Dragon Ball: Sparking Zerohas been acclaimed for a number of reasons, but its massive amount of content takes the cake. The game features a roster with more than 180 playable characters, which is undoubtedly an intimidating feat for any developer. A roster of that size can be off-putting to players as well, who may fear stumbling into an unbalanced mess. Thankfully,Dragon Ball: Sparking Zerocame prepared with the perfect solution.
Discussion around character balance sparked long before the game’s reveal.Dragon Ballis an ever-expanding universe with an absurd power ceiling, and there are many characters who simply have no chance in a fight against another. When asked about the subject,Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s lead developerseemed to suggest that his answer to this problem was simply to ignore it.
Destruction Points Bring Competitive Balance to Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s Roster
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Has a Wildly Unbalanced Roster
It’s no exaggeration to say thatDragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s full rosterseems almost impossible to balance. It’s one matter for the roster to be as big as it is, but the nature ofDragon Ballitself only complicates this problem further. Obviously, a character like Yamcha could never dream of defeating Goku at his full power.
Most other anime fighters, especially those in recent years, have taken this problem in stride.Dragon Ball FighterZmay have overpowered charactersof its own, but the game strikes a decent balance overall.Dragon Ball: Sparking Zerowas never going to be able to reach any kind of perfect equilibrium, so the developers firmly decided that they shouldn’t try to in the first place – at least, not on an individual basis.
Characters inDragon Ball: Sparking Zeroare designed to reflect their power in canon, and this has resulted in the drastic gap in balance that one might expect. This even inspired theSuper Saiyan 4 Gogeta vs. Base Cabbadebate, a community meme that has persisted well after the time of release. This design choice has helped to capture the bombastic battles thatBudokai Tenkaichihas always been known for, but runs the risk of alienating competitive players.
Destruction Points Help Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Stay Competitive
Developers appear to still have plans for the game’s competitive future, thanks to the addition of one ingenious feature.Dragon Ball: Sparking Zerofeatures a built-in ranking system, not at all dissimilar to a tier list. Each character in the game is assigned a Destruction Point value, which is meant to represent their overall viability. This system closely resembles the fan-made ratio format played infighting games likeMarvel vs. Capcom 2, and has worked wonders forSparking Zero’s competitive modes.
Teams inDragon Ball: Sparking Zerocan be made up of five characters, though players may opt for as few as one. Teams may only cost a maximum of fifteen Destruction Points, with players encouraged to balance their lineups accordingly. Every character in the game is assigned a Destruction Point value between one and ten. Mr. Satan is currently the only character ranked at one DP, while five characters reach the maximum. Beerus and Whis are considered the most powerful of the bunch, with the other three being Fusions that players can access otherwise.
As a rule of thumb, a character in their base form will generally cost less than any of their transformations or fusions. Likewise, transforming or fusing during a match will grant unique buffs compared to starting the match in such an empowered state.Goku and Vegeta’sDragon Ball Superincarnationsboth cost five DP in their base forms, and serve as a good benchmark for strong characters. Incentivizing players to transform manually guides character selection, and even bolsters the game’s sense of spectacle.
This system ensures that players can’t simply stack the most powerful characters on their team, and allows less powerful characters to get their shine. Yajirobe may only cost two DP, but hisSenzu Beansprovide plenty of value to make up for his weaknesses. Destruction Points work wonders for competitive balance, but they do more than just that. Destruction Points emphasize the unique qualities of every character on the roster, whether they possess a great deal of power or not.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
WHERE TO PLAY
DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO takes the legendary gameplay of the Budokai Tenkaichi series and raises it to whole new levels. Become a super warrior and experience the earth-shaking, limit-breaking power of DRAGON BALL battles!Unleash the strength of over 180 fighters from DRAGON BALL Z, DRAGON BALL Super, DRAGON BALL GT, and selected DRAGON BALL movies, all in the base game! Each character comes with their own signature abilities, transformations, and techniques.Make the destructive power of the strongest fighters ever to appear in DRAGON BALL yours!Engage in heart-pounding, high-speed 3D battles that stay true to the anime and video game series, with breathtaking visuals and authentic combat moves like beam clashes, rush attacks, movements too quick for the eyes to see, and planet-razing ultimate attacks.Challenge other players online to test your skills, or sit down with friends offline to hone your skills exclusively in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber! Fight your way to become a champion across various tournament modes and victory conditions.Conquer the action-packed battles from the beloved original story, or discover and unlock new encounters for your favorite Z-Fighters and more. Relive your favorite moments from the series through cutscenes you’re able to experience from the perspectives of eight characters!Recreate your favorite battles from throughout the DRAGON BALL story, or set up your dream story battle with your favorite characters! Share your creations with other fans and experience the battles brought to life by imaginations around the world.
