In fact, the PS2 games remain colossal hits, with boxed copies of 2007’s acclaimed Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 fetching prices of up to $150 on auction sites. We asked Furatani how this golden era of Dragon Ball gaming had informed development of Sparking! Zero, and he told us that “the idea is to make sure whoever played the old games” instantly feels familiar with this new one. Certainly the similarities are immediately obvious, with a battle system that feels larger than life – but it’s also important to underline it’s been 17 years and two PlayStation console generations since the last instalment, so the production values have come a long way.
“[On PS5] we can express the superpowers even more precisely,” he noted. “For example, you charge your power, and then y’know the trees – the trees are wiggling. The grass is swaying. The sky is changing – and you get this real feeling that, just like in the anime, you actually have superpowers.”
It’s undeniable that, with the DualSense in hand, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero feels exceptional. Despite a complicated control scheme, which gives you the freedom to fly around the stage, every clash between the characters carries weight. Dramatic Kamehameha animations depict the build-up to every special move, while collapsing scenery and exploding buildings give you an unparalleled sense of power. We were sweating while playing but in a positive way; we joked at the end of our demo that we may need to lie down in a dark room for 15 minutes. This is the feeling you want from a good Dragon Ball game.
“The animators put a lot of effort into the way that characters move and how the action feels,” Furatani continued. “We spent a lot of time making sure that everything looks and feels just like you know from the anime. A lot of work went into the physics of the game; the way the grass waves or a rock explodes when it comes into contact with one of your attacks. These detailed physics are all rendered in real-time to make you feel like you’re a part of the anime.”
The developer’s also not particularly interested in balance. Unlike competitive fighting game Dragon Ball FighterZ , the team has instead worked to ensure the strongest characters in the series feel as powerful as you’d expect. This means you can pit Chiaotzu against, say, Beerus if you want to. “There's no overall balancing saying that each character is equally strong and you’ve got a fair fight,” confirmed Furatani.
When you take the game online, however, you’ll need to adhere to a cost system. Effectively, you’ll expend points based on the strength of the characters you’re picking, and will need to form a team that adheres to a target tally. In other words, you may choose to have just one or two Super Saiyans – or a larger roster of weaker characters. All of this is supposed to level the playing field, although we’ll see how effective it is in practice.
Of course, a big part of the release’s appeal is the idea of fantasy match-ups. The game’s Custom Battle mode is fascinatingly in-depth, allowing you to create cutscenes and fiddle with a dizzying amount of programmable features. You can effectively incorporate all kinds of “if” commands to design the battle of your dreams, and then share this online with friends and strangers. It’s a system made in fan heaven, and Furatani can’t wait to see what players come up with.
“I’m very interested in answering certain questions,” he beamed. “Every player will have a specific scenario in mind, and I’m very much looking forward to what fans come up with and what kind of ideas they have.”
We spent at least 45 minutes designing our own scenario, tweaking camera placement and creating cutscenes. It’s a really powerful tool, and while it initially may seem complicated, the amount of flexibility it’s going to provide is impressive. Of course, there’s still a more traditional single player campaign for those who want to experience the Dragon Ball story from the perspective of several different characters, and you can even enjoy cinematics from a first-person viewpoint to enhance the immersion.
But we did notice one feature missing from the PS2 titles: loading screen minigames. In the original games, you could tap buttons to make Goku eat ramen et al, but with the PS5’s SSD these have sadly been consigned to a relic of the past.
“I’m impressed you remember this,” Furatani laughed. “You’re right, there were minigames you could play while the game was loading on the PS2, but these aren’t necessary on the PS5 as it gets you into the gameplay so much quicker than on previous platforms.”
Our only concern, several hours of gameplay later, is that Sparking! Zero may be a bit too complicated for the audience it’s coveting. Dragon Ball is mainstream now; this is a game that will clearly sell many millions of copies. And yet its control scheme, sometimes requiring multiple button presses all at the same time, is cumbersome and complicated. There is a dense training mode, but we can see less experienced players giving up on it quite quickly.
Perhaps, in order to capture the spirit of the anime, the game demands such a complicated suite of button presses. But we got battered on the standard difficulty, and we can’t help but wonder, once the initial shock and awe of the presentation has passed, whether that’ll cause more casual players to bounce.
It’s the only question mark we have hanging over an adaptation that, otherwise, seems like the perfect Dragon Ball game. With almost 200 characters, sensational presentation, and a Custom Battle mode that allows you to explore your own creativity, this is shaping up to be a dream title for fans of the franchise. Speaking with Furatani, we get the sense he knows his team has made something special; it looks like the legendary Budokai Tenkaichi 3 will finally be surpassed.
Thanks to Bandai Namco for giving us an extended early look at Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, and Jun Furatani for taking the time to answer our questions. Has this raised your anticipation for the upcoming anime adaptation? Let us know in the comments section below.
