Dragon Ball Sparking: Zero is bringing back one of the most fan-requested features that has been absent from most Dragon Ball games since Budokai Tenkaichi 3 – beam clashes.
Most Dragon Ball fans assumed that they’d have to wait until Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour to get a look at the next Budokai Tenkaichi game, but The Game Awards 2023 had a big surprise in store, as it showed off the first full-length trailer for the game and officially revealed that it’s going to be called Sparking: Zero worldwide and not just in Japan.
The gameplay trailer gave us our best look yet at Sparking: Zero and confirmed that it’ll play much like the classic Budokai Tenkaichi games, complete with transformations, teleport dodging, and stage destruction. The trailer also hinted that one of the most fan-requested gameplay mechanics, beam clashes, was finally making a return to Dragon Ball, something that was later confirmed in a press release and on the game’s official website.
For those that don’t know, beam clashes are when two beam attacks like Kamehameha and Galick Gun hit each other and the two players have to mash buttons or spin the analogue stick in order to win. They were a staple of both Dragon Ball and Budokai Tenkaichi, but they were strangely absent from most games in the series following Budokai Tenkaichi 3. XenoVerse doesn’t have them at all and FighterZ, widely regarded as one of the best DBZ games, misses the mechanic out completely.
With two massive Dragon Ball games seemingly not bothering with beam clashes, some fans assumed it might not be in Sparking: Zero, but the trailer makes it clear that it is, as Goku and Vegeta are seen firing their beams at each other. It ends just before we properly see the clash, but the official website confirms that it’ll be part of the game, noting that it features “authentic combat moves like beam clashes”.
Considering how much fans have been begging for beam clashes to be a fully-fledged feature in a Dragon Ball game for some time now, this is pretty big news for Sparking: Zero and hints at how much it’s following Budokai Tenkaichi’s formula. Better get your palm and controllers ready…
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