DRAGON BALL: SPARKING! ZERO: THE FLOOR IS A CRATER
8.0 of 10 bananas. The Budokai Tenkaichi dream returns with a huge roster and planet-cracking spectacle, but thin tutorials and spiky AI make the first hours rough.
By the Alpha. PS5 game listing. Updated Oct 19 2026.
Honest note: This is not a fresh hands-on playtest. I built this verdict from launch reviews, critic consensus, update history, and what is known about the game today. If I put real hours in on stream, I will update the score and say so.
Platforms: The Amazon button is the PS5 Standard Edition disc (Spike Chunsoft and Bandai Namco, released October 11 2024). It is also on Xbox Series X|S and PC through Steam; this page sells the PS5 disc only. At my Oct 19 check the offer was 36.95 dollars from a third-party seller that also ships it, not Amazon, so check the seller and delivery date before you pay. Online play needs PlayStation Plus.
Get DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO for PS5 on AmazonSit with me a moment. Every young gorilla has screamed at a television while two people in orange and blue punched each other through a mountain. Sparking! ZERO is that scream turned into a game, seventeen years after the last Budokai Tenkaichi.
What It Wants To Be
Sparking! ZERO is a 3D arena fighter. Two fighters fly around big destructible maps, rush each other, teleport behind each other, and charge ki for beam struggles and super attacks. The roster launched with 182 characters, counting forms, from Dragon Ball through Super. Episode Battles retell story arcs for key characters with branching what-if routes. Custom Battle lets players build and share their own scenarios, and there is ranked and casual online play.
What Works
The spectacle is unmatched. Beams carve the ground, fighters smash through rock faces, and finishing moves recreate famous anime shots. The roster is enormous and each character feels like the show. The controls are simple enough that a casual fan can fly around and fire beams within minutes. The what-if routes in Episode Battles are the best fan service in the mode. Critics landed it around the low eighties on aggregate, and it sold millions quickly.
What Breaks
Listen well. The tutorial explains moves but not how to actually fight, so new players hit a wall online fast. AI difficulty spikes hard in some story fights. Episode Battles skip parts of the story with still images. At launch, local split-screen was limited to a small set of maps, which stung for couch players. With a roster this large, balance is loose, and some characters are clearly stronger online.
Who Should Play
Play it if you love Dragon Ball or the old Tenkaichi games, or want a flashy couch fighter for fans. Skip it if you want a deep, balanced competitive fighter. Street Fighter 6 or Tekken 8 suit that better.
STRENGTHS
- Unmatched anime spectacle
- Huge roster that feels like the show
- Fun what-if story routes
- Easy to pick up and fly
HONEST COSTS
- Tutorial does not teach real fighting
- Spiky AI in story mode
- Loose balance online
- Third-party seller at my check
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