continue their feud, two new members have taken their place – Gohan Beast and the not-really-Saiyan Orange Piccolo. But with a powerful shadow dragon having just been awakened, duty calls once more. Can they manage to take down their strongest foe yet?
Notes: I assume "special forces" is "tokusentai" in the Japanese version, hence the Super Sentai reference in the title. Yi Xing Long is quite a bit tougher than Anilaza from the previous episode, having a ton of durability and more aggressive AI plus an additional transformation and full health restoration as soon as he's low on juice. Sparking mode is completely disabled for most of the fight. To be honest, I thought the previous episode was a little too easy with 5 Super Saiyans fighting one enemy so this should be a fairer challenge. Not crazy hard, though. Remember to take advantage of the team mechanics if you're struggling.

Spoiler:

"Hero's Strength"
ID: 4-988-532-231 (PS5)
Characters: Gamma 1 vs. Android 13
Stage: City (Night)
Alternate Endings: No
Premise: Shortly after the events of Super Hero, Gamma 1 is still processing and grieving Gamma 2's death at the hands of Cell Max. To make matters worse, his evening walk is interrupted when a mysterious man with the Red Ribbon logo appears before him! Who is this villain?
Notes: Mostly a story-centric fight that's fairly straightforward, but you'll need to follow the on-screen text clues near the end of the battle to secure the win (if you're stuck, let me know). Annoyingly, I had to use the Namek title screen for this one because of the title screen bug happening right now. I don't have that issue with these other new episodes because I technically made placeholders for them before the patch.

Spoiler:

"Mystery Namekian"
ID: 4-785-933-036 (PS5)
Characters: Piccolo vs. Slug
Stage: Open Field
Alternate Endings: Yes (1 failure)
Premise: Occurs a few years after EoZ. Piccolo, Gohan and Pan are training near Piccolo's home one day, but their routine is cut short when an ancient Namekian claiming to be from the Demon Realm appears on Earth! What does he want from Piccolo?
Notes: The plot structure of "mysterious bad guy shows up and causes trouble for the good guys" is kinda similar to 'Hero's Strength', and I made this one before that, so I guess it can be considered a prototype to that episode. But it's also different enough that I still feel like including it here, although I generally think 'Hero's Strength' turned out better in comparison. For Slug's characterization, I took some small inspiration from The Legend of Zelda's Ganondorf when selecting his dialogue.

Spoiler:

"Pushing the Limit"
ID: 1-242-276-119 (PS5)
Characters: SS3 Goku vs. Whis
Stage: Land of the Kais (I'm pretending this is Beerus's Planet)
Alternate Endings: Yes (1 extra victory, 2 failures)
Premise: Days after his galaxy-busting battle with Beerus as a Super Saiyan God, Goku feels dejected now that the ritual's time limit and any residual God power within him has expired. Fortunately, he's found a way to contact and train with Whis, who helps Goku find new methods that may allow him to re-surpass the Super Saiyan 3 transformation on his own! What kind of power awaits him?
Notes: So this was actually created and uploaded a while before the DLC dropped, so there's a small post-patch text bug in the two victory endings where a keyword was replaced with [1] for some reason – it's annoying, but I think I'd rather wait for Spike to fix it than re-edit. Anyway, this is an experimental training themed episode that's nothing special story-wise, but... uhh, "pushes the limit" of the battle effects tables. This one has a total of four different endings, which took a crapload of tinkering to get working correctly. In a nutshell; if you lose OR win as a Super Saiyan 3, doesn't matter which, you will trigger one of the failure endings. If you succeed in transforming but still lose against Whis, you will trigger the other failure ending. There are two potential transformations Goku can tap into in this episode, depending on whichever condition mentioned in the intro cutscene is fulfilled – and depending on which of those forms you win the fight with, that will trigger one of the two different victory endings (these aren't actually all that drastically different, but certain details differ).

Spoiler:

______________

"A Test of Krillin's Power"
PS5, ID: 1-108-643-434

I purposely went sparking mode near the end there to make Kuririn feel like a badass. Good work!

Super Trunks's Strength
ID: 4-314-215-972

This one got more than a few chuckles outta me. It's now my headcanon that Goku and Vegeta get into worthless power scaling debates when they're not sparring.

YAMCHA TRANSFORMS
(ID on PS5 : 4-667-748-597)

Not to spoil anything for others viewing the thread, but man... poor Yamcha. Would be funny if Oozaru Goku was also playable in the game and used here.

[kemuri07]

I just bought the game so I'll give these a play.

[Cold Skin]

Right now, it's a bit annoying, but we have to wait for the title screen glitch to be solved by an update.
I know it's just a detail, but I feel it takes you out of the experience of the episode if you have a title screen that shows Namek when it's completely unrelated to the custom battle going on! I don't want to publish any episode with this problem right now, I'll hold off until a corrective update.

There will probably be publications regardless of that problem, so if you happen to encounter an episode with a totally unrelated title screen picture, you'll know that it's because of that current glitch that prevented the user from selecting anything else, erasing all choices (although apparently some people retained a few pictures, with only most of them being non-existent now!

[Mr Baggins]

Right now, it's a bit annoying, but we have to wait for the title screen glitch to be solved by an update.

There actually is kind of a way around it, but it's awkward. Any episode published online with the title screen you're looking for (including your own) can just be copied to your custom battles and edited freely from there into whatever you want.

And, as I briefly mentioned above, I already had placeholders built for all but one of my new episodes, so the only one of mine that has the Namek title screen is "Hero's Strength". So it seems that the bug just affects what you can select presently and not what you can actually upload/publish.

But yeah, hopefully they resolve it soon. It's inexcusable to have something like this crop up when it wasn't an issue before.

[Cold Skin]

Sorry but I couldn't wait any longer for the title screen problem to be fixed by an update that's still not here.
So be it, the title screen will show Namek even if it's mostly unrelated to the situation.

____________________________________________________________________

GOHAN VERSUS GOHAN?!
(ID on PS5 : 4-313-835-040)

Whis and Piccolo have thought of a new kind of training for Gohan for him to be fully tuned to his true nature. In the Room of Spirit and Time, Gohan is face to face with... his younger self at his prime, and even somehow enhanced to a new level that goes toe-to-toe with the current Gohan for a same level of transformation, much to his surprise! The ghost even has his personality and memories from the real boy from back then, as if Teen Gohan had been taken straight through time to meet his present self!

Gohan has to show that he has reconnected to his past prime, or even gone beyond...

Includes:
- intro cutscene
- multiple mid-fight cutscenes
- automated mid-fight moves for maximum entertainment
- victory cutscene
- defeat cutscene

Detailed battle mechanics / Walkthrough:
(will spoil surprises and make you less excited when discovering the fight,
do not read if you intend on trying it yourself!!):

Spoiler:

- The ghost is set at a moderate difficulty of 6.
- Transformations are unavailable and will happen when the story requires it.
- Gohan (the player) is unable to lose against his younger self during the whole fight, keeping 1 HP at the minimum.
- Once the ghost is 50% damaged, he will turn Super Saiyan and so will Gohan, which will trigger a cutscene. All health replinished for both fighters, but they will both automatically trigger a combo special move, showing their similarities (though Gohan deals slightly more damage to his younger self).
- Same when the ghost has 25% health left this time: he goes Super Saiyan 2 while Gohan goes Ultimate Gohan, with both fighters being regenerated. Gohan gets the upper hand with this transformation beyond that of his surprised younger self and automatically triggers a combo special move that basically makes his opponent lose a gauge from the get-go.
- When defeated (or actually down to 1% health), the ghost will be out of stamina and Gohan will allow him to fully recover, just like himself, just to show him his tremendous full power. Stunned by Gohan Beast, the ghost will automatically attack as a preemptive strike, only to barely do any damage (this removes the immortality of the ghost as well). In return, Gohan will mercilessly proceed with two overpowered special moves in a row, effortlessly defeating the powerless ghost in a matter of seconds with a striking demonstration of his power and without the player being able to actually even control Gohan Beast.
- The episode should end here, but a secret opponent is unleashed: a surprise battle against Orange Piccolo starts, this time letting players freely control Gohan Beast while a very brief dialogue appears in gameplay to convey Gohan's surprise and Piccolo's instruction to just stay focused.
- This time, you CAN lose the battle against the secret real opponent, as Gohan's immortality is removed, so be careful.
- Ultimate moves are locked for both fighters, as they are used as the climax if the player wins.
- Both Gohan and Piccolo are automatically given "setting capsules" that massively boost all possible attacks as well as their health. Orange Piccolo still ends up having two more gauges compared to Gohan.
- If the player is reduced to 50% health, he gets 10 secondes of massive boosts in all categories and the AI is lowered to 2. Hopefully, it can help balance the fight in your favour if you were having trouble.
- If the player loses all of his gauges before he could defeat Orange Piccolo, the defeat cutscene triggers, ending the episode.
- When defeated (or actually down to 1% health), Piccolo will go all out and unleash his Makanko Sappo against you, which is impossible to avoid. To keep in check the chances of players being defeated when they have technically just won, the damages received are extremely reduced to almost nothing.
- Gohan will respond with his own automated, overpowered Makanko Sappo, securing the win for good in a spectacular way. The victory cutscene will be shown.

Full story/cutscenes spoilers:
(will spoil surprises and make you less excited when discovering the fight,
do not read if you intend on trying it yourself!!):

Spoiler:

- In the Room of Spirit and Time where he was told to come, Gohan meets Piccolo and Whis, wondering what kind of training he's been brought here for. Piccolo tells Whis that Gohan is all his, and Whis uses his mysterious power to materialize a reproduction of Gohan's younger self from the Cell Game era. Gohan is a bit surprised to see himself, but finds the idea interesting, noting that the ghost seems to be of a higher level than he truly was at the time. It seems the copy does have Gohan's personality too, as the two seem to be on the same page about the situation.

- When pushed, the ghost turns Super Saiyan, prompting Gohan to do the same. The copy acknowledges that his future self being able to transform was to be expected, while Gohan must admit that now he is certain this copy is more powerful than it should logically be and that he didn't expect to have to go that hard. But amused, he proposes to keep having fun, to which the ghost agrees, though reminding Gohan to not underestimate his opponent, while the two warriors rush at each other fist against fist, surrounded by golden energy and unleash similar combos on each other, really looking alike both in appearances and in moves.

- When pushed even further, the ghost turns Super Saiyan 2 and Gohan responds by going Ultimate Gohan. The young copy tries to understand what he's seeing as he was expecting his opponent to turn Super Saiyan 2 like him, but he figures it might be some other kind of transformation. Getting more serious, Gohan says that due to the copy being of a certain level, he has no choice but he'll make it quick. He rushes at the ghost and makes him understand how serious he has gotten with a brutal combo that knocks him to the ground before the fight continues.

- Gohan gets the upper hand and ends the fight with a new striking combo followed by a big Kame Hame Ha (all of it being his ultimate move). His younger self is out of breath and admits he didn't even know reaching such a power level was actually possible. Gohan kindly offers him a senzu, saying he will show him his actual full power. Restored, the ghost feels a bit of tension watching Gohan go into place, telling his copy that he's going to show him where the path of martial arts and constant improvement has led them. The ghost is impressed, saying he has trained a lot (having just spent a full year of training in the Room of Spirit and Time before defeating Cell) but that his future self must have trained even more. Since dedication to training has never really been his priority, Gohan doesn't really know what to say to the copy and just admits that it's quite embarrassing, but actually gets to the point that their power comes from elsewhere, namely from how anger has always made them tap into an unknown, tremendous power. And he's going to show where it has led them at this point of their life.

- Having defeated his younger self with ease, Gohan calmly looks down at him on the ground, saying it's over. The young ghost can't believe it: this is the extent of the power he can reach in the future? He can feel the power pulsating over all of Gohan Beast's body. Whis congratulates Gohan on this training, and the young copy is impressed, saying his future self is as great as "dad". Gohan simply laughs and thanks him: he won't break the kid's admiration for his father by telling him the Goku from his time has long been surpassed by the current Goku and a lot of people actually. Piccolo is proud to see how Gohan has grown, having been just reminded of what he used to be like. But now, surprise: Gohan actually sees his mentor approaching as his newest form and saying it's time to test whether Gohan Beast is all he's cracked up to be or not. The fight begins as Gohan is surprised, but Piccolo tells him to just stay focused, to which Gohan agrees and stops trying to talk.

- If Gohan loses, Piccolo sends him flying right in the building of the Room of Spirit and Time as Gohan loses his Gohan Beast form. Orange Piccolo smiles in pride and tells him that his student's new transformation is useless if he doesn't master its potential. With both giving up their ultimate forms, an exhausted Gohan tells Piccolo he didn't manage to focus correctly to maintain his Gohan Beast form, which doesn't surprise his mentor. Whis still says Gohan has quite the potential, but Piccolo tells him he should work on it if he doesn't want to be defeated by him again next time. Gohan admits he does have to get better to protect his loved ones...

- If Gohan wins, Piccolo is thrown to the grown. Gohan Beast charges a beam, ready to keep attacking him and saying he gave him quite the trouble so far, but that they can go further together to reach even greater highs. However, an exhausted Piccolo had its fill for today, cutting their training short. Whis remarks that Gohan and Piccolo have an outstanding new power level and says that this is bound to interest Lord Beerus. Gohan and Piccolo therefore go to Beerus' planet to join the others' training (Goku, Vegeta and Broly), as they all prepare for the next threat to deal with. We wish them all the best to reach new heights.

[Cold Skin]

VIDEO PLAYTHROUGH OF THE EPISODE (English text and English voices): https://youtu.be/2yaU39vbido
VIDEO PLAYTHROUGH OF THE EPISODE (French text and Japanese voices): https://youtu.be/RScB18YNf5c

It could be useful for those who are curious but can't play it - not owning the game or not having a PlayStation version of the game - or those who are simply not willing to play it themselves.

While most dialogues in English are still okay or even more appropriate than in French sometimes, there are still some strange occurences that can happen due to the fact that I built the episode based on the French text. So you'll have a few lines like Whis saying "get a load of this" or Teen Gohan suddenly talking about the match like he's an external announcer talking about contestants (which isn't conveyed at all in the French text).

Shows both endings (going naturally to the victory cutscene and then clearly indicating when it's about to show the alternative, defeat cutscene).
The gameplay sections are all shortened to skip close to the next events. You're not losing anything spectacular with those cut gameplay sections since I'm a very basic, casual fighter on this game.

[Mr Baggins]

Looks like "Special Forces, Assemble!" is now my most popular custom battle at 102 plays, 31 likes and 22 favorites with an 84.11% clear rate. No idea how that blew up, but uhh... cool!

Anyway, here are two more episodes I've made since then:

"The Fake Saiyans"
ID: 3-594-665-207 (PS5)
Characters: SSG Goku, SSB Vegeta, SSFP Broly, Orange Piccolo, Gohan Beast vs. SSR Black, Super Baby 2, LSS Broly, Super Android 13, SS4 Goku
Stage: City Ruins
Alternate Endings: Yes (1 failure)
Premise: Part 3 of the Super Saiyan Sentai series and sequel to "Special Forces, Assemble!". Team Saiyans has arrived on the scene... but this time they are villains/imposters?! It looks like Goku Black has returned and formed his own Special Forces squad of scoundrels comprised of evil "fake" Saiyans from several worlds. Can Goku and the team hope to stop them before they destroy everything?
Notes: Unlike previous episodes in this series, you cannot switch out at any point as each teammate has a predetermined opponent on the opposite team. However, unlike the previous episode, sparking mode is allowed. These fights aren't all that difficult (and I'd say the episode is overall easier than "Special Forces, Assemble!", which isn't really that hard itself) but there is a major penalty for losing any one of them – after the predetermined one-on-one fights, the victors of your team will face off against whoever is left, but all of the victors on the opposing team will receive a massive attack boost. This was to disincentivize cheesing all the opponents with Gohan Beast, who is easily the strongest on the team.

Spoiler:

"Gohan vs. Kefla"
ID: 3-603-031-679 (PS5)
Characters: Ultimate Gohan vs. Super Saiyan Kefla
Stage: Tournament of Power Arena
Alternate Endings: Yes (1 extra victory)
Premise: A simple recreation of the Gohan vs. Kefla fight from chapters 38 and 39 of the Dragon Ball Super manga.
Notes: If Kefla gets Gohan down to 10% health or less without defeating him, an alternate story path will unfold that's a bit more challenging than the default story path. Can't say much more without spoiling things.

Spoiler:

[Cold Skin]

TRAINING TOGETHER
(ID on PS5 : 0-240-418-166)

During the night when Trunks meets the nice C-18 for the first time, Krilin and his wife try to help him fight Goku Black in their own way and cheer him up by offering a training session. The younger version of Trunks is soon attracted to the nearby battle as well, challenging his older self in a battle between Super Saiyans, but is he the only one drawn to this peculiar evening entertainment?

Fight through the three opponents to progressively unlock special moves as a reward and unlock the secret battles.
Your health is fully restored for each battle.

Includes:
- intro cutscene
- multiple mid-fight cutscenes
- automated mid-fight moves or finish moves for maximum entertainment
- victory cutscene
- one defeat cutscene for the three regular battles and one defeat cutscene for the secret battle

BATTLE 1: VS KRILIN

Players will start with slightly lower health as Krilin immediately attacks to show he's serious.
The damage is minor though.

Blast 2 (Sliced Orb Waves) and Ultimate Blast (Explosive Single Slice) locked.
Base form is maintained.

Krilin is set on an AI level of 5.
He is not very aggressive and the player shouldn't have much difficulty in dealing with him effortlessly.

When Krilin is defeated, the player will trigger Blast 2 (Sliced Orb Waves) automatically to finish him off and unlock it in the process.
Even if the attack doesn't trigger due to an unfavorable in-game context, it will still be unlocked.

BATTLE 2: VS C-18

Players will start with a decent chunk of health missing due to C-18 immediately showing she's not kidding around.
Three quarters of a gauge are missing from the get-go.

Ultimate Blast (Explosive Single Slice) is still locked at this stage.
Base form is maintained.

C-18 is set on an AI level of 5 but much more aggressive than Krilin, already making the fight dangerous!

When she is defeated, the player will trigger the Ultimate Blast (Explosive Single Slice) automatically to finish her off and unlock it in the process.
Even if the attack doesn't trigger due to an unfavorable in-game context, it will still unlocked.

BATTLE 3: VS KID TRUNKS

Players will start with about 4000 HP removed due to Kid Trunks' unrestrained enthusiasm.
However, keep your health safe as mid-battle automated attacks will make you and the opponent endure a full-powered blast when both warriors transform, you have to take it into account and save your health as much as possible.

All attacks are unlocked for the base form, so enjoy it while you can cause when Kid Trunks reaches 66% of health remaining, both Trunks will transform and you'll lose your Ultimate Blast, as Trunks wouldn't use a technic powerful enough to destroy Fused Zamasu for sparring battles.

Kid Trunks is set on an AI level of 5 but is just as aggressive as C-18 and you have to be careful with automated health loss for both fighters.

When defeated, Trunks will unleash his Ultimate Blast on you, but it will barely do any damage before you retaliate with your own finishing blast to end it all. However, if you were really close to KO, you might still lose to him in that last assault, so don't play with fire.

SECRET BATTLE: VS ???

The "spoiler" description here doesn't spoil story bits or the identity of the opponent, but does mention the objective and mechanics involved.

Spoiler:

You will suffer a 15000 damage loss from the get-go (one gauge and a half), so be quickly on your toes.
Your objective is to reduce the enemy's health to 70%. Once you do it, their health will drop to 1 HP, so you'll just have to land any hit on them to get to the next phase after this intro.

Secret fact about this intro that you might not want to know:

Spoiler:

You cannot lose during this part, as you'll always have 1 HP remaining no matter what.

The final battle is one of overblown power and reactivity: both you and your opponent (AI level 10) start the fight with automated devastating attacks that leave you both with less health than you'd like. You are both overpowered and the battle can end quickly one way or another, so be relentless and give it all you've got in a final rush.

Whoever defeats the other will trigger his ultimate with a 99 999 damage output as a finisher, going to the "Defeat" or "Victory" ending respectively for that specific battle.

FULL STORY SPOILERS:

Spoiler:

As Trunks is leaving, C-18 and Krilin stop him to talk about how Goku Black keeps getting stronger and Trunks should cease the opportunity to train with them. Trunks is surprised but gladly accepts and C-18 says Krilin has to go first. A bit reluctant at first, Krilin accepts, telling Trunks not to go to hard on him.

When Trunks shows that he means business, Krilin is ready to get back to it but C-18 stops him and says it's her turn. Smiling, she tells Trunks not to worry about that situation but that she still wants to play properly. Trunks finds the situation weird given how he spent years fighting her equivalent to the death in his past, but he's still grateful and the two throw themselves at each other fist first.

Trunks understands that C-18 means business and is ready to step up his game when a voice interrupts them: it's Kid Trunks, who sensed their auras (except for C-18 naturally) and wants to fight too. The cyborg agrees to it and Trunks is extatic at the idea of testing his strength against that of his future self, with the grown Trunks not seeing any inconvenient to it.

Mid-battle, Kid Trunks transform, claiming to be invincible when he turns Super Saiyan. Future Trunks is amazed that his child self can transform so young and quickly follows.

Trunks knocks away Kid Trunks, seemingly having the upper hand and saying it's time to stop, but that his younger self has nice moves and can be proud. Kid Trunks is not done yet and is ready to go for some more, but a familiar voice claims that it's his turn: Goku has been drawn to the battle when sensing it from afar, naturally. Gladly taking a short break to challenge Trunks and see if he has evolved since last time, he doesn't waste any time and in a second, turns Super Saiyan 3 to rush at Trunks, much to the warrior's shock!

With Trunks showing decent resistance, Goku can't help showing him something he hasn't clearly showed him before: Super Saiyan God. Trunks doesn't understand what he's saying and can't sense any power level, but he still assesses that the level of danger this form presents for him goes through the roof and that he has to give it is all. But despite his best intentions, he's swiftly knocked out by a single devastating 99 999 attack that doesn't even represent what a Super Saiyan God can actually do since it's just a simple Blast.

With Trunks lying on the ground, Goku smiles as the younger Saiyan says he was utterly powerless in that situation. Goku hears a voice criticizing him from behind: it's Vegeta, although in Super Saiyan God, that claims that it was pointless for Goku to do this as it is obvious Trunks doesn't have a power level on par with a Super Saiyan God. Goku understands that Vegeta is implying he's a better opponent and accepts the challenge.

Vegeta seems to get the upper hand, but he knows they're more evenly matched than that: Goku - as usual - is holding back at the beginning. Goku confirms it's just warming up, to which Vegeta says now he should know that he should not hold back or he's going to get hurt. Goku agrees and the scales rise up quickly as they unleash their powers. From up there, the rest is watching with a smile: of course those two forgot about anything related to Trunks and just went back to their rivalry and training sessions. Trunks says this was to be expected in the end and Krilin agrees, confirming with their display of power and their Saiyan instinct to love challenges that everything's going to be fine for Trunks' future: with those two around, how could it be any other way?

IF TRUNKS LOSES AGAINST KRILIN, C-18 OR KID TRUNKS:

As Trunks is out of breath, Kid Trunks is surprised to see him having difficulties. Trunks says he wasn't up to the task, and Krilin tells him not to be so hard on himself: everyone has evolved quite a bit since the last time he came, they're more powerful than what he's expect. Trunks says he must gain more strength, saying he's not about to give up and that it's not the end, just the beginning. Goku appears saying that's right and that's the way to go: with a thumb up, he says Trunks can count on him to help him regardless, as we don't care if we have any chances of coming out victorious, we just keep on going until we find a way to win anyway, no giving up.

IF VEGETA LOSES TO GOKU:

The two Saiyans give it their all and are out of breath. But they didn't show much of anything compared to what they should be capable of. Vegeta is disappointed that they're not showing more and says they have to get stronger than this, much stronger. Goku says they might have to go and see Whis for more training, but Vegeta protest that they don't have time now. That's when Trunks calls out to everyone: new training, Trunks, Kid Trunks, C-18 and Krilin will all team up and face the two Super Saiyan Gods, as Kid Trunks says they want to see what they can do against the number 1 warriors too and Krilin confirms that it's a group training now. As they all let their auras explode, Goku finds the idea interesting. As Vegeta objects that it's just a big waste of time as they are not even remotely a match for them, Goku tells him to just not be a buzz-killer, relax and enjoy the upcoming match.

[Cold Skin]

Of course, new DLC warrants new custom battles to create for hours for every player!

CHILD VERSUS CHILD?!
(ID on PS5 : 2-861-575-322)

During the days leading to the Cell Games, Vegeta snaps and can't wait any longer, challenging Cell despite Goku following him to try and calm him down. Meanwhile, some of Goku's friends tried to find an alternate way to neutralize the threat thanks to the Dragon Balls. And that's how Cell, Goku and Vegeta all end up being turned to kids and having to fight in those unexpected forms!

Too farfetched for you? And yet, it might not be a what-if as there IS an explanation that makes it all possibly happening in the story we know! But you'll have to finish the episode for that, whether in victory or in defeat! This should remind long time players of another Dragon Ball game decades ago...

Includes:
- intro cutscene
- one mid-fight cutscene
- automated mid-fight moves or finish moves for maximum entertainment
- victory cutscene
- defeat cutscene

[Mr Baggins]

Welcome to...



Yep, it's my first stab at a full-on story arc in Sparking! ZERO. I expect this to be around 10 episodes in total; the first 5 episodes (which I guess can be called "part 1") are now done, and although I have a rough outline for the second half, I can't start work on the final 5-ish episodes until the 3rd DLC pack. Might have to adjust the outline for part 2 but am pretty confident in my prediction that DLC 3 will at least have Majin Duu, Third Eye Gomah, and the adult versions of SS4 Goku and SS3 Vegeta.

Dragon Ball Super: Demon Realm Arc basically asks "What would happen if some version of Dragon Ball Daima's events happened in the Dragon Ball Super continuity?" – along with, mind you, lots of artistic liberties and pretty drastic differences from Daima. I'm ultimately beholden to the limitations of SZ's roster and custom battle mode features, but I like how it's turning out. If Daima's storytelling focused on extended worldbuilding and character interactions, then this, much like Super, instead focuses on a long series of battles as Goku and his new friends travel through the Demon Realm to stop and defeat the reigning Supreme Demon King Gomah, who is currently planning a large-scale invasion of the mortal universes. Nobody gets turned into kids in this what-if arc. Well, actually that's not completely true: Vegeta does, but only for a very short time!

Lastly, for this series I wouldn't encourage purposely losing to see any of the "defeat" endings outside of maybe the first episode; they're either very short and trivial or just plain absent.

Without further ado, I present the first half of the Demon Realm Arc!

Episode 01: "Toward a New Age"
ID: 0-232-304-761 (PS5)
Characters: Gohan vs. ???, Goku
Stage: Open Field
Premise: A few weeks after Cell Max's defeat, Goku reunites with his son Gohan for a sparring match – he's heard about the battle Gohan and Piccolo had with Cell Max, so of course he wants to check out Gohan's new transformation. But it seems he's not the only one who wants a taste of Gohan's new power!
Notes: The first episode is an almost total recreation of Dragon Ball Super manga chapters 102 & 103, but ends very differently than 103 did and ultimately leads into the arc proper. That means there's a lot of successive fights and cutscenes, though I held back on making this one all that challenging since it's just the introduction. One might also notice that the episode title is a reference to chapter 103's title.

Spoiler:

Episode 02: "A Solo Journey to the Demon Realm"
ID: 1-064-660-890 (PS5)
Characters: Glorio vs. Goku
Stage: Tournament of Power Arena
Premise: Following Goku's mysterious disappearance at the end of the first episode, it turns out that the Grand Minister himself has teleported Goku to the Realm of Void. As Angels are not allowed to interfere in the affairs of mortals, he has a request for Goku: Gomah, current Supreme Demon King of the Demon Realm, plans to launch a massive invasion of the mortal universes to take them over, and the multiverse needs Goku's help to stop him! Glorio, a demon spy who has been secretly working and training under the Grand Minister, will be escorting Goku to the Demon Realm to start their journey. But first, Glorio wants to test his strength against Goku to assess if they're truly up to the task!
Notes: This episode is where the arc truly kicks into high gear, and there's a lot of Super-isms here that really work to distinguish this whole story from Dragon Ball Daima. For example, plotwise, Glorio (as one may surmise from the premise above) has a very different backstory and is no pushover in this version, as he can in fact give Super Saiyan Blue Goku a challenge. And there's only more Super-isms to come!

Spoiler:

Episode 03: "Here Comes Majin Kuu!"
ID: 3-875-336-109 (PS5)
Characters: Goku, Glorio, Panzy vs. Saibaman (multiple), Majin Kuu
Stage: Rocky Land (Evening)
Premise: Goku and Glorio meet Panzy shortly after arriving in the Third Demon World, who is actually Glorio's sister in this version of the story. But before they can fully acquaint themselves, a dastardly crew of Saibamen, creatures once used by the Saiyans who are actually native to the Demon Realm, arrive to cause trouble. Can this newly formed trio of Goku, Glorio and Panzy hope to take them all out? And who is their mysterious leader?
Notes: Probably my least polished episode of the series, unfortunately. The event programming was frustrating as hell to get working properly, so I'm not confident it's completely airtight but it should be for most playthroughs. I wanted the player to have the impression they'll have to fight a lot of Saibamen before they get to Majin Kuu.

Spoiler:

Episode 04: "A Difficult Fight: The Search for Goku"
ID: 0-378-488-663 (PS5)
Characters: Vegeta vs. Dabura
Stage: Islands (Night)
Premise: After having gathered Earth's Dragon Balls, Gohan's group learns of Goku's whereabouts. Although they attempt to have Shenron teleport them to Goku's location, this is unfortunately beyond Shenron's power as only high ranking demons can cross the barrier between the multiverse and the Demon Realm. Their sole recourse is to resurrect the only high ranking demon they know: Supreme Demon King Dabura! However, Dabura is unfortunately unwilling to cooperate and take them to his home world. Impatient, Vegeta decides to beat that cooperation out of Dabura... but may not fully comprehend the tricks Dabura has in store for the former Saiyan prince!
Notes: Light spoilers – lots of wacky things happen to Vegeta because of Dabura's magic, and I even gave Dabura some of Babidi's spells out of admittedly wonky headcanon that he inherited them from Babidi himself. Still, I really like how this one turned out and thought it was a good opportunity for a Vegeta-centric break from Goku's adventure. It essentially begins the "B plot" of the arc.

Spoiler:

Episode 05: "Victory in the Third Demon World"
ID: 0-840-335-656 (PS5)
Characters: Goku, Glorio, Panzy, Majin Kuu vs. Garlic Jr.
Stage: Rocky Land (Night)
Premise: With Majin Kuu now in the party, Goku's group have almost reached the Second Demon World. They stop for a meal break, but are immediately ambushed by Kuu's superior officer Garlic Jr., the strongest of King Gomah's Third Demon World forces. Kuu is now faced with a choice; should he betray his new friends, or fight for what he believes in?
Notes: Easily the most straightforward of my episodes. You're forced to start the fight as Kuu for story reasons, but once Garlic is down to a certain percentage of health Goku's entire party will join in and then you can freely switch between everyone at will. Garlic's only gimmick is that he can take a lot of hits.

Spoiler:

To be continued after the release of DLC pack 3!

[Cold Skin]

^ I've played all of those episodes so far and they are very well crafted with efforts on the story via numerous cutscenes! (the most important part according to me, you play this mode to live extra stories, not just to have random battles without context).

It's quite ambitious to do a whole arc when a single episode already takes quite some time to craft!

I've put a like and a favorite on all of those, except for episode 4 for which I only put a like and not a favorite due to the difficulty getting in the way of my enjoyment. I had to start over three times and barely got out alive on the third attempt (one more hit and I was failing again). I don't have the level to deal with opponents who have such an advantage, being aggressive, strong hitters and counterattacking while also having more health and the player not having any regen in-between events. I even doubted I could actually finish it at some point and thought I would have to skip to episode 5 without knowing how episode 4 ends!

But overall, it's a very impressive season you're crafting, such dedication to actually tell a full-fledged story arc!