canon-breaking alternate universe scenarios, it's the most expansive Dragon Ball video game adaptation in recent memory.
But Sparking! Zero innovates even in unexpected ways. It includes a feature both new to the Budokai Tenkaichi series, and somewhat new to the fighting game genre as a whole. Although it's completely missable and totally optional, this new feature represents a leap forward for accessibility (in every sense of the word), bringing the game to a whole new audience.
Battle Assist Is A Game Changer In Sparking! Zero
A Great New Feature
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero's greatest new feature is Battle Assist, a menu setting that simplifies various combat mechanics. This may have multiple applications - first and foremost, it's excellent for new players just learning the ropes, as they won't have to spend hours poring over long combo lists and complicated mechanical intersections. With Battle Assist on, they can ease themselves into the basics of the game, then slowly take the training wheels off one by one. This way, they'll gradually get accustomed to each and every one of Sparking! Zero's combat mechanics, eventually becoming experienced, competitive players.
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In addition, Battle Assist is an invaluable setting for players with disabilities. Fighting game combos can be trying for certain players, including (but not limited to) those who have issues with fine motor skills, or those with limb differences that make it difficult to grip controllers or reach full sets of buttons. Battle Assist mode makes Sparking! Zero much more accessible, allowing a larger audience of players to enjoy interactive adventures in the Dragon Ball world.
How Battle Assist Works In Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
What Every Battle Assist Setting Does
There are seven separate Battle Assist settings in Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, and each has a specific effect on a particular feature of the game's combat. These can be adjusted at will from the Accessibility menu. There are a handful of default profiles for Battle Assist, but the player can also create a custom suite of settings by adjusting the following options:
- Combo Assist
- Follow-Up Attack Assist
- Dragon Dash Assist
- Dragon Dash Attack Assist
- Guard Assist
- Recovery Assist
- Revenge Counter Assist
Again, each of these affects a particular combat mechanic implicit in its name, but it may be difficult for brand-new players to understand exactly what each one does. And each Combat Assist setting simplifies the associated mechanic in a different way. For example, Combo Assist replaces certain button inputs, mixing the attacks bound to square and triangle/X and Y. This allows the player to pull off complex combos by simply pressing a single button repeatedly. Follow-Up Attack Assist will automatically cause a player to do a dash or teleport attack after launching an opponent.
Dragon Dash Assist, meanwhile, automatically activates the Dragon Dash ability (used for closing distances or flanking opponents) after the player holds the stick in the same direction for roughly five seconds. Dragon Dash Attack Assist will automatically perform the associated attack move when the player dashes close enough to an enemy.
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The final three settings each automate timing-based moves. Guard Assist automatically puts up the player's guard when an attack comes in from the front, Recovery Assist automatically performs air and ground recoveries when the player's character is knocked backwards, and Revenge Counter Assist automatically performs a counter-attack when the player is targeted by a rush combo.
What's most important about these features, though, is that none of them take precedence over manual inputs. If the player does perform a string of attacks with the full combo, even with Battle Assist on, they'll execute it perfectly. If they decide to use a dash or teleport follow-up instead of waiting for the Assist setting to kick in, they'll pull off the move they selected instead of the game's automated pick. This is a testament to Battle Assist's greatest strength, and the genius of its implementation in Sparking! Zero: its flexibility.
Every Fighting Game Needs A Battle Assist Option
And More Fighting Games Are Using Them
Something similar to Sparking! Zero's Battle Assist should be included in all fighting games. In recent years, it has become more common; Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 both have features that simplify combos and other common battle mechanics. Again, this is excellent for new players, who can use settings like Sparking! Zero's Battle Assist to learn each of a game's mechanics one by one, instead of jumping into a full-blown brawl and having to master every system at the same time. That's invaluable in a game that's already been slammed for its brutal difficulty.
Settings like these are excellent for players with disabilities too, especially when they're as customizable as Sparking! Zero's. Accessibility is never one-size-fits-all. Not only do different people have different access needs - sometimes, the same person might have different access needs one day than they did the last. Allowing players to adjust multiple Battle Assist features, finding the best combination that works for them at any given time, and even changing that combination later if need be, is exactly the kind of flexibility more games need to introduce in their access features.
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Common criticisms of settings like these claim that they make games too easy, but greater flexibility dispels them. Players who want them are free to use them, just as players who don't want them are free to turn them off. Plus, while Battle Assist definitely makes a beginner better at a game like Sparking Zero, it won't exactly beat the game for them single-handed. They'll have to develop their skills and improve their strategies over time, just the same as if they had played with Battle Assist turned off.
Either way, though, it can only be resolved that Battle Assist functions do more good than harm. They help new players get interested in long-running series with complicated combat mechanics, and are indispensable to accessibility. It's nice to see Battle Assist in Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, but it'd be even better to see something like it become an industry standard.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
-
- Top Critic Avg: 82/100 Critics Rec: 85%
- Released
- October 11, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Spike Chunsoft
- Publisher(s)
- Namco Bandai
- Engine
- proprietary engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Dragon Ball
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- How Long To Beat
- 8 Hours
- How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)
- 80 Hours
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
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