Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero: “What if?” scenarios finally return and fans are loving it

The return of “What if?” scenarios in Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero has had fans screaming in excitement louder than a Saiyan powering up.

Summer Game Fest dumped a wealth of information for Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero, including new gameplay and a release date of October 11. However, fans’ primary excitement concerns a returning game mode from previous titles.

Dragon Ball games have often found themselves in a rut plot-wise, retelling the same stories from Dragon Ball Z to exhaustion. The classic “What If?” feature returning to shake up the story is, to put it mildly, an easy win for Bandai Namco.

“What If?” scenarios were once a staple of Dragon Ball games, mainly in the Budokai Tenkaichi games, where you would play as one of the villains, telling a new short story from their perspective.

These non-canon scenarios often result in hilarious consequences, such as when Cell has a nightmare where he absorbs Krillin instead of the androids or when Frieza gets his wish on Namek with game show graphics flashing behind him, wearing an enormous grin.

The feature has won previously unconvinced fans over, “Father. Son. Final. Flash. If I wasn’t sold already, I am now.” This refers to the famous “Father-Son Kamehameha” that finished off Perfect Cell.

However, one fan highlighted that more characters need to be added to maximize potential. “We need GT characters, and the ‘super’ or ascended forms as well… Need what if characters… Anyway, this will be an ELITE game. We are back.”

Bandai Namco

Another fan worried for Vegeta’s sanity after one of the scenarios. “That Super Saiyan against Scouter Vegeta / Oozaru. That is surely going to shatter more pride than any DBZ episodes.”

Dragon Ball games have fallen into two categories. They either follow an original story, as was the case for DBZ: FighterZ, or stay accurate to the source material à la DBZ: Kakarot.

Confirmed “What If” scenarios from the trailer include Goku taking on Radtiz alone, Goku turning Super Sayian during his battle with Vegeta on Earth, and Vegeta and Trunks teaming up to take on Perfect Cell. Expect more as the fighting roster expands alongside more details of game modes.