Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is a smash-hit success and a fighting game that manages to faithfully celebrate one of the most renowned entertainment franchises in history. It proves that anime games, especially arena fighters, still have some life left in them. But for everything Sparking Zero gets right, there’s one crucial pitfall it still can’t seem to escape from — it’s chained by Dragon Ball’s past. The story mode of Sparking Zero, once again, makes players go through the events they’ve seen dozens of times, even though there are hints of some great ideas on how to shake things up. It’s proof that anime games, and Dragon Ball, in particular, won’t be able to move forward until there’s innovation created in the way they tell stories.
The core fighting of Sparking Zero is undoubtedly a blast — the internet is already filled with clips of countless nail-biting online battles and hilarious character interactions, like Krillin freaking out when he has to fight himself. All of that is unabashedly great, but Sparking Zero drops the ball on its story mode, called Episode Battle.
The caveat here is that Episode Battle is fine. It’s not bad, it’s not good; it just feels fine. But that’s ultimately incredibly disappointing because of the sheer potential of the idea. In this mode, you play through various character’s episodes that go through the entire timeline of Dragon Ball Z, from the Saiyan arc to Super’s Universal Survival Saga. By and large, these are the same events from the anime, but if you meet certain conditions, or make select choices, you can split off into new timelines with new events.
On paper that’s a great idea, and a real way to shake up the tired stories that have been featured in quite literally dozens of Dragon Ball games. You get to see what happens if Goku didn’t take Piccolo’s help to defeat Raditz, or if Zamasu decided to possess Gohan instead and become “Gohan Black.”
Again it’s a compelling idea, but in execution these alternate timelines, more often than not, end up looping back around to the same outcomes and battles as the main story. Even the ones that do deviate into new territory feel half-baked and end with just a couple of battles and very little story. At the same time, to get to any of this genuinely new content, you have to play through hours upon hours of the regular Dragon Ball stories. It’s disappointing, to say the least.
Sparking Zero had the chance to do something truly experimental if it had really leaned into these alternate ideas. Give us an entire story where Frieza takes control of the universe or one where Gohan Black rules supreme with just a small resistance force left. It’d be great to see actual fleshed-out stories that explore these iconic characters in new ways, instead of just little nods that give you a different battle. It’s a frustrating turn that’s indicative of the rut anime games are stuck in as a whole, they simply can’t find new and unique ways to use the source material.
Every year for the last decade, we see a few new anime-based video games every year, and they all typically fall into a few categories — arena fighters, Dynasty Warriors-likes, and the occasional visual novel. Arena fighters dominate the pack, throwing people’s favorite anime into the same tired formula of duking it out with special moves. Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, One Punch Man, One Piece, Bleach, Demon Slayer, Black Clover — the list of arena fighters goes on and on.
There’s an almost reverence these games show these original stories, like their developers are afraid to change or alter anything that’s so popular and beloved. But it’s ultimately put video game adaption of anime into a chokehold, where a lack of innovation and original ideas has caused the genre to grow incredibly stagnant. How often do you see an anime game on a list for Game of the Year, or mentioned in any kind of award category? Sparking Zero could be the first time that’s happened in years.
It’s such a shame because these anime series are rich beds of storytelling beloved for their characters, and that should translate over to video games perfectly. But simply rehashing the same beats we’ve already seen in the anime is starting to feel not just boring, but worthless.
Sparking Zero exceptionally captures the over-the-top mayhem of Dragon Ball fights, and playing it is unarguably a good time. But I dream of a day when anime-based video games can be more than just mindless fun.
