Sparking Zero Almost Made Me Go Super Saiyan Story Mode

Key conclusions

• Budokai Tenkaichi games have always been known for offering challenging challenges, but Sparking Zero is on another level.
• I probably don't need to tell you that Vegeta is a huge pain for apes, but that only makes things worse.
• Thanks to Goku Black, Jiren, and Merged Zamas for raising my blood pressure this past week.

How you turn a Super Saiyan has changed over the years (shoutout to Kaba the Ant), but it first happened in Dragon Ball Z due to Goku's intense and extreme rage at losing one of his best friends to Frieza's hands. We see once again how important anger is to transformation in the Cell Saga when Gohan goes further and reaches Super Saiyan 2 after indulging in true anger after the death of Android 16.

I've never experienced loss on the same level as Goku, Gohan, and the rest of the Super Saiyans in Dragon Ball, but for the past week I've felt like I could snap and go Super Saiyan at any moment. You may ask why? Because Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero's story mode is surprisingly brutal and painfully reminiscent of Budokai Tenkaichi 2's hardest chapters.

When I first downloaded Sparking Zero, I was pretty sure it wouldn't give me any problems. Not just because I'm a Budokai Tenkaichi and Raging Blast veteran (I know it's cool), but because I've used it at a few events and had about four hours to get used to operating it. That cockiness disappeared the moment I went into Goku's story mode.

“I'll break you!”

Facing Raditz as Goku without the Kaioken was a harsh lesson that Sparking Zero took canon power levels very seriously as he had no problem wiping the floor with me. It was a tough pill to swallow, but since it was canon to the story, I was allowed to move on to the battle against Vegeta.

The Prince of All Saiyans was easy enough to take down in a Saiyan-on-Saiyan match, but things quickly turned furious when he cheated and transformed into his Great Ape form. Giant characters are a returning feature from Budokai Tenkaichi 3, and they're just as broken and annoying to fight in Sparking Zero because they're impervious to most normal attacks, deal a ton of damage, and are somehow just as fast as regular ones fighters

Giant enemies are by far the worst part of Sparking Zero's list, even though they're pretty cool to include. When I see someone using them online, it's an instant exit for me.

This resulted in the big ape beating the ever-loving snot out of me multiple times in a row and forcing me to listen to the same monologue about Grandpa Gohan on loop. Since Goku doesn't technically win this fight against Vegeta in the manga and anime, I figured Sparking Zero would throw me a bone and let me lose, but this is one of the few fights you have to go through.

What followed was 30 minutes of muffled cursing and sweaty palms as I tried to have an honest fight with Vegeta before throwing in the towel and shamefully going for good old Kamehameha spam. In the end I won the battle, but I'm not sure it's a victory Goku would be proud of.

I can't wait to see Goku Black's back

Those first few encounters were enough to tell that Sparking Zero wasn't messing around with its story mode, but things got a lot easier once I tried out some of the other modes and got to grips with the mechanics. With my new mastery of disappearing and countering under my belt, I immediately went back and went through almost all of Goku's story mode again with much less trouble.

That was until I came face to face with Goku Black and Zamasu. While most normal battles give characters three or four health bars, Episode Battle goes classic Budokai Tenkaichi by doubling that number, making the fights much longer. Coupled with the fact that their AI was obviously on the hardest difficulty level and didn't care about letting you breathe, this led to a truly excruciating period when a couple of me kicked Super Saiyan Blue all over town.

It gets even worse when Fused Zamasu rears its ugly head as it has some attacks that can clear multiple health bars at once.

After feeling my hair stand on end like I was going Super Saiyan myself, I eventually cleared the section and ended up in the Tournament of Power. This saga has never been seen before in a BT game, but it features some of the strongest enemies Goku has ever fought, including Jiren and Kale. The fight against Jiren might be one of the hardest moments I've had in a game in a very long time, reminiscent of some of the hardest moments in BT2 and 3, and one that gets even worse when you do it backwards like Jiren himself.

Future Trunks (Won't) Be The Death Of Me

Goku's Episode Battle is the longest in the game and full of tough fights, but it wasn't the one that gave me the most trouble. That honor goes to Goku Black's story mode, where you play as him and Zamasu against Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta, and eventually even Vegeta Blue. It was pure hell because they are some of the most powerful characters in the game with the most health.

That's bad enough, but the worst comes in the final fight against Vegeta Blue and Trunks. These two are tough, never mind that in order to win the fight you need to take Trunks' Spirit Sword Slash, which means waiting for him to use his ultimate and somehow keeping your health stable enough after you just took Vegito Blue.

As of this writing, I still haven't completed this fight because the requirements are very specific and annoying, and it all comes down to Trunks' AI. Spoiler alert: He doesn't like to do his finishing move and will take you out before he goes Sparking, no matter how much you run and hide.

You can get an alternate ending for defeating Trunks and Vegito Blue, which is surprisingly easier than letting them finish you off in that specific way.

All of this might seem like a point against Sparking Zero, but like Goku himself, I love a challenging fight. Sparking Zero has some mechanics to help you with this, like Dragon Orbs to make secondary targets easier to clear, but mostly it doesn't hold your hand and expect you to learn it inside and out.

As much as I respect the work and love how classic Sparking Zero can feel at times, it doesn't make up for the irreparable damage that Great Ape Vegeta, Jiren, and Goku Black did to my blood pressure. I don't even have golden glowing locks to show for it.