Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero's difficulty is "f***ing absurd," fighting game fans say as CPU opponents pull off long combos, and one story mode fight is "some BS"

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It's not just you - Sparking Zero is very tough

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

It's only been a few hours since Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero launched in early access for those who pre-ordered the Deluxe and Ultimate editions of Spike Chunsoft's new fighting game, but players are already being thoroughly destroyed by AI opponents.

Across social media, the immediate reaction to Sparking Zero is clear – beyond its massive roster and fanservice, it's very tough. One player on Twitter has shared a clip of a fight against a 'Super' difficulty Vegeta CPU, who pulls off a sickening string of attacks in a glorious combo, before de-transforming himself part-way through to become less powerful, despite continuing the onslaught immediately after. This disrespectful series of moves was so humbling that the player in question clearly had to pause for a while to absorb what just happened, and I frankly don't blame them.

Similar struggles have been noted in the story mode, with many players hitting a brick wall when coming face to face with Great Ape Vegeta. One player on Reddit summarizes the fight as "some BS," noting: "Literally in the first millisecond, no let me be accurate, the first PIXEL of the battle he's firing a Galick Gun and then just spams it if you actually start winning." 

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They're not alone, and another player thinks the "game is WAY too hard" in general, with a "borderline impossible" story mode. From CPUs dealing "18 quintillion damage with a standard punch" to the player themselves dealing so little damage that they "may as well be standing there with a straw shooting spitballs," they conclude that the experience is "fucking absurd."

While I can certainly imagine that being an intimidating prospect for newcomers, those tough fights might actually be a selling point to veteran fans of the Budokai Tenkaichi games. Either way though, it's still early days for the game – there's no doubt that fighting game enthusiasts will come up with plenty of strategies and approaches to Sparking Zero's battles as time goes on. 

Be sure to take a look at our Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero review to see if it truly has what it takes to be one of the best fighting games of the year.

Catherine Lewis
Catherine Lewis
Deputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.