It only took 17 years, but the successor to Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is finally here, and there seems to be a lot of attention to detail put in by the developers.
Even the opening cinematic to Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is packed full of Easter eggs and references that you didn’t notice not only for the anime but past Dragon Ball games as well.
Theheartofbattle recently put together a quick and fun video showcasing all of the apparent references he could find side-by-side with where we’ve seen them before.
Things immediately kick off with callbacks to the Dragon Ball Super anime opening between Jiren and Goku that also shares the same song along with some similar shots found in the Dragon Ball Z: Raging Blast openings.
These references get even more interesting where it looks like Sparking is mirroring Tenkaichi 2’s opening by replacing the heroes of Goku, Vegeta and Future Trunks with Goku Black, Super Baby 2 and Frieza
Jiren and Super Broly weren’t around back in those days, so we get to see them spotlighted quite a bit and showcasing a very similar clash between Z Broly and Gogeta from Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3’s opening.
Some of them may be a bit of a stretch to call full on references in the comparison, but it is still interesting to see parallels formed between characters and interactions.
So far, reviews for Sparking Zero have been mostly positive as a shiny new take on the Budokai Tenkaichi action though how much that means to you will depend on what you’re looking to get out of the game.
This isn’t the only anime fighter intro we’ve seen lately either, as Bleach Rebirth of Souls revealing their opening, which may sound a bit too much like Linkin Park.
You can check out the comparison video for Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero below.