DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO: A dream come true for Dragon Ball fans

Any Dragon Ball fan who was lucky enough to own a PlayStation 2 in the 2000s probably holds a deep nostalgia for the Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi series. I remember coming home from school and diving into these games, losing myself in them for the entire afternoon, until it was time to watch the anime reruns on Cartoon Network in the evening. I was not particularly skilled at these games, nor did I understand the mechanics all that well. But I spent countless joyful hours having epic and destructive fights, just like in the anime, while playing as my favourite characters. And now, as I come home from work to play DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO, I feel like I am being swept back to those simpler times.

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is, in every sense, an enhanced version of the acclaimed Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, serving as its true successor in both presentation and combat. Like its predecessor, Sparking! ZERO is much more accessible than most traditional and competitive fighting games, making it very intuitive for both returning and new players to pick up and play. The game faithfully adapts the power scaling from the manga and anime, so it's intentionally unbalanced. However, that does not mean that simply playing as the canonically strongest characters makes it an easy game. Winning matches, especially in parts of the story mode and in ranked multiplayer, requires a solid understanding of the mechanics and a decent level of skill. But, even as someone not very skilled at fighting games, I found the mechanics of this game much easier to grasp and practise than most other fighting games.

The game's story mode, called "Episode Battle", centres around specific characters, with each character's narrative being further divided into distinct sagas. Goku's story mode is the most expansive, encompassing most of his battles from the beginning of Dragon Ball Z all the way through to the end of Dragon Ball Super. However, some character arcs feel notably underwhelming or short. For instance, Goku Black's storyline lacks depth, and it's particularly disappointing that Vegeta's narrative concludes with the Buu Saga, leaving out any events from Dragon Ball Super.

The "What If" scenarios or "Sparking! Episodes" are the best part of the story mode, as you can diverge from the canon story throughout various points and experience some really fun alternative scenarios. Some of these are short, but others branch out into detailed sub-stories. This makes the story mode highly replayable.

The game has its flaws, particularly in the presentation of the story mode. It fast-forwards through many events, relying on a mix of slideshows and cutscenes, which makes it a very condensed version of the original narrative. While the "What If" scenarios are entertaining, more comprehensive cutscenes would enhance the experience. Another significant issue is the limited local split-screen co-op, with only the "Hyperbolic Time Chamber" stage being available at launch. However, the online co-op is incredibly fun with all stages being playable. The "Custom Battle" mode allows players to create their own Dragon Ball fights and storylines, but the customisation options are quite limited and somewhat unintuitive.

Nonetheless, DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO might be the best Dragon Ball game ever made, and one of the best arena fighter games in general. You can tell that the developers put a lot of passion into the game, as it feels like it was made by Dragon Ball fans for Dragon Ball fans. While it certainly has some issues, with further updates and expansions, the road only looks bright.