Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero What-If guide – All scenarios & how to unlock them

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero includes unique What-If scenarios throughout multiple Episode Battle campaigns, but they’re not easy to unlock.

Episode Battles are fully realized narratives in Sparking Zero that take place across iconic Sagas from the beloved anime series.

In addition to reliving epic moments from the canon story, fans get to dive into compelling What-If scenarios and branching pathways for multiple characters including Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta. Our guide will detail everything you need to know about the feature and details on how to get them all.

What are Sparking Episodes & how do you unlock them?

Featured through the game’s campaign, What-if scenarios are called Sparking Episodes, with each character having at least one of these pathways hidden throughout their journey. 

While each Episode has different requirements to be met to trigger them, you must first ensure you have not lowered the difficulty of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s Episode battle mode. If you do, Sparking Episodes will not be accessible.

As such, keep the default difficulty enabled to explore these diverging timelines.

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All What-If pathways in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero

There are 14 What-If pathways across all Episode Battle campaigns in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, split up between different characters.

In the table below, you can find how many each character has, alongside links to pages on how to unlock each one in detail:

Character	Sparking Episodes	How to unlock guides
Goku	Side by Side Pushing the Limit The Changing Future	All Goku branching paths in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Episode mode
Vegeta	Parental Bond Number One Spot	All Vegeta branching paths in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Episode mode
Gohan	The Strongest Warrior	All Gohan branching paths in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Episode mode
Frieza	Fall of the Saiyans Frieza Force Joins the Fray	All Frieza branching paths in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Episode mode
Goku Black	Proof of Justice	All Goku Black branching paths in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Episode mode
Piccolo	A Mentor’s Guidance	All Piccolo branching paths in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Episode mode
Future Trunks	Shining Hope Inherited Pride Embarking toward Tomorrow	All Future Trunks branching paths in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Episode mode
Jiren	True Strength	All Jiren branching paths in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Episode mode

Once a Sparking Episode pathway is completed, you’ll earn one of the game’s Trophies and Achievements.

How to unlock Future Trunks & Jiren Episodes

While most of the character’s campaigns will be instantly available, Future Trunks, and Jiren’s Episode modes need to be unlocked before you can play them.

Unlocking Future Trunks Episode Battle story

You must complete the Future Trunks Arc in Goku’s storyline to unlock Super Trunk’s Episode Battle story in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero during Chapter 7 of Goku’s story.

Once you have done so, you can access the Future Trunks campaign via the main Episode Battle menu.

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Unlocking the Jiren Episode Battle story

You must complete the Universe Survival Arc in Goku’s storyline to Jiren’s Episode Battle story in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero during Chapter 7 of Goku’s story.

Once done, you can access Jiren’s campaign via the main Episode Battle menu.

Can you complete the Sparking Episodes & the main storyline?

Thankfully, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero lets you do it all in Episode mode, and after completing each character’s unique Sparking Episodes, you can continue down the main storyline.

Head back to the pillar Episode that causes the divergence and triggers these What-If Scenarios and complete them as normal to keep progressing through each character’s main questlines.

Now that you know how to unlock each of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s What-If scenarios and how each pathway plays out, check out more of our guides for the Arrival on Planet Namek routes, the best characters, how to Sonic Sway, Deflect Beams & more, and how to find Dragon Balls.