Dragon Ball Sparking Zero character customization explained: Cosmetics, abilities, more

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is bringing a whole new level of character customization to the franchise. Here’s how it all works.

We just had our first hands-on experience with Dragon Ball Sparking Zero and it’s safe to say that the Budokai Tenkaichi series is back in a big way. The game offers a staggering roster of fan favorites from across the Dragon Ball multiverse and a picture-perfect recreation of the multiple anime that it’s based on.

Hype for Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is through the roof after the near two-decade absence of a Budokai Tenkaichi game (we don’t talk about Ultimate). Even some limitations to its split-screen multiplayer mode haven’t deterred prospective players.

Well, there’s even more to be excited about because Dragon Ball Sparking Zero offers new forms of character customization never before seen in the franchise. These include familiar Ability Capsules but also new options for cosmetic changes.

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero: Ability Capsules

Ability Capsules and similar mechanics have been present in Dragon Ball fighting games since the 2.5D Budokai games on PlayStation 2. In Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, they work fairly similarly.

Ability Capsules allow you to modify a character’s performance by increasing certain statistics. This includes things like their speed, the amount of damage they deal, and even how much HP they have.

While we haven’t seen exactly what form this will take in Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, it is traditionally a slot-based system. Certain Capsules will take up more slots depending on their power and players need to weigh decisions about which Ability Capsules to include.

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero: Cosmetic character customization

Completely new to Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is a separate menu to change the appearance of your characters. Bandai Namco showed this off in their Beginner’s Guide for the game.

When creating a custom version of a character, you can select from multiple outfits from the series with five different options for Goku already shown off. The outfits themselves won’t have any impact on stats but they can alter a character’s move set in some cases.

There is also the option to equip characters in Dragon Ball Sparking Zero with accessories like Halos and Auras. While some are purely cosmetic others will allow characters “to reproduce their famous moves” according to developers.

We don’t have the full picture of what that means yet but our speculation is that equipping a character like Trunks with a Sword may allow access to his famous Burning Slash. However this works, we’re excited to find out.