At gamescom latam 2024, we had the chance to check out some brand-new gameplay firsthand of Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, and it included a look at such newly announced characters in action like Mr. Satan and Future Trunks as well as a glimpse of the story mode.
This preview followed a new Sword vs. Fist trailer that showcased just some of the 160 characters that will be part of this latest entry in the beloved Budokai Tenkaichi series, including Super Vegito, Jiren, Roasie, Ribrianne, Yajirobe, Spopovich, Dabura, Anilaza, Goku (Super) Ultra Instinct - Sign-, and Goku Black Super Saiyan Rose.
In our new look, which you can see below, we get to see more of the Battle Mode that lets you practice against CPU or jump online to take on others around the world. Gameplay also took center stage and we got to see some of the unique abilities each character has, including Majin Vegeta's Final Explosion that deals a ton of damage but leaves the player with 1 HP for a chance to fight on.
While we didn't get to learn a ton more about the story mode and its branching paths - you can alter parts of the canon Dragon Ball story with your decisions - we did get to see certain scenes like the battle against Raditz. For those unfamiliar, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero will take players through both Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super and star eight characters, including Goku and Vegeta.
Bandai Namco revealed to us that Goku has the largest number of stages, beginning with his fight with Raditz and going all the way through the Tournament of Power Saga.
If that wasn't enough, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero will have a ton of support post-launch in the form of 3 DLC packs that will add more than 20 playable characters from the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie and Dragon Ball Daima series.
For more, check out our hands-on preview of Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero from Summer Game Fest, where we said this game is exactly like controlling a battle from the anime.
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Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.