Dragon Ball Sparking Zero players blast game for doing fan-favorite character dirty
Bandai NamcoThe lack of Dragon Ball Super content for Vegeta in Dragon Ball Sparking Zero’s campaign is a sour note for players.
Dragon Ball Sparking Zero has been an unqualified success selling over 3 million copies on its first day of launch and becoming one of the most-played fighting games of all time on Steam. Its high-octane gameplay and expert recreation of the beloved anime’s style and tone have captured the hearts of many franchise fans.
Of course, Dragon Ball Sparking Zero isn’t completely free of blemishes. While a nasty bug that deletes your entire save file is frustrating, there’s one element of the game that is unforgivable to long-time fans of the various iterations of Dragon Ball.
Everyone’s favorite deuteragonist Vegeta has been done tremendously dirty in the game’s Episode Battles mode. Some players are only just finding out that the Saiyan Prince’s story doesn’t capture the entirety of his anime tenure.
Vegeta’s stint in Episode Battles ends abruptly after the Majin Buu saga of Dragon Ball Z and does not include his exploits in Dragon Ball Super. Despite Dragon Ball Sparking Zero having all the necessary characters to take Vegeta’s story beyond Dragon Ball Z, players won’t get to experience his fights with Cabba, Jiren, and more.
For many, this has become a major point of contention with a game that prides itself on being a complete Dragon Ball experience. “I lost a lot of respect for this game when I got to this moment,” one player said. “They left out a lot of characters from Super that would have made a more complete story mode,” another added.
It’s not just Vegeta that has been shafted in the game’s Episode Battles. Players have complained about other fan favorites as well. “I already knew the story mode was crap when I saw that Gohan’s story starts in the middle of the Cell saga,” a fan complained. “I immediately went from Vegeta’s story into Gohan’s. Was like I got kicked in the balls twice in a row,” another replied.
For those willing to do the hard yards, Dragon Ball Sparking Zero has a Custom Battles editor that will let you create cinematic fights from scratch. It’s a lot more effort than the curated gameplay of Episode Battles but it may fill the void for fans of Vegeta.