The Dragon Ball franchise has a massive amount of characters from its now 40 years of publication and production, which makes it perfect to go crazy when building up a wild fighting game roster.
After finally revealing the official release date for Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Bandai Namco also unveiled the Season Pass and special editions for the highly anticipated return to Budokai Tenkaichi action.
The new information shows that the Sparking Zero Season Pass is set to contain 20+ playable characters split up between three packs plus the ability to summon Shenron and early access to the new DLC.
Its graphics specifically show Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and the upcoming Dragon Ball Daima for the new fighters, so most if not all of the additions will likely come from those.
Considering the pre-order bonus in general for the game has 6 “playable characters” for early unlock being three different forms each for Gogeta and Broly, we’ll probably see multiple representatives split into transformations in the pass.
Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 are shown though we can expect to see the likes of Gohan from the movie in at least his base and Beast forms along with Piccolo maybe in his Red Ribbon disguise and then his big new Orange transformation.
They haven’t said yet what the price of the Season Pass is going to be, but since the Deluxe Edition containing it and the game come packaged together for $100 USD, it’ll likely be around $30–40 if purchased standalone.
On top of that, there’s the Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero Ultimate Edition that includes everything from Deluxe plus a Goku (Super) costume with his Power Pole, an emote voice set, 2 player card backgrounds, 1 more customization item, and the ability to summon Super Shenron for $110.
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Finally, Bamco is releasing the Sparking Zero Premium Collector’s Edition containing an exclusive Super Broly vs. Ultra Instinct Goku diorama, 4 exclusive cards for the Dragon Ball Card Game, a steel book case, metallic bookmark and everything in the Ultimate Edition for a whopping $230.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is already set to launch with a staggering 164 characters (including the transformations), which surpasses even Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3’s ridiculous roster.
If the new game proves to be successful, we can probably expect more Season Passes and support beyond these first three sets if other recent Dragon Ball games are any indication.
In other recent developments, Dragon Ball FighterZ is set to receive another balance update this year along with a new World Tour circuit.
Dragon Ball Super manga artist Toyotarou also illustrated one of the late Akira Toriyama’s fighting game characters from Tobal No. 1.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is set to release on October 11, 2024 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and those who pre-order the Deluxe or higher editions of the game can get to play the game three days early too.
More information can be found on the official Bandai Namco store page.