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

[MCDaveG]

https://automaton-media.com/en/news/one ... ery-month/

Sparking Zero producer says that since launch over 1 million people play the game every month.

That's a total lie, or they're inflating their numbers counting people who boot it up to get some daily trophy and not touch it 10 minutes later.

It's crazy how they can get away saying "they work hard" on the game, after doing the bare minimum and only adding a single stage after a whole year, and not even unlocking Gohan Black who is all ready.

Namco Bandai and Spike have their fans on a tight leash, and then they can get away with crap like Jump Force selling millions. Because who even cares about complaints when pre-orders cover all costs and more? Clearly not the devs.

Who knows, I was recently surprised, that some games like Saint Seiya Soldier Soul have quite a cult following in Latin America, when some people even still play it daily, despite the game being 10 years old and out of distribution.

But yeah, it's hard to believe, unless you don't play anything else and see so much fun in online. But on the other hand, if the number is cross-platform, it might be more believable.

Honestly, I am not even logging in so I can receive 30 000 Zeni, or Dragon Ball, so I can wish for more Zeni that I can't spend on anything.
After so many people were like "the strength of this game is in custom battles", I dived in. I made two heavily story focused episodes to tell a different Daima story, with some creative twists involving the roster, multiepisode concept being set after DB Super. One episode took me like 3-4 hours, most of that was spent on painfully going through the quotes and dialogues and including testing and redoing actions... just so like 7 people play it and you get like one like.
Would it hurt to set-up some meaningful challenges and build some kind of internal community options around it? So you can promote your creations, get in groups... well, no.
Fuck this.

[The Dark Knight]

I made two heavily story focused episodes to tell a different Daima story, with some creative twists involving the roster, multiepisode concept being set after DB Super. One episode took me like 3-4 hours, most of that was spent on painfully going through the quotes and dialogues and including testing and redoing actions... just so like 7 people play it and you get like one like.

I really like the idea of this mode, as I believe it can keep the game alive for a very long time. However, they kind of killed its potential due to how it was designed, as not many people have that much free time on their hands.

[Koitsukai]

It is kinda shitty that you can spend hours working on a custom battle only to be played by those who are online at the time you upload it.

I've played some battles that have hundreds of reproductions and likes, and I've noticed that they are made to have you replay them over and over again because they have some sort of "bug" that gets you killed soon enough.

[FlpShimizu]

I gave up on searching custom battles by the number of likes as soon as I noticed they were all about Videl cheating on Gohan with the whole cast or Cabba beating SSJ4 Gogeta.

I love the mode and hope it gets a good upgrade in the future, but as it stands it's a massive waste of potential.

[Trouser]

Are you guys really that surprised? Most of that custom battles are bad fiction or memes created only to troll other players.

[MCDaveG]

Are you guys really that surprised? Most of that custom battles are bad fiction or memes created only to troll other players.

No way! Are you telling me that fans aren't the ones that know the best how the series should be and can't come up with better stories?

Joking of course. But yeah, this is another reason why it's kinda dead horse, as in the end, you are just making stories for yourself and why some community management or better concept would do better – even small things like categories, genres...

Truth be told, of course I tried to find some compelling customs to enjoy some what-ifs or original stories made with the mode, but it's either UI Goku VS SSJ4 Vegeta kind of thing with the most basic dialogues, which is just versus that you can play in versus mode... or weird stories about Videl like you mentioned, I stumbled upon some hella weird one, where Gohan was doing roleplays as different characters, the dialogue was complete rubbish that didn't made sense and I had no idea WTF I am playing...
But I do remember one that was actually the only one story of the kind I would like to play, about Yamcha transforming into wolf (being swapped for Bergamo) and it was quite well done and I really did enjoy it.

The keyword is, wasted potential. Except for visuals and core fighting gameplay after tons of patches, the game reeks of low effort.

[Cold Skin]

But I do remember one that was actually the only one story of the kind I would like to play, about Yamcha transforming into wolf (being swapped for Bergamo) and it was quite well done and I really did enjoy it.

It's probably mine, as posted in the Custom Battles thread (or someone else had the same idea, I mean the world is big, people can sometimes have the same ideas!). Glad you liked it if it really is mine!

I did try to make only Custom Battles that are not farfetched and could be believable official episodes/chapters, with carefully crafted cutscenes and dialogues... but since I build the dialogues based on the French version, there can be hiccups when playing in other languages such as English for a few lines here and there!

For the few episodes that are too farfetched to really have happened plot-wise (Yamcha turning into a wolf, or Cell, Goku and Vegeta being turned into kids by a wish from Goku's friends who tried to help or Gogeta meeting Vegetto), they are clearly presented in the cutscenes as being a dream/nightmare from one of a character, who is seen waking up and having a specific reaction to the crazy scene he just "lived" in his dreams).

The only one that doesn't have an explanation for the illogical situation in my list was the very first one I ever made, with Super Broly having to face Z Broly (who is just considered as another unknown psychotic Saiyan by the same name rather than an alternate version of the same person), though I still took it to heart to craft good cutscenes with Super Broly being afraid to release the beast in him but having to do so depending on the player's performance.

[Mr Baggins]

I gave up on searching custom battles by the number of likes as soon as I noticed they were all about Videl cheating on Gohan with the whole cast or Cabba beating SSJ4 Gogeta.

Are you guys really that surprised? Most of that custom battles are bad fiction or memes created only to troll other players.

Well, that's why independent communities are best suited to this kind of thing: Kanzenshuu's own Custom Battles thread or Reddit are solid places to look, for starters. People can briefly describe what their scenarios are about, then it's basically up to the player to decide if they want to jump in.

The game's online library doesn't have a reliable way to filter out all the low effort stuff cobbled together within minutes by 10 year olds, so that generally gets all the visibility.

I love the mode, but yeah, it has some very rough edges.

[MCDaveG]

But I do remember one that was actually the only one story of the kind I would like to play, about Yamcha transforming into wolf (being swapped for Bergamo) and it was quite well done and I really did enjoy it.

It's probably mine, as posted in the Custom Battles thread (or someone else had the same idea, I mean the world is big, people can sometimes have the same ideas!). Glad you liked it if it really is mine!

I did try to make only Custom Battles that are not farfetched and could be believable official episodes/chapters, with carefully crafted cutscenes and dialogues... but since I build the dialogues based on the French version, there can be hiccups when playing in other languages such as English for a few lines here and there!

For the few episodes that are too farfetched to really have happened plot-wise (Yamcha turning into a wolf, or Cell, Goku and Vegeta being turned into kids by a wish from Goku's friends who tried to help or Gogeta meeting Vegetto), they are clearly presented in the cutscenes as being a dream/nightmare from one of a character, who is seen waking up and having a specific reaction to the crazy scene he just "lived" in his dreams).

The only one that doesn't have an explanation for the illogical situation in my list was the very first one I ever made, with Super Broly having to face Z Broly (who is just considered as another unknown psychotic Saiyan by the same name rather than an alternate version of the same person), though I still took it to heart to craft good cutscenes with Super Broly being afraid to release the beast in him but having to do so depending on the player's performance.

I think it was! Not sure how the translation is faring on faithfulness between languages, but I think it was alright and nothing jarring. Definitely not even close to the level of nonsense that you can witness in custom battles.
Otherwise I wouldn’t be impressed to the point of remembering just this one custom battle.

I really do appreciate when people try to tell original stories with the limited options they have, forcing them to be creative than having character A and B beat the crap out of each other with few extra lines and static shots, we already have versus for that with more fun intros and outros.

Damn, I have to join some of these community topics. And try to post my battles and see if anyone is interested.
That would at least prompt me to finish up the stories setup.

[Nickolaidas]

In my humble opinion, these kind of games live and die by their single player modes and content.

And when I heard a developer say that you would be able to make your own custom cutscenes and post them on the game's servers for other people to play, I knew: The single player content of this game would be a laughing stock.

The majority of people who play these games are casuals, and casuals want single player content - it doesn't have to be deep, thought provoking or complicated. Make single player modes which have either a small amount of story/cutscenes, and rewards that the casual will find meaningful enough to keep playing/be invested.

I would have loved this game to have a single player mode somewhat similar to the Galaxy mode of Raging Blast 2. A mode that gave you the ability to play and grind as every single character, with a 'vs chart' that expanded the more you played and had numerous trials to keep you invested and keep playing.

What does Sparking! Zero have? A half-assed story-mode (it's so sad that there hasn't been a DB game with a better story mode than Budokai 1) which uses like, eight characters out of a roster of ninety-something (if you don't count transformations), a make-your-own cutscenes mode which quickly devolved into fanfiction or flat-out parody, and a barebones vs mode. Sure, you have a shop to unlock some characters and outfits, but the modes you're giving me to do that are not very interesting, and after I unlock all characters, there's little incentive to play in single-player.

All in all, the game for me ended up being a huge misfire, and it's a shame because I like gameplay and the roster is great. But I'm having the same problem I've had with FighterZ. I have little incentive to play in single-player.

[miguelnuva1]

In my humble opinion, these kind of games live and die by their single player modes and content.

And when I heard a developer say that you would be able to make your own custom cutscenes and post them on the game's servers for other people to play, I knew: The single player content of this game would be a laughing stock.

The majority of people who play these games are casuals, and casuals want single player content - it doesn't have to be deep, thought provoking or complicated. Make single player modes which have either a small amount of story/cutscenes, and rewards that the casual will find meaningful enough to keep playing/be invested.

I would have loved this game to have a single player mode somewhat similar to the Galaxy mode of Raging Blast 2. A mode that gave you the ability to play and grind as every single character, with a 'vs chart' that expanded the more you played and had numerous trials to keep you invested and keep playing.

What does Sparking! Zero have? A half-assed story-mode (it's so sad that there hasn't been a DB game with a better story mode than Budokai 1) which uses like, eight characters out of a roster of ninety-something (if you don't count transformations), a make-your-own cutscenes mode which quickly devolved into fanfiction or flat-out parody, and a barebones vs mode. Sure, you have a shop to unlock some characters and outfits, but the modes you're giving me to do that are not very interesting, and after I unlock all characters, there's little incentive to play in single-player.

All in all, the game for me ended up being a huge misfire, and it's a shame because I like gameplay and the roster is great. But I'm having the same problem I've had with FighterZ. I have little incentive to play in single-player.

Sparking Zero is ultimately based on a party fighting game series. Tenkaichi 3 was best when it was about meeting up with your friends and trying to recreate or do what if fights from the series.

[Scsigs]

In my humble opinion, these kind of games live and die by their single player modes and content.

And when I heard a developer say that you would be able to make your own custom cutscenes and post them on the game's servers for other people to play, I knew: The single player content of this game would be a laughing stock.

The majority of people who play these games are casuals, and casuals want single player content - it doesn't have to be deep, thought provoking or complicated. Make single player modes which have either a small amount of story/cutscenes, and rewards that the casual will find meaningful enough to keep playing/be invested.

I would have loved this game to have a single player mode somewhat similar to the Galaxy mode of Raging Blast 2. A mode that gave you the ability to play and grind as every single character, with a 'vs chart' that expanded the more you played and had numerous trials to keep you invested and keep playing.

What does Sparking! Zero have? A half-assed story-mode (it's so sad that there hasn't been a DB game with a better story mode than Budokai 1) which uses like, eight characters out of a roster of ninety-something (if you don't count transformations), a make-your-own cutscenes mode which quickly devolved into fanfiction or flat-out parody, and a barebones vs mode. Sure, you have a shop to unlock some characters and outfits, but the modes you're giving me to do that are not very interesting, and after I unlock all characters, there's little incentive to play in single-player.

All in all, the game for me ended up being a huge misfire, and it's a shame because I like gameplay and the roster is great. But I'm having the same problem I've had with FighterZ. I have little incentive to play in single-player.

I disagree that the story mode's half-assed. I can agree that the presentation's lacking as it's like a motion comic style, but I do feel they put a decent amount of effort into the what-ifs & the cutscenes that have more things going on look great. The problem comes with the fact that it feels rushed due to certain characters not getting as much story content as they should, which there's evidence that Bandai had them do just that to meet the release of Daima.

I honestly think the story mode of Kakarot was very well done. Minus the fact that they completely skipped over the Final Flash & Trunks' fight with Cell, they portrayed everything else important & did so very well (I just wish Goku's character model's head was better, which they did in the later DLCs & I wish they'd swap it out for the base game, but whatever).

[Mr Baggins]

I'll second what Scsigs said, for both games.

The totality of SZ's story mode takes a good while to get through and clearly has effort put into it, so I would never say it's half-assed or unfinished, but I suppose you could argue it feels somewhat "rushed" in the sense that some of the non-Goku storylines fail to cover as much material as they probably should.

But also, I'm just not seeing a reality where Spike Chunsoft adds much more to the story mode, as designed, at this point. They supposedly have more content in store for 2026 that's not just characters; I'd rather they put that bandwidth into additional single player modes and outfits and stages, but that's just me.

[Koitsukai]

I never had any problems with the story mode, even though it could be improved, of course. But I still haven't completed Jiren's.

The lack of other game modes started to bother me after some time.
Not having a survival mode and a proper tournament mode is a bummer, and I don't think it would be that difficult to add them (I'll admit I have no clue how a game is develop or what's doable and what is not).
There are other single player modes that could've been added, I remember seeing an image of some good options for that. Something like XV2's PQs would go a long way too. I know there's a similar mode but it's not even close.
I don't really play it, but that temporary mode where you have to fight Broly or Freeza should stay for good.

In order, what I hope for '26 is this:
More Stages.
More single player modes.
Missing characters
(No need to add 40 extra characters, but the big ones like the Tamagamis, Piccolo Daimao, Tao Pai Pai, Paikuhan, Shin, S-17, Ice and Sun dragons. And more outfits)

[Nickolaidas]

I'll second what Scsigs said, for both games.

The totality of SZ's story mode takes a good while to get through and clearly has effort put into it, so I would never say it's half-assed or unfinished, but I suppose you could argue it feels somewhat "rushed" in the sense that some of the non-Goku storylines fail to cover as much material as they probably should.

But also, I'm just not seeing a reality where Spike Chunsoft adds much more to the story mode, as designed, at this point. They supposedly have more content in store for 2026 that's not just characters; I'd rather they put that bandwidth into additional single player modes and outfits and stages, but that's just me.

Honestly, I don't want more Story Mode. I want a single player mode that lets you pick any character and give you rewards as you progress (unlockable items, or just experience/abilities to make your character more powerful) in order for me to give me this sense of advancement through not completely tedious grind. And what bothers me is that it would be really easy and simple to implement - something like the 100-200 missions in Xenoverse 2 where you pick any currently available character to fight with pre-selected opponents, getting xp and becoming stronger in order to have a shot at the latter fights. Give me SOMETHING, other than a vs mode and a slideshow Story Mode. Something which is made to have me invested for weeks.

[MCDaveG]

I'll second what Scsigs said, for both games.

The totality of SZ's story mode takes a good while to get through and clearly has effort put into it, so I would never say it's half-assed or unfinished, but I suppose you could argue it feels somewhat "rushed" in the sense that some of the non-Goku storylines fail to cover as much material as they probably should.

But also, I'm just not seeing a reality where Spike Chunsoft adds much more to the story mode, as designed, at this point. They supposedly have more content in store for 2026 that's not just characters; I'd rather they put that bandwidth into additional single player modes and outfits and stages, but that's just me.

I'll second you both. I've read a lot of complaints after launch, where people were scrutinizing the 3D stills approach, as they were expecting watching the show abridged in 3D. I on the other hand, enjoyed and still ocassionaly enjoy the story mode as I think it is well done towards the source material... and that's where it hit me, when I went against Freeza recently and unlocked Goku's torn Gi? (which I had unlocked through shop ages ago).

And that's where lies the halfassedness of the content itself! In the lack of thereof and weird UX/UI choices, which plague the custom battles hard. Sure I'd like more stories and mix Z Trunks with Super Trunks as it feels weirdly episodic and then you get it, the concept is in episodic format, so you don't play the same fights (mostly!) from different points of view, but the characters complement each other in the full story sans what-ifs, that are actually kinda fun and more than I even expected BUT you see the paths in respective characters stories, but can't hop inbetween to enjoy the full picture from one map, so it feels quite disjointed... Probably just the Zamasu story arc is completely useless in-game, playing as Black (why? Is that character as popular?).

Not to mention the evergreen lack of costumes and stages

[MCDaveG]

Thanks for the tips on Customs! Sent my IDs to correspondent topic and will try to reach some other communities
Little sad, that the Kanzenshuu topic is rather dead and I didn't join earlier, but after I'll finish the third, I'd love to skim through it and try to play some more cool customs.

I have noticed "my favorite Yamcha boy" to do spin on Daima, so that's probably on my customs bucket list!

[Bardock God of Time]

New Characters:

Super 17, King Piccolo, Pikkon, SSJ Bardock, GRANDPA GOHAN, ZANGYA, MERCANARY TAO, CHAMPA

New Costumes:

Gohan (Bojack)

New Stages:

Kame House

New Moves:

Goku & Vegeta team attack from Broly

I think Gohan's finisher against Bojack

New Mode: MISSION 100 (FREE UPDATE TOMORROW!)

[mecha3000]

I have no idea why Kageyama didn't do the theme song for the original version of the game. It seems like they're constantly trying to "finish" this game and make it more like the Tenkaichi 4 it should've been and they're dropping the ball with that. Kageyama and Mission 100 should've been a part of the game on DAY ONE. But whatever, better late than never.

[Bardock God of Time]

I WENT FRAME BY FRAME AND I THINK DEVILMAN IS GOING TO BE PLAYABLE TOO, HE'S FIGHTING GOKU BLACK