Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s Goku Black Episode is the Odd…

In Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s early days, players are still hard at work combing through the game's various modes. Being the named successor to the famous Budokai Tenkaichi series back on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero needed to make sure it was the complete package, and it seems to have succeeded. Custom Battle alone would be a novel feature with a lot of value for more creative Dragon Ball fans, but Sparking Zero’s online offering has also proven to be surprisingly flushed out and capable of hosting competitive gameplay.

Many other modes are on the table, like the customary Dragon Ball Tournaments, which are more diverse than ever, or the Gallery mode, which comes with an Encyclopedia more stuffed with commentary than its equivalent in Budokai Tenkaichi 3. However, the first mode that will draw most players' eyes is Episode Battle, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero's resident story mode. Starting with Goku, players can unlock up to eight different character episodes focusing on the battles and potential new decisions made by pivotal Dragon Ball characters. On the whole, it's an impressive feature, but one episode feels like it's dragging the rest down.

Goku Black’s Unusual Sparking Zero Story Explained

Five of the eight episodes focus on the most important members of the Z Fighters, those being Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, and Future Trunks. The remaining three are given to Frieza, Goku Black, and Jiren, and already an issue is coming into focus. While most of these protagonists participate in Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super Sagas, Goku Black and Jiren only exist in one Super Saga each. Being those Sagas’ respective untouchable antagonists, they also only participate in a few fights, and Goku Black has it even worse than Jiren in that regard.

Even Jiren’s Episode Outdoes Goku Black’s

While Jiren has diverse challengers throughout the Tournament of Power, and a Sparking Episode that grants him even more, Goku Black doesn't share the same luxury. Goku Black only fights four or five battles on the way to his endings, and a couple of endings are shared between different paths thanks to overlapping circumstances. Jiren may have two roads to two straightforward endings, but at least his Sparking Episode route produces a rare reference to the Dragon Ball Super manga, and its corresponding ending gives him some character development. The Goku Black episode barely does anything to justify its existence.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Could Have Done Much Better Than Goku Black’s Story

After slogging through some of Sparking Zero’s hardest late-game content for such paltry rewards, it's reasonable to question why Goku Black's episode is even in the game. One of the coolest things Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero does with Goku Black as a concept is in a Gohan Sparking Episode instead, and Goku Black’s story arc is largely disconnected from the Tournament of Power that everyone else, even Future Trunks in another Sparking Episode, participates in. For as much of a disservice as it would be to one of Dragon Ball Super’s standout villains, Sparking Zero probably should have switched Goku Black's episode with something else.

Which Characters Could Have Had Better Episodes Than Goku Black

Past Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi titles provide some candidates, like Raditz and Zarbon, and Krillin has enough fights to fill an episode, but the best choice is Majin Buu. Although Buu is sidelined for most of Dragon Ball Super, a Sparking Episode could easily see him make it to the Tournament of Power instead of Frieza, and that's just the start. Evil Buu getting more screen time, Super Buu revisiting some of his “what if” absorptions from Budokai 2, and even Uub beginning a surprise Dragon Ball GT arc could have formed one of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s best character episodes, and should take priority over another Goku Black chapter if Episode Battle’s format returns.