Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is hiding an easily missed deep cut to the anime

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is a love letter to fans of the myriad anime that the game was adapted from. There are more than a few Easter eggs but one might be the most well-hidden of all.

The success of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero has been nothing short of monumental. Fans of the franchise are showing out for the Budokai Tenkaichi revival and helped it to sell over 3 million copies at launch and become one of Steam’s most popular fighting games of all time.

Not only is the game packed with a cast of over 180 playable characters, it’s filled to the brim with callbacks to the numerous Dragon Ball anime that inspired it. While Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s roster and story focuses primarily on Z, Super, and GT, it hasn’t left out the saga that started it all.

There’s a surprisingly subtle reference to a classic Dragon Ball character that fans of the original series will be glad to see. It’s tucked away in the character customization menu of all places.

The deep cut in question refers to Launch, a staple character of the original Dragon Ball anime. Launch is known primarily for her multiple personalities which change whenever she sneezes.

The kindhearted Launch with a good-natured attitude and blue hair is most-commonly shown in artwork for the original series. Whenever she gets the sniffles, she turns into a short-tempered, blonde bombshell who robs banks and has racked up multiple firearms offenses.

While not a playable character in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Launch gets a shout-out from Krillin in the game’s customization menu. When testing lines of dialogue Krillin will ask “Hey, has anybody seen Launch around here?”

The answer to that question is no because she makes no appearances in the game’s story or menus. That doesn’t mean we won’t see her, however. Theories suggest that one of Dragon Ball Sparking Zero’s DLC packs will focus on the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament from the original anime.

We could even see her as a playable character if Bandai Namco is brave enough to have her shooting people as a Super Move.