Dragon Ball Sparking Zero Hnads-On Preview Details Fights and Roster

It’s been a big day for Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, as Bandai Namco finally revealed the entire 181-character roster after months of slow-burn reveals. Granted, that “slow burn” approach was incredibly effective, as it not only allowed people to try and guess who would show up in the game but also grew the anticipation for the next trailer and character reveals. You could call this the “Sakurai Approach” to a roster reveal. We’re just saying. Anyway, that wasn’t the only breakdown of the title that was released today, as the PlayStation Blog had a hands-on preview to detail, and they made it clear that this title is truly legendary.

They point out that while the roster has multiple versions of the same character, like Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Frieza, etc., it’s not a simple cosmetic change as you go through the variations. They have different abilities that reflect their changes in the series itself. Just as important, you can improve certain characters with items:

“But don’t feel intimidated by the amount of choices you have: many of the base controls are shared between characters, so you should be able to pick up a new character quite easily. You can also equip various capsule items acquired in the in-game shop to bolster your characters’ base abilities if you want to give yourself a bit of a boost, along with cosmetic items to up your aesthetic power level.”

Another key thing they broke down was “Episode Battles,” where you’ll get to recreate classic moments from the anime from the perspective of different characters. Goku is an obvious choice to play this mode in, but you’ll also get to do fights from the perspective of Frieza, who will have many different scenarios to get through than the Saiyan.

If you want to do some “wish fulfillment” in Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, then head into “Custom Battle,” where you can make things how you want them and more:

“The new Custom Battle mode lets you craft your own stories and battle scenarios. Select the player and enemy characters, add in some special settings (like setting lower health or turning transformations off). You can customize more than just the gameplay, too: the music, the intro and ending cinematics — you can even add some mid-battle twists for a dramatic flourish if you want. If you need some inspiration, there are plenty of pre-made Bonus Battles designed by the developers to give you some ideas.”

No matter how you slice it, this could be the definitive fighting game experience in this universe when it arrives on October 11th.