Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is available now for players who bought into the Deluxe and Ultimate editions, and it's already kicking players' butts. The difficulty is getting called out as "fucking absurd" in some cases, and early on there's one name people are cursing more than any other: Great Ape Vegeta.
Vegeta's Great Ape transformation occurs fairly early in the Dragon Ball Z anime, and is a similarly early fight in Goku's stretch of Episode Battle, which is Sparking Zero's main single-player content. For players still getting to grips with Sparking Zero, Great Ape Vegeta is a massive early difficulty check, as the boss starts spamming super moves at you the instant the fight begins.
developers after making great ape vegeta fight in sparking zero: pic.twitter.com/Q4zlzwSNrUOctober 8, 2024
Great Ape Vegeta fight pic.twitter.com/XrymhoFAPqOctober 7, 2024
They had to put “lower difficulty and retry” because damn, great ape vegeta is a tough one to beat lol💀 pic.twitter.com/TRLdWiDup6October 8, 2024
The complaints about Great Ape Vegeta have even reached Bandai Namco's ears.
This monke got hands! #SparkingZero #DBSZ pic.twitter.com/EC6ozhx2YtOctober 8, 2024
As one Reddit user puts it: "this game is so dumb fuck this game WHY IS HE SO STRONG HES THE THIRD FUCKING FIGHT FUCK THIS GAME AAAAAHHHHHH." Of course, you can't complain about a game's difficulty without a bunch of people showing up to tell you it's super easy, actually. Apparently the winning strategy to use is simply spamming rush attacks in sparking mode. If you're still struggling, give it a shot.
In the end, this is all just series tradition. Players have been quick to note that the Great Ape Vegeta battle in the original Budokai Tenkaichi is "even worse," and in that thread you'll find plenty of folks reliving their traumatic memories of getting absolutely destroyed in these games over and over again. Better yet? Sparking Zero's Great Ape Vegeta is apparently not even the hardest fight in the game.
Our Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero review awards it 3 stars out of 5, noting that it's "Intentionally prioritizing flashy fanservice over competitive play." But that seems to be exactly what Budokai Tenkaichi fans have been waiting all these years for.
Check out all the best anime games.
