Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is bringing back Budokai’s best but forgotten feature

As a teenager, I spent an inordinate amount of time playing what I consider to be one of the best fighting games of all time: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3. 

It was fast-paced, exciting, and best of all, it let me play as all my favorite Dragon Ball Z characters. I spent so long playing the game that I basically became the Beerus of my friend group.

I was completely untouchable in multiplayer, and I defeated each and every Dragon Ball villain who dared raise their fists against me in the campaign mode.

As a result of sinking a significant percentage of my time on Earth into the game and growing my power level beyond 9,000, I found plenty of Budokai 3’s secrets, including some fun hypothetical scenarios. 

What If…?

It was possible, for example, for Vegeta to go Super Saiyan on Namek and become the end boss of the Saga. Or, Broly could pop up during the Buu Saga to cause trouble. 

I’d later learn that these ‘What if…?’ scenarios weren’t exclusive to Budokai 3; they were a tradition in the fighting franchise, and there were many other, far more bizarre scenarios like Cell absorbing Krillin and becoming ‘Cellin’, or Vegeta transforming into a Super Saiyan after the death of Nappa. 

Indeed, these peculiar stories, which took the established canon and threw it in the bin, would continue into the Budokai Tenkachi and Raging Blast games. Now, I’ll admit writing about these stories seems kind of innocuous and a bit low effort. 

Still, they were actually really fun for long-term Dragon Ball fans because the first Budokai game was released nearly a decade after the end of Dragon Ball Z. As a result, the majority of us knew the story of the Z Fighters backward and forwards by the time we stripped the cellophane off our copy of Budokai. 

These ‘What if…?’ scenarios, therefore, were designed to be a gut punch that knocked the wind out of those who smugly thought they knew exactly where the story was going. I remember being genuinely surprised and more than a little scared at the prospect of having to fight Super Saiyan Vegeta as an untransformed Goku on Namek, and it’s probably one of my fondest gaming memories. 

It’s over 9000!

Atari

I always thought it was a shame then that these What-If events sort of faded away with the release of later Dragon Ball Z games like Dragon Ball FighterZ and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. It’s not that these games were bad; they just seemed to be playing it a bit safe in their story modes, so I played them, but the quintessential magic that hooked me to Budokai 3 was missing. 

That’s why I was so delighted while watching Summer Game Fest to see that Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is bringing back the What-Ifs. It might be a bit premature, but I think it’s a sign that the Dragon Ball games are going to their roots and learning to have a bit of fun again. In my wildest dreams, I like to think they’ll be as bold as the Dragon Ball Heroes games, which take things to an absurd level.

Heroes include entire What-If Dragon Ball sagas that introduce bonkers concepts, like Super Saiyan 3 Rose, Golden Cooler, and even Raditz is going Super Saiyan at this point. That’s what I want from a Dragon Ball game: for it to really lean into the wild and unexplored opportunities the main series never explored. 

Anyway, if you’ll excuse me, I’m taking matters into my own hands and gathering the dragon balls to make this happen. While I’m gone, why not check out the full Dragon Ball Sparking Zero roster?

We’ve also ranked the best Dragon Ball Z fights and ranked the Dragon Ball Super villains by power. Finally, if you’re interested in learning more about anime, we have a guide breaking down this year’s most exciting upcoming anime.