Dragon Ball Z: Sparking Zero - A New Budokai Tenkaichi Begins...

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Announced during the Dragon Ball Battle Hour 2023 event, a brand new Budokai Tenkaichi game is in development!

Budokai Tenkaichi is a classic DBZ game series from the mid-2000s, iconic for the large character casts, and after a particular failed attempt to cash in on the name back in the early 2010s with Ultimate Tenkaichi, it seems we're getting a brand new entry in the long dormant series, with Super Saiyan Blue making it evident that we'll be getting Super content in it. 

Pretty excited for this. Budokai Tenkaichi was great for covering a lot of the content of the series that didn't normally get a lot back then (The movies and OG DB especially). A properly made new one in 2023, covering Super as well as everything that came before could be super hype. 

[Blacklightning]

On one hand, super chuffed to see the gameplay style return. Tenkaichi is THE Dragonball fighting game to me and is emblematic of so many traits of DBZ fights that so many other games - even FighterZ - struggle to replicate. On the other, DBZ is over thirty years old now, and it pains me to think this might just be yet another sad, tired retelling of the same goddamned stories all over again. Even back during Tenkaichi 3 I was already sick of that shit, and after DBZ Kakarot it's hard to imagine what the point would even be.

I wonder if the changes that the Raging Blast games made will be considered? Those were basically Tenkaichis in all but name and I'd love to see some of them iterated on, especially when some of them were character specific and Tenkaichi fighters have a hard enough time standing out without them as it is.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

34 minutes ago, Blacklightning said:

Even back during Tenkaichi 3 I was already sick of that shit, and after DBZ Kakarot it's hard to imagine what the point would even be.

To be fair, I'd probably give it some leeway because this could actually be the first time we'll finally get a proper Super adaption. As shocking as it is to hear, we still are yet to get an actual story mode for Super. Xenoverse is random fight interferences, FighterZ was a original story, and Kakarot very loosely tackles BoG and RF. I imagine Super is gonna be a selling point, and why they opted to lead the marketing with SSB Goku.

[StaticMania]

Very good.

[Wraith]

Never liked these games due to how basic and shitty the combat was, and with Fighterz nailing the combat and Kakarot nailing the sim aspect of it I'm not sure if this awkward in-between really serves a purpose anymore.

I say that, but it's probably going to move millions of units off the name alone. It'll make it's place. Just not in my libraryo utside of a deep discount. I've relived these stories and played enough bad free flight 3D fighting mechanics for a lifetime.

[Jango]

Ah shit man, Tenkaichi 3 (or Sparking Meteor, the version I've played) was THE DBZ game of my childhood. It looked basic from the outside, but it actually had some rather deep and interesting hidden mechanics and awesome combos beyond the obvious punch, punch, punch, kick into the air, teleport and punch you see in 90% of the gameplays on YT... Hehe

But let's face it, it's 2023. We're not getting a game with 150+ characters again, let alone ALL of them fully unlockable by simply playing the game... We'd be luck at 30, maybe 40, but knowing Bamco, I expect a ton of DLC already, sigh... At least give us a Tenkaichi HD Collection first then

By the way ..  is it really Tenkaichi 4? Because, I mean... Ultimate Tenkaichi also was a thing.. that existed. And we're still trying to forget. The trailer gave me major Sonic 4 flashbacks, that's for sure.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

3 hours ago, Jango said:

with 150+ characters again

Excuse me????

5 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

To be fair, I'd probably give it some leeway because this could actually be the first time we'll finally get a proper Super adaption. As shocking as it is to hear, we still are yet to get an actual story mode for Super. Xenoverse is random fight interferences, FighterZ was a original story, and Kakarot very loosely tackles BoG and RF. I imagine Super is gonna be a selling point, and why they opted to lead the marketing with SSB Goku.

I wonder if they'll even go so far as to adapt Super Hero as well.

[StaticMania]

That game didn't have over 150 characters, but there was a lot...

It does help that, unlike Xenoverse, Transformations counted as separate "characters" with their own combos, stats, abilities, and super attacks.

[Blacklightning]

4 hours ago, Jango said:

By the way ..  is it really Tenkaichi 4? Because, I mean... Ultimate Tenkaichi also was a thing.. that existed. And we're still trying to forget. The trailer gave me major Sonic 4 flashbacks, that's for sure.

I would be very surprised if Bandai were stupid enough to go back to the style that's like 2/3s quicktime event over the ones this kind of announcement was clearly meant to drum up hype for, but since you've brought it up there's actually one feature in that game I consider a genuinely good idea: Hero Mode. Not necessarily because of the custom character (not that I'd complain too much about more of that), but because it foregoed a lot of the tiny little What If missions in favour of an entire campaign that reshuffles the roles of many of the franchise's characters in pseudo-storyshift fashion, and the writing was... actually weirdly good for a Dragonball game?????

I would LOVE to see that kind of storyshift again, in a game that doesn't play like it was directed by fucking David Cage.

1 hour ago, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

Excuse me????

That figure is only somewhat hyperbolic. Counting individual characters together still gets you up to 98 characters, but if you count transformations separately (and the game mostly does, even if you're able to transform between forms mid-match), that number goes up to 161. The caveat for that is that until Raging Blast, all characters had the same set of normals with mostly just animation and statistical differences and mostly differ in their super moves alone.

That "statistical differences" part is especially important, because unlike FighterZ most characters were balanced around their canon power levels rather than a level playing field, which meant a character like SS4 Gogeta had an advantage of several entire health bars over a character like say, Chiaotzu, to say nothing of how broken their moves were. Which is a tradition I really, really hope Tenkaichi 4 doesn't continue, because even speaking as a fan that was easily one of the worst aspects of it.

[Jango]

4 hours ago, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

Excuse me????

I wonder if they'll even go so far as to adapt Super Hero as well.

161 actually. Transformations are counted separately, as they have different move sets, skills and supers, they're not just buffs like FighterZ.

3 hours ago, Blacklightning said:

Which is a tradition I really, really hope Tenkaichi 4 doesn't continue, because even speaking as a fan that was easily one of the worst aspects of it.

Not gonna lie, as far as most people I've spoke to are concerned (and reading most peoples' reactions online aswell), the Tenkaichi series being this unbalanced mess was an integral part of the game, as well as having a huge ass roster with a bunch of "what, you can play as this guy!?". It's the thrill you get from beating your friend's SS4 Gogeta as Mr. Satan or Kid ChiChi. Tenkaichi is the true DBZ simulator, not a fighter simulator (eventhought it does have deep mechanics and combos if you know what you're doing).

If they're going out of their way to advertise this as a follow up to Tenkaichi 3 -even in Japan they're calling the continuation of the Sparking series, whereas Ultimate Tenkaichi was just Bandai taking advantage of the brand recognition, it played nothing like the true Tenkaichi's (in Japan the game was even called Ultimate Blast, not Ultimate Sparking)- and we already have the very technical and hardcore 2D fighting game with FighterZ, I do hope they keep the spirit of the old games there as much as they can for this one. Both types of games can co-exist again.

[Soniman]

Never played any of these games but the clips I saw on Twitter with the excitement people are having for this announcement look pretty cool. Wasnt much of a DB-game guy despite watching the anime, I rented Budokai 1 and then 2 and that was it so I have no real nostalgia, but hey if it’s good I might check it out 

[StaticMania]

People also like how much detail is put into the game for the minor things...

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

15 hours ago, Soniman said:

Never played any of these games but the clips I saw on Twitter with the excitement people are having for this announcement look pretty cool. Wasnt much of a DB-game guy despite watching the anime, I rented Budokai 1 and then 2 and that was it so I have no real nostalgia, but hey if it’s good I might check it out 

I do think what's important is going to be how much you love the series in general. As much as I enjoy Budokai Tenkaichi (So much so that I tracked down the original trilogy on PS2, 3's rarity be damned), I wouldn't call it a particularly deep fighter. What @Wraith is honestly pretty on the ball, it's a fairly basic combat system where only stats and supers differ mostly.

But it's also one of the most involved series when it comes to sheer fanservice. Not only does it actually cover all of the series (OG DB, Z, and GT), but the gigantic roster and the fairly accurate power-scaling of characters - for better or for worse - is really fun for a fan who enjoys the novelty of it imo. It's the first game where you could use things like Great Apes, or the fusion characters, and really feel the sheer power difference between them or the other characters. Not great for balancing, but fun if you want a accurate DB fighting experience on sheer power scaling alone.

Plus, the amount of unlockables, modes, and What If scenarios are also pretty fun, stuff like Android 16 and Eighter meeting each other, or freaking Devilman taking on Mecha Frieza when he returns to earth to seek revenge:

I think a good example of what the series' greatest biggest pitfall was Ultimate Tenkaichi, which not only dropped a lot of the fanservice, roster, and what if scenarios, and dumbed the combat even further down to literal rock, paper, scissors combat, so hopefully they'll avoid that stuff this go around. Would be cool if they actually tuned up BT's combat to be more streamlined and less janky. 

[Jango]

16 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

 is honestly pretty on the ball, it's a fairly basic combat system where only stats and supers differ mostly.

Depends. Most people I see playing the game online (even the TFS guys, who put Tenkaichi 3 on their top 3 DBZ games), didn't took the time to learn the deeper mechanics and different combos the game has. You can do most of the game without going beyond 5 punches and a teleport kick, yes, but sometimes I see people calling Tenkaichi's combat basic as if it only had that one combo (not saying you're doing this).

In fact, I think its combat goes deeper than Budokai sometimes.

I love this shit. I used to say when I've played this back in 2007 that "this is what a Dragon Ball Z game should feel like: open, fast and bombastic". I never thought DBZ made sense in 2D TBH. 

[StaticMania]

I love how this game just has a random throw that does no damage but literally doesn't allow the other player to even act/cancel out of it.

[sonicclaasic]

I used to play Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi games when I had a PS2 back In the day. The games are awesome I'm looking forward to this one coming soon. I played for hours with my family In a 2 player Vs matches It was just simply fun and brings back memories.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Brand new trailer revealed at the Game Awards, showcasing Jiren, Broly, and more!

 

[8ther]

Bergamo?!!!

[Jango]

Next gen exclusive, nice.

Looks like they got the FighterZ artstyle and applied to Tenkaichi gameplay, which is ..   literally PERFECT. 

Needs more gameplay tho', but at least I guess beam struggles and mid battle transformations are here? Awesome!

[ZinogreVolt]

Loving what I'm seeing so far. Goku Blue and Vegeta Blue's modeling and coloring seem to take heavy inspiration from Shintani's character design work from DBS: Broly. The overall animation quality seems very good, but that's to be expected of CC2 after how fantastic their work on the Naruto Storm games and DBZ Kakarot were. Considering Bergamo of all characters was confirmed, and the site makes mention of having a "historic" number of characters, the roster is probably gonna be extremely big. Maybe not as big starting out as what BT3 sat at, but probably bigger than most people were expecting. This seems like the perfect game to do season passes and DLC for, so I expect post-lauch support too. As for the base game, considering its using the "Dragon Ball" suffix but doesn't have "Z" added, that seems to suggest that it'll have characters from across DB/Z/GT/Super, maybe even Daima, but I definitely expect Z and Super to take the highest priority.

Overall, it's looking great so far. You can even reflect beam attacks now! Glad the king of the 3D anime fighter (for what little that's worth) has finally taken its rightful spot again.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Honestly insane how good the animations look, I straight up thought we were getting a FighterZ 2 announcement for a moment since I’d forgotten BT4 was announced.

Personally, what really hypes me is not the roster, but Budokai Tenkaichi is the king of weird and funny What If stories. If they hold to tradition, this is the first time we’re gonna see a ton of What Ifs for Dragon Ball Super, outside of the few bad endings Xenoverse 2 has in its bad timelines.

Also really hope we see more OG DB and GT focus, since even BT3 only covers a few specific fights.

[Jango]

Don't know if legit.

[Zaysho]

I think what I'm most looking forward to are whatever weird what-if scenarios they can come up with. That was always some of my favorite aspects of the PS2-era DBZ games, seeing whatever wild scenarios and match-ups we don't get could happen. Like Raditz briefly turning good or all the movie villains teaming up in the old Sparking games or Budokai 2's random fusions like Tiencha or the Buu absorptions.

The Sparking games are, admittedly by design, kind of bloated with junk that makes most of the fighters kinda same-y, but I'm all for some mindless DBZ action in the meantime and just hope they eventually make a follow-up for FighterZ down the road. Just hope they don't shunt the old movies or GT and they go all in like I expect these types of games to.

[Jango]

I just want GT Kid Goku (and all his transformations), he's my favorite character since Final Bout, and he's in so few actual games... His inclusion in BT3 was huge for me back in the day, because prior to that, it was usually just OG Kid Goku or SS4 as a stand alone character... 

Also, for the love of Kami, have the Kikuchi score. If Kakarot's got it, I have faith already.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Jango

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 hour ago, Zaysho said:

I think what I'm most looking forward to are whatever weird what-if scenarios they can come up with. That was always some of my favorite aspects of the PS2-era DBZ games, seeing whatever wild scenarios and match-ups we don't get could happen. Like Raditz briefly turning good or all the movie villains teaming up in the old Sparking games or Budokai 2's random fusions like Tiencha or the Buu absorptions.

The Sparking games are, admittedly by design, kind of bloated with junk that makes most of the fighters kinda same-y, but I'm all for some mindless DBZ action in the meantime and just hope they eventually make a follow-up for FighterZ down the road. Just hope they don't shunt the old movies or GT and they go all in like I expect these types of games to.

Personally, in a era where we have Kakarot, FighterZ and so on, I think BT4/Sparking Zero makes more sense than ever before. Back in the 2000s, it was basic fighters, but nowadays, you're spoiled for choice between a proper mechanical fighting game where every character is unique and distinct (FighterZ), a RPG 3D arena (Xenoverse), a full blown RPG retelling of the saga (Kakarot), a DBD survival game (Breakers), and even a card game if you include Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Heroes Mission.

So I think there's definitely a place for BT4 to be a bit more light on actual battle mechanics and same-y fighters, as long as it's going all in on being the ultimate fanservice DB game. That is the big reason why people loved BT3 despite Budokai and Super Dragon Ball Z being mechanically better games.