Summary
When Bandai Namco’s spiritual successor to theDragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series,Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, officially launches, it will seemingly not have any blood. In other words, if you were hoping to recreatesome of the series' most iconic fightswith painstaking realism, then you just may be out of luck.
As first spotted bySparkingultraon Twitter, who then shared their findings, the content descriptor for Sparking Zero was recently changed. Originally, the content descriptor, which is the information the ESRB uses to justify its age ratings, had listed “Blood” as one of the labels for the game’s “T” rating.
Now,that label has since been removed. Additionally, what was once “Suggestive Themes” has been downgraded to “Minor Suggestive Themes.” And perhaps most importantly, “In-Game Purchases” is now included.
Take a look at the changes:
What Do All These Changes Mean?
Perthe ESRB’s official website, a “Blood” label is given to games that have “Depictions of Blood.” With the content descriptor having been changed, then it appears that blood will not be shown in the final product. The game’s “Violence” label still remains, so battle damage is most likely a given, but any sort of flesh wound appears to be out the window.
It’s somewhat of an unfortunate development. For one, fans have been wanting to see some sort of visible damage that extends beyond torn clothes. Secondly, blood is simply part of the anime’s history. While it isn’t a focal point in the way that a manga or anime likeBerserkutilizes blood orAttack on Titanfor that matter, it still has a presence.
Take, for example,the series' most iconic fight– the battle between a teenage Gohan and Cell with the fate of the universe on the line. By the end of that duel, Gohan is bloodied and battered. It drives home not only how grueling the fight was, but how much was on the line.
With blood gone, the fight will look a lot like how it did inDragon Ball Z: Kakarot, with the wounds being replaced by scratches.
As for “Suggestive Themes”, it appears that the team simply toned down the game’s “provocative references or materials.” It’s unclear to this point what was toned down, but it’s probably not significant.
Finally, the updated content descriptor references “In-Game Purchases,“which the ESRB notes as"in-game offers to purchase digital goods or premiums.” In other words, this could be a sign that a season pass will be part of the game’s long-term future. It wouldn’t be surprising,given that Bandai Namco’s other anime titles also have character passesorstory-based DLC.
What is important to note, though, is that the descriptor does not include the phrase “Includes Random Items.” TheESRB began assigning that descriptor in 2020to denote games that had purchases with randomized elements, e.g. loot boxes. In other words, Sparking Zerowon’t have any such elements.
Sparking Zero continues to make headlineswith its character announcements,SteamDB iconsandrumored release date of October 1. With so much coming out quickly, it would appear that fans aren’t far off from hearing more information.
