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 on players with his brutal attacks and seemingly impossible-to-counter moves. The situation has become so intense that even Bandai Namco is joining in on the meme frenzy, amplifying the frustration that's becoming a near-universal experience for players.
If you're familiar with Vegeta's transformation into the colossal Great Ape from Dragon Ball Z, you know the destruction he's capable of. Sparking Zero amplifies this legendary form, pushing the difficulty beyond what many players expected. From the outset, Great Ape Vegeta unleashes a barrage of beam attacks, including the infamous Galick Gun, and a devastating grab that can decimate your health in seconds. The fight feels less like a battle and more like a survival challenge, with players restarting as soon as they see him preparing to unleash another Galick Gun.
Making matters worse, players encounter Great Ape Vegeta early in Goku’s Episode Battle, presenting a formidable challenge especially for newcomers to Dragon Ball fighting games. The fight can start with him unleashing a series of super moves, leaving players scrambling to survive.
Rather than issuing a quick fix, Bandai Namco decided to have some fun with the outcry. As players expressed their frustrations widely, Bandai Namco’s UK Twitter (X) account chimed in with a timely meme, tweeting "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 always been a challenging opponent in the Dragon Ball fighting game series. Some players recall their traumatic encounters with him in the original Budokai Tenkaichi, which was similarly a survival mission.
Great Ape Vegeta isn't the only challenge in Sparking Zero. Even on Normal difficulty, CPU opponents can unleash devastating combos that are tough to counter. This is particularly 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. Many are forced to swallow their pride and lower the difficulty to Easy to progress.
Despite the difficulties posed by Great Ape Vegeta’s "monke hands," the latest Dragon Ball game, capturing the essence of the Budokai Tenkaichi series, has taken Steam by storm. In just a few hours of early access, it reached a peak of 91,005 concurrent Steam players, making it one of the biggest fighting games ever on the platform—and it's not even fully released yet. DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO has already surpassed genre giants like Street Fighter, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat.
This success isn't surprising. Although not officially labeled as such, DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO is the long-awaited revival of the Budokai Tenkaichi subseries, eagerly anticipated by fans for years. Game8 awarded the game a score of 92, stating, "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!
