Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta vs. Base Cabba in Dragon Ball Sparking: Zero Explained

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero has had the benefit of inheriting an extremely passionate fanbase. Considering Dragon Ball‘s status as a Shōnen battle manga, it’s almost impossible to avoid discussions about power scaling. Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero features characters from all over the series’ history, and this fact alone has brought fan arguments to the next level.

Many of these arguments are all in good fun, and the latest bout is certainly no different. There is currently an ongoing discussion among Dragon Ball fans debating the power of Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta and Base Cabba. This is a meme brought on by the sheer absurdity of escalation in Dragon Ball, but the reality of this match-up can get very interesting.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Fans Spark Hilarious Debate Over an Unlikely Rivalry

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Features Playable Anime Power Scaling

Power levels were introduced in Dragon Ball Z, and have sparked fierce debate among fans ever since. Although power levels themselves have hardly remained relevant in canon, the actual scale of battle in the series has only grown over time. Proving who is the strongest has always been at the heart of Dragon Ball, so it’s no wonder that this debate would spark up sooner or later.

Thanks to the severe power gap between certain characters in canon, one would assume that Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero would have a difficult time balancing characters in-game. Ironically, developers approached this problem by seemingly embracing it. Rather than attempting to balance so many wildly different combatants, playable characters are designed to reflect the power level and fighting prowess they showcased in the anime itself.

The lead developer has gone as far as to say that players win with relatively weak fighters, especially if they’re matched up against much more powerful opponents. This is a fine enough solution, although it raises an important question concerning why can’t fans stop talking about a match-up between one of the strongest characters in Dragon Ball, and one of the most impressively unremarkable.

Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta and Cabba Are At Opposite Ends of Dragon Ball

Gogeta’s first-ever appearance was in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, a tie-in movie where he faced off against Janemba. Gogeta appeared again in Dragon Ball GT, which is also where Super Saiyan 4 debuted. Super Saiyan 4 is largely considered non-canon, as are most movie characters. In fact, Gogeta is a rare exception thanks to his appearance in Dragon Ball Super: Broly. As a fusion of Goku and Vegeta, the rival protagonists of Dragon Ball, Gogeta often represents the very ceiling of power.

By contrast, few characters leave less of an impression than Cabba. Cabba was during an early arc in Dragon Ball Super and became relevant once more during the widely acclaimed Tournament of Power. Cabba is from an alternate universe and exists as somewhat of an alternate take on Vegeta. Despite this comparison, Cabba is most definitely a background character, and even his most redeeming qualities rarely outshine any of the other fighters from Universe 6.

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero’s Most Unbalanced Battle Has a Surprising Winner

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Provides a Definitive Answer to an Unlikely Match-Up

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero includes GT and movie characters, despite their non-canon status. Considering its status as the most recent major entry in the series, it’s no wonder that Dragon Ball Super receives a certain level of emphasis as well. Thanks to the ridiculous escalation of power that is inherent to Dragon Ball, these two segments of the series invite plenty of hilarious comparisons.

There are two ways to settle an argument about which character would win in a fight. The first relies on lore, using only objective feats a character has accomplished, and factual statements other characters have made about them. The second method relies on narrative, meaning what the author reasonably wants their audience to assume about a character’s strength.

The Real Winner of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s Most Unbalanced Battle

Transformations in Dragon Ball are multipliers of a fighter’s base power, not benchmarks in their own right. Fusion works on a similar principle, simply combining the power of both fighters involved. For example, Goku is commonly understood to be significantly stronger than Goten or Trunks. Even if the two fused into Gotenks, and even if they transformed into Super Saiyan 3, Goku would still wipe the floor with them. The facts of both transformations and Fusions can be used to reveal the true winner of this battle.

Shortly after his introduction, Vegeta tells Cabba that the two of them are roughly equal in power while in their base forms. Although Vegeta can easily wipe the floor with Cabba thanks to his transformations, this simple comparison is impressive to the point of absurdity. At the time, Vegeta was understood to be roughly as powerful as Goku was when he first unleashed Super Saiyan God. Likewise, the gap between Super Saiyan 3 and Super Saiyan God is shown to be much greater than the transition from 3 to 4.

When it comes to power scaling, Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball GT are on completely different levels. The discrepancies between the two series, along with Vegeta’s statement, create a solid argument that Cabba far exceeds the power of SSJ4 Gogeta. However, the narrative presentation pretty obviously forces the fight in the opposite direction. When Gogeta was canonized in Dragon Ball Super, it was immediately obvious that he is an order of magnitude stronger than his GT counterpart, let alone Cabba.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero appears to agree with this narrative, contrary to the admittedly hilarious counterargument. Sparking Zero‘s hierarchy of power is meant to reflect canonical power levels, and this seems to further clarify where the game stands in this debate. Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta is one of the strongest characters in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, but the same can’t exactly be said for Base Cabba. While Cabba’s dedicated fans may have lost out this time, they’ll surely stay strong in the fight against Dragon Ball’s top tiers.