Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi Making a Comeback as Sparking Zero

Bandai Namco formally unveils the next entry in the classic Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi series as Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero.

Bandai Namco reveals a brand-new trailer for the newest entry in the classic Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi series, formally titled Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO. This trailer was unveiled at The Game Awards 2023 show, alongside news of other shocking announcements like God of War Ragnarok‘s new rogue-like mode, Hideo Kojima’s new Xbox exclusive game, and more. Some fans were hoping for more news regarding the newest Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi game, which was unveiled at The Game Awards.

Fans were first given a small teaser trailer for this new Dragon Ball game during the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour event this past March, which showed Goku transforming into Super Saiyan Blue. Rumors and leaks swirled around 2023, including teases from the English dub cast of Dragon Ball and speculated release windows. Fans first learned about how Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi would be getting a new subtitle this past October, indicating that it would be called Sparking! Zero, which turned out to be correct.

The announcement trailer for Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero shows that it will be a 3D arena fighting game, just like past entries in the series. The graphics are a mixture of semi-realistic environments and cel shading to give the characters a sleek anime-styled look. This brings the game closer to the visuals of games like Dragon Ball FighterZ. The trailer starts off with classic anime rivals Goku and Vegeta clashing in the canyons, using a mixture of physical attacks and ki attacks, like the classic Kamehameha and Galick Gun.

From there, Goku and Vegeta are shown transforming in the middle of battle to their Super Saiyan Blue states, while also charging up their ultimate attacks. After both beams are fired, it then shows off some other playable characters, including the galactic tyrant Frieza and the Dragon Ball Super version of Broly. Planet Namek is briefly shown as a stage, along with a destroyed version of the planet. The trailer also shows some of the moves of Broly and Frieza, such as Broly throwing Goku around like a rag doll, along with him being able to transform into a Super Saiyan.

The end of this Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero trailer confirms a number of other characters in the game, including Krillin, Piccolo, Tien, Android 18, Mr. Satan, and even characters from Dragon Ball Super like Jiren and Bergamo. Sparking! Zero also confirmed that it will be developed exclusively for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam. No release window has been provided for this game yet, but what has been shown so far has excited fans.