The vibes in the Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero community have been absolutely rancid lately, but a huge free update has just changed that. The 3D arena fighter’s latest patch fixes a ton of broken mechanics and OP abilities that were ruining the game’s ranked mode. Even more importantly, local multiplayer can finally be enjoyed across every stage in the game, addressing one of the biggest complaints from launch.
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Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Ver.2006.005.003.004.003 was announced yesterday and is now live across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. There are a ton of things it changes, but some of the highlights are nerfs to Afterimage and instant Sparking mode skills, DP fights have capped health bar regeneration when a fighter is on standby, and 1v1 local multiplayer now lets you select from any stage, not just the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
The Afterimage nerf is a big one. The skill doesn’t last as long now and is cancelled out if your opponent uses Perception. Whereas before it resulted in drawn out dodge battles, it’s now easier to counter. The instant Sparking mode is another major change: the new, increased Skill Count needed to deploy them means players are less likely to be able to spam Sparking mode back-to-back-to-back. DP battles where players go in with a roster of fighters should also move more quickly and smoothly since the recovery rate for constantly swapping them has been reduced (RIP to my OG Z warrior team that eked out wins by constantly tagging in and out).
The surprise update has so far been met with near-universal praise on the the subreddit where just days prior the community was apoplectic about the state of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero and its future prospects for keeping fans engaged. Things reached an especially low point recently after an official tournament organized by Bandai Namco revealed just how busted the game was in a competitive setting, with top players getting into vertical flying standoffs and cheesing other exploits. The results were incredibly faithful to the franchise, but a poor display for a game in 2024 whose main ongoing draw is its ranked mode.
The doom and gloom metastasized in part because Bandai Namco was tightlipped about Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s roadmap, with no real indication of what feedback it was monitoring or when players could expect fixes. After all the radio silence then, this week’s big update caught many fans by surprise. It turns out Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero will continue to get fixes, even if they don’t necessarily come at a clip players might expect from other bigger name fighting games like Street Fighter VI and Tekken 8.
Of course, there’s still more work to be done. Ranked mode remains far from balanced, and players have already spotted some pretty major bugs, like one apparent issue that lets players restore extra health to standby fighters in the last minute of a match. And Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s single-player content remains shallow and disappointing. It seems possible Bandai Namco could continue adding to that part of the game as well, though likely not for free. There’s already a big slate of paid DLC planned.
For now, though, fans can enjoy a new honeymoon phase with latest Dragon Ball game, including as they pick through the update for all of the possible stealth changes that aren’t even mentioned, like maybe making Super Saiyan 3 Goku’s arms a bit bigger.
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