The Next Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi Game Gets A New Name And A Trailer

DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO Goku

Back in October, fans spotted what they thought could be the next Dragon Ball Z game’s title, and now, at The Game Awards 2023, we know that the fans were right. The next Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi game will officially be called Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero.

A little bit of background — Bandai Namco announced a new Budokai Tenkaichi game earlier this year, with the 3D arena fighter series set to make a return after years of inactivity. A trademark for Sparking! Zero was filed by Bandai Namco in September, which made fans think the series was changing its name to more align with the Japanese name for the series.

Previous games in the series, while called Budokai Tenkaichi in the West, have been called Dragon Ball Z: Sparking!, Sparking! Neo, and Sparking! Meteor, respectively, so Sparking! Zero makes sense. Bandai Namco does name drop Budokai Tenkaichi in the trailer, though, just to make it clear that this is still the same thing.

Speaking of that trailer, Sparking! Zero sure does look like a Budokai Tenkaichi game. There’s the fast-paced 3D arena fighter gameplay you know and love, a bunch of characters as you’d expect, and of course, new forms for Goku and the gang, including Super Saiyan Blue, Ultra Instinct, and more.

It does look great at least, with some very stylish animation and an art direction that, while not quite as convincing as Dragon Ball FighterZ’s anime-aping style, gets most of the way there. It’s being developed by Bandai Namco and Spike Chunsoft, the latter of which has worked on a number of similar anime fighting games, like Jump Force and the One Punch Man game.

No firm release date was given for Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, but we do know that it will be launching on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC via Steam.