As someone who grew up with the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai trilogy and only dabbled in the later Budokai Tenkaichi games, I have to admit that I was bitter when I first heard about Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. In my mind, the inferior trilogy of PS2 games was brought back, and all I could do was sit and watch. And watch as I did when Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero flew straight to the top of the Dragon Ball game’s totem pole with a flying nimbus.

While Dragon Ball games were mostly 2D fighters up to the Budokai, Tenkaichi (also called Sparking in Japan) was the first game to truly depict the fights like the anime series, turning the arena into an open zone and not in a typical side view of a fighting game. This meant there was a whole new level to combat as you flew around and dealt with altitude, full 3D movement, positioning and lots of slashing through mountains