Why DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is Such a Big Deal

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO was only recently released, but it’s fair to say it has been very prevalent in the gaming sphere for a while, setting pre-order records, selling 3 million copies in the first 24 hours, and being the go-to material for many streamers and content creators (like me! Hi, mom!) While it may make sense for a big IP like Dragon Ball to have a lot of fans, many may be shocked and confused about why it’s making such a big impact — especially the younger audiences and those who didn’t grow up with the original games.

To understand the impact of the present, we need to look back a bit on the history of Dragon Ball Z games, especially the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi games. In the ancient past of 2002, fans of the Dragon Ball Z manga and anime were treated to Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, a 3D fighting game with both player vs. player split screen battling, but also a lengthy story mode going through the highlights of the story and multiple other modes, such as a tournament mode and custom What If scenarios. While not the first Dragon Ball game on the market, it quickly grew in popularity due to how well it emulated the series’ iconic style of battles, in addition to starting off as a PlayStation 2 exclusive.

Dragon Ball fans were in for some great years as two sequels were released, followed by the Budokai Tenkaichi series soon after, with each entry adding more characters, more mechanics, different takes on the story and evolving gameplay. Funnily enough, the Budokai and Tenkaichi (titled Sparking! in Japan) are not the same series at all and are made by different studios, though one could be forgiven in the assumption, as they are very similar. Regardless, from 2002 to 2007, it seemed that this series would be the unbeatable champions of anime/manga video game adaptations, with other series, like Naruto and One Piece, having more difficulty finding sure footing within the medium… but as it so often goes, nothing good lasts forever.

The PlayStation 3, and the seventh console generation in general, stepped into the scene at around the 2006 mark, bringing with it both a drastic leap in graphics and processing power and a shift in gaming itself. Games like Halo, Gears of War, and Mass Effect were the big names now and no one really wanted to see Raditz kidnap Gohan for the sixth time, leading to a darker period in Dragon Ball games. Dragon Ball: Raging Blast tried valiantly to keep the series going strong in the fighter genre, but flop after flop seemed to sing of the end, with the unfortunate Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi feeling like the final nail.

The eventual fizzling out of a beloved franchise in one form of media is not that uncommon. In terms of this beloved series, the lower quality products, the lack of new characters or stories, and the samey gameplay and style seemed to wear thin, making newer games feel more like cash grabs (looking at you, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z) than titles made with any respect for the source material, leading to its timely end. This would probably have been the end, though luckily, 2015 was a big year for Dragon Ball in gaming due to two things: Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Xenoverse.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse was the first “original” title bearing the franchise's name for a while. Set in Toki-Toki city and borrowing heavily from Dragon Ball Online, the game sees players create a custom character to take on dastardly villains messing with the timeline. Featuring a rather unique setting and approach to telling the classic story, in addition to allowing players to learn from many different Dragon Ball characters and gain their skills, the game was very popular, as was its sequel. To some, this felt like a “rebirth” of the franchise in videogame form.

Adding to this, Dragon Ball Super did a lot to breathe new life into the franchise, as it started up a completely new story arc for our heroes, featuring new forms, new characters, and even a new set of Dragon Balls! As the series progressed, many of the new ideas were slowly added into Xenoverse and its sequel, making the game last much longer than many expected.

So, based on this, it seems the franchise is doing all right. Why is it such a big deal that a new game came out, then? Well, there’s an emotional reason and a reason of precedent to consider. Let’s get the mushy stuff out of the way first, ‘cause I need to gush to someone and my normal correspondents can only bear so much!

Though there have been similar games after Tenkaichi 3, many fans like myself have had a tough time getting into them. The long story and MMO elements of the Xenoverse games, along with unlocking skills and episodes, felt overwhelming and the more fighter-esque games weren’t scratching that itch, due to either poor mechanics, bugginess or a general slower feel… so when we were given Sparking! ZERO, it felt too good to be true. But, by some miracle, it feels like a direct sequel. The menus are represented by different locations and characters, Chi-Chi et al. comment on the characters in the glossary, you can equip skills, there are What if Scenarios… it’s everything we wanted and more! With so many long-running franchises dropping the ball with long-awaited sequels or heavy emphasis on remakes, seeing a brand new game with, what seems to be, passion for the medium is like finding a six-leaf clover. It just doesn’t happen! As such, us old fans are making a bit of a racket about it.

Now, on to that precedent I mentioned. We live in an age of remakes and remasters, where most of the older franchises are either rebooted, remade, or forgotten. Though we do still get sequels or continuations, they are definitely on the rarer side. As such, getting a proper new addition with fresh content and continuation is pretty stellar in itself, but the fact that it’s for a 13-year-old franchise and seems like it's made with the same passion is something else entirely. It demonstrates how an older franchise can be brought back without reinventing the game or sacrificing its unique style or charm. I hope to see other classics making a similar triumphant return!

DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO is definitely not a game for newcomers to the series. Not only does it skip through the story like someone losing their place an hour into a three-hour video, but it also relies on the players’ intimate knowledge of the series to find the What If scenarios among other fun stuff. It is an unbridled love letter to the series and a high-five to old fans, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Unless we have to fight Great Ape Vegeta again.