Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Shows Why One Feature Can’t Be Abandoned

The newest Dragon Ball game on the block is Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, and it is already dominating the sales charts. With over three million under its belt within 24 hours, and a significant portion of those sales being pre-orders of Deluxe and Ultimate Editions as evidenced by its Steam numbers during their 3-day early access period, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero has taken Dragon Ball’s global community by storm. Despite being over ten years removed from the last game in the Budokai Tenkaichi series, called Sparking in Japan, Sparking Zero is poised to inherit its reputation as the Dragon Ball game to beat.

Much of this influence is due to Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero providing a complete package targeted at Dragon Ball fans. From Episode Battle’s constant opportunities to break from Dragon Ball canon to a fan scenario creator in Custom Battle, Sparking Zero has it all. Wishes on Dragon Ball’s Eternal Dragons and a color commentary feature in the Encyclopedia are present to keep Dragon Ball‘s charm intact, and there’s even a fairly well-made online suite. With all of this attention to detail, it’s surprising to hear that Sparking Zero almost skipped out on a local splitscreen versus mode, but its presence in the final game speaks volumes about its importance.

Why Splitscreen Matters In Dragon Ball Games

Famously, the PS2 Dragon Ball Z fighting games were rallying points for visiting friends. Dragon Ball had a strong grip on youth around the world in the mid 2000s, and it was still typical for most console games to lack online play, necessitating local versus modes. Dimps’ Budokai trilogy and Arika’s Super Dragon Ball Z were couched in traditional fighting games and thus had a side-view camera allowing both players to see the action, but Spike’s Budokai Tenkaichi went for high-mobility DBZ fighting in large, complicated environments instead. Therefore, Budokai Tenkaichi had to adopt split screens for its over-the-shoulder third-person multiplayer.

Sparking Zero’s Splitscreen Versus Ran Into Some Trouble

Since Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero was following in its predecessors’ footsteps, it retained the same game design and need for a third-person battle camera. However, for some reason, Bandai Namco and Spike Chunsoft were rumored to have moved Sparking Zero’s whole multiplayer mode online. The game’s release suggests this might have been true, and the confirmation of a limited local multiplayer mode only came after said rumors caused a fan outcry. Despite being sealed in Dragon Ball Z’s Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Sparking Zero’s splitscreen multiplayer is there, and sets a strong precedent for future games.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Accidentally Proved Splitscreen Is Here To Stay

Even in a hastily thrown together state, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s local multiplayer is still preferable to none at all. PC modders enabled every stage in splitscreen versus within a couple of days of the game’s full launch, and the presence of a splitscreen option in Training mode suggests that DLC improvements to Sparking Zero‘s modes are possible down the line. Regardless, one of the largest and most enduring anime fandoms has put its foot down and proven that local splitscreen is still a valuable feature, and games with multiplayer components going forward should take notice.

Online Multiplayer May Be Vital Now, But Local Will Never Lose Its Audience

The relevance of splitscreen, and local multiplayer as a whole, has been doubted in recent years due to the prevalence of massive online multiplayer titles like Fortnite, Call of Duty, Roblox, and more. Concerns about COVID-19 spelling the feature’s death were even valid for a time. However, local multiplayer hasn’t gone anywhere, and may be on the rise, with Fortnite and Lego Fortnite recently updating to support splitscreen. With splitscreen’s absence still eliciting fan outcry and mods for games like the PC Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite, it seems like Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero won’t be alone in keeping this gaming tradition alive.