DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO has just launched in early access for those who pre-ordered the Deluxe and Ultimate editions of the fighting game, and one colossal ape has already left players battered, bruised, and clinging desperately to their sanity.
Sparking Zero’s Great Ape Vegeta Has Players Doing the Yamcha Death Pose
Bandai Namco Joins in on the Meme as Players Struggle to Beat the Great Ape
In every game, boss fights are designed to be challenging, testing your skills and providing a satisfying sense of accomplishment. However, Great Ape Vegeta in DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO takes difficulty to a whole new level. As one of the first major boss battles in the game, he's wreaking havoc with his brutal attacks and seemingly impossible-to-counter moves. The situation has escalated to the point where even Bandai Namco is joining in on the memes, adding humor to a battle that's proving to be a near-universal pain point for players.
If you're familiar with Vegeta's transformation into the colossal Great Ape from Dragon Ball Z, you know the devastation he can cause. Sparking Zero amplifies this legendary form, pushing the difficulty to over 9,000! From the outset, Great Ape Vegeta unleashes a barrage of beam attacks, including the infamous Galick Gun, and a devastating grab attack that can decimate your health. The fight feels less like a battle and more like a survival mission, with players often restarting as soon as they see him preparing to unleash a Galick Gun.
To compound the challenge, players encounter Great Ape Vegeta early in Goku’s Episode Battle, presenting a massive hurdle for those new to Dragon Ball fighting games. The fight can start with him unleashing a barrage of super moves, making it an immediate and daunting challenge.
Rather than issuing a hotfix, Bandai Namco decided to have some fun with the outcry. When players began expressing their frustrations en masse, Bandai Namco’s UK Twitter (X) account chimed in with a perfectly timed meme. They tweeted "This monke got hands," accompanied by a GIF of Great Ape Vegeta overwhelming Goku with a barrage of energy attacks.
It's worth noting that Great Ape Vegeta has historically been a challenging opponent in the Dragon Ball fighting game series. Some players recall their traumatic encounters with the infamous Great Ape Vegeta in the original Budokai Tenkaichi, which was a literal survival mission.
Great Ape Vegeta isn't the only challenge players face in Sparking Zero. Even on Normal difficulty, CPU opponents can unleash devastating combos that are difficult to counter. This is especially true on Super difficulty, where the AI seems to have an unfair advantage, consistently landing long strings of attacks that leave players struggling to react. Faced with such challenges, many players are forced to swallow their pride and lower the difficulty to Easy.
Despite the struggles with Great Ape Vegeta's "monke hands," the latest Dragon Ball game, which captures the spirit of the Budokai Tenkaichi series, has taken Steam by storm. In just a few hours of early access, the game reached a peak of 91,005 concurrent Steam players, making it one of the biggest fighting games ever to hit the platform—and it's not even fully released yet. DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO has even surpassed genre titans like Street Fighter, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat.
This success isn't entirely surprising. Although not officially labeled as such, DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO marks the long-awaited revival of the Budokai Tenkaichi subseries, and fans have been eagerly anticipating its release for years. Game8 awarded the game a score of 92, stating that "With a massive amount of playable characters, stunning visuals, and several scenarios to explore and complete, this is the best Dragon Ball game we’ve had in ages, and nothing comes close." For more on our thoughts on DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO, check out our article below!
