If you were a PS2-era fan and a long-time Dragon Ball Z enthusiast, you'd surely be familiar with the name Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi. This was a fighting arena Dragon Ball Z game that was released exclusively on PS2 back in 2008. The game garnered immense popularity and a large fan community, eagerly awaiting its return every day. Fortunately, in March 2023, a new game was announced at the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour event, titled DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO. And just yesterday, Bandai Namco released a new Gameplay Showcase video:
The video begins with a battle between Goku and Vegeta, and needless to say, fans will easily recognize both characters transitioning to Super Saiyan Blue form, indicating that Bandai will bring characters and events from the latest anime into the game. The video then transitions to Jun Furutani, the producer of DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO, to introduce their new game, officially confirming it as a direct successor to the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series.
Furutani then introduces gameplay footage, utilizing the Unreal Engine. DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO now boasts a different graphical style compared to its original game, with a richer color palette, leaning towards a more semi-realistic style akin to Dragon Ball FighterZ and Dragon Ball Kakarot. The core gameplay largely remains the same, with players engaging in intense one-on-one battles in expansive 3D arenas, utilizing various skills to create spectacular combos. During battles, players can freely maneuver around to evade or ambush their opponents.
He then talks about new mechanics in the game: normal movement is now faster, with sprinting speed akin to the original game's "dashing," and players can now do a short dash, allowing for quick repositioning to gain an advantage or create more freedom of movement. There's also a "Skill Count" mechanism that gradually replenishes during battles; players need to use these "Skill Count" to execute new skill chains in the game, such as "Revenge Counter" to absorb enemy attacks and counter, or "Super Perception" to counter various incoming attacks, such as energy blasts like Ki Waves, akin to the substitution mechanic in Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections. Lastly, there's the ability called "Vanishing Assaults," allowing players to instantly teleport and rush towards opponents, a similar skill found in Dragon Ball Z: Xenoverse.
In the last minutes, the video show another trailer for the game, which reveal some of the new character comming in the game, some of these that we know are:
The release of this gameplay video is undoubtedly thrilling news for both old and new fans of the game. It's been a while since we've had a Dragon Ball Z game focusing on tag-team combat in expansive 3D arenas like this, and with many new mechanics added, it promises an exciting experience for players. More characters will surely be added to the roster in the future, but for now, let's wait and see.
The game is set to released on Steam, PS5, and XBOX. To get the best deals, make sure to our price comparison tool to preorder DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO.
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