Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero was recently released with a starting roster of 182 characters. Thanks to the developers’ hard work, the game was able to surpass three million sales worldwide in just 24 hours.
Within this roster of 182 characters, Gohan appears several times. Considering the lore of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super, Gohan can be a frustrating character for fans as he continuously has to repeat the same character development throughout the story. Rather than keeping up with his training to defend Earth from potential threats, Gohan instead focuses on being a scholar.
Like many other Dragon Ball games before it, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero allows players to explore a number of “What If” scenarios. One of these non-canon interactions unfolds into a particularly unique situation when Gohan is actually able to unlock his “Potential Unleashed” state when Frieza returns with his new “Golden Frieza” form.
Needless to say, Golden Frieza is defeated by Gohan without any aid from Goku and Vegeta, which pretty much results in the skipping of the debut of the new Super Saiyan Blue form. Regardless, Gohan concludes that it’s necessary for him to keep up with his training after this event.
As a result, Gohan ends up being the one to fight against Hit during the tournament against Universe 6. Though this battle actually happens off screen for the audience, it was apparently so intense that all the gods of the universes become aware of it.
One of the gods that learns of this event is Zamasu. Due to this, the “Future Trunks” saga of Dragon Ball Super plays out a little differently, and technically even introduces a completely new antagonist.
Inevitably, this results in Goku Black being replaced by “Gohan Black.” Indeed, the Zamasu from another timeline opts to take control of Gohan’s body rather than Goku’s in this “What If” scenario.
What’s interesting about this situation is that Gohan is actually seen wearing the clothes that Goku Black is known for. However, since Gohan isn’t able to utilize god ki in the same way as Goku and Vegeta in their Super Saiyan Blue forms, Gohan Black instead resorts to his own “Potential Unleashed” status.
Though Gohan Black’s hair color stays black (just like Gohan’s), he still ends up emitting a pinkish aura that is functionally identical to Goku Black’s Super Saiyan Rosé transformation. Indeed, the developers have seemingly went all out with this scenario.
In the end, Gohan Black and Zamasu still end up fusing to become Fused Zamsu. However, the way that Fused Zamasu is defeated is completely different to how it happened in canon.
Gohan and Trunks are actually able to properly utilize the Evil Containment Wave against Fused Zamasu. Unlike in canon, Gohan is able to make a difference here and ultimately save Trunks’ timeline.
Check it all out below: