Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero’sCharacter Episodes serve as the game’s story mode, with players experiencing the story of Dragon Ball Z & Dragon Ball Super through the eyes of the selected character. Naturally, since some characters only get a few fights, these stories can sometimes be quite short, but that’s where the Sparking Episodes come in.
Sparking Episodes areDragon Ball: Sparking! Zero’s What-If Scenarios, allowing you to divert off the canon storyline and experience unique new scenarios with your chosen character. These can greatly extend a character’s story mode, and are triggered in a few different ways. Sparking Episodes are normally accessed by making a decision other than the canon decision at decision points, completing a specific hidden objective during a fight, or sometimes both. This guide will explain how to trigger all of Goku’s Sparking Episodes, and includes a video of each.
How to Get the Sparking Episode: Side By Side in Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
The Side By Side Sparking Episode is the first one you can trigger in Goku’s Episode,requiring you to reject Piccolo’s help and fight Raditz with Krillin’s help instead.To access the rest of the route, you’ll need to beat Raditz before Piccolo intervenes during the battle that follows: Raditz vs The Turtle School. Doing this will set off a drastically altered timeline where Goku trains with the others to prepare for the arrival of the other Saiyans, Vegeta is defeated via a team effort, and the gang end up joining forces with Vegeta to face Freiza when he comes to Earth in search of the Dragon Balls.
This route has some incredibly difficult fights, especially the consecutive fights against the entire Ginyu Force, with no healing in between.
How to Get the Sparking Episode: Pushing the Limit in Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
The Pushing the Limit Sparking Episode is unlocked by accepting Piccolo’s help against Raditz and defeating Raditz before Piccolo charges the Special Beam Cannon. Raditz isn’t terribly strong, so you can dish out some serious damage as long as you use the Dragon Dash and Sparking Mode effectively.
This Route has Goku surviving the battle against Raditz and training with Gohan and Piccolo for the arrival of the other Saiyans. This sets off a chain of events leading to Goku gaining his Super Saiyan form an entire saga early, before concluding with a much shorter trip to Namekand a face-off with a Super Saiyan Vegeta to claim the Namekian Dragon Balls.
How to Get the Sparking Episode: The Changed Future in Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
To access this Sparking Episode, players will need to make it all the way to the Cell Saga in Goku’s Episode. During Piccolo’s fight with 17, when given the choice after sensing Cell, players must choose to go and help Piccolo. After doing this, you must defeat Cell without getting hit by Solar Flare, since getting caught with a Solar Flare causes Cell to absorb Android 17 and get the story back on track. This leads to Goku and the Androids fighting Cell alongside Tien,and then a somewhat friendlier confrontation between Goku and the three Androids.
Other Story Branches
There are also several smaller branches in Goku’s Storyline, such as the ones triggered by defeating Zamasu early during the Goku Black Arc, or the one triggered by using Super Perception to deflect Jeice’s Crusher Ball during the Freiza Saga. Most of these either lead right to an ending when achieved, with no additional steps or bonus fights, or result in minor changes that converge onto the canon timeline again.
