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DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO separates three different ways to play: Battle Mode for direct fights, Episode Battle for character-led story campaigns, and Custom Battle for prepared scenarios or battles you create. Choose Battle for a match, Episode for a story route, and Custom when you want to build or share a scenario of your own.
How the three modes differ
The names can sound similar, but the modes serve different purposes. Battle Mode is the straightforward option for arranging a fight. Episode Battle gives you a single-player campaign organized around a character and selected story battles. Custom Battle is a scenario hub: you can play prepared Bonus Battles or use Edit Mode to author a battle with its own cast, scenes, events, rules, and conditions.
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| Mode | Main purpose | Who controls the setup? | Story structure | Sharing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle Mode | Play a direct, player-arranged fight. | You choose the fighters for the match. | No campaign narrative is required. | Sharing is not the mode’s defining feature. |
| Episode Battle | Follow a single-player character campaign. | The campaign supplies its route and battles; choices and objectives can affect some outcomes. | Character-led, with alternate outcomes on certain stages. | Progress belongs to your campaign rather than a user-authored scenario. |
| Custom Battle | Play prepared scenarios or make an original one. | You can configure characters, teams, scenes, events, conditions, and rules. | Scenes and battle events are authored into the scenario. | Created battles can be uploaded for others to play online. |
These are distinctions of purpose, not a claim that every option or online rule is identical across platforms or updates. The official game modes handbook and Bandai Namco Europe’s overview of the battle modes describe the three routes and their intended uses.
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Use Battle Mode when the point is the match itself: choose fighters and take them into a direct fight, rather than advancing a character’s story or constructing a scripted scenario. It is the most direct choice if you already know who you want to play and who you want to face.
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![DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO - Standard Edition - Xbox Series X|S [Digital Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51a-pIaEDEL._SL160_.jpg)
- Engage in heart-pounding, high-speed 3D battles that stay true to the anime and video game series
- This game contains breathtaking visuals and authentic combat moves like beam clashes, rush attacks, and movements too quick for the eyes to see
- Step into an arena that reacts to your every action including planet-razing ultimate attacks
- Watch the environment respond with stunning realism, and leave a trail of destruction in your wake as you battle to your heart’s content
That simple purpose is useful when deciding between modes. If you want to test a matchup or have a fight without a narrative objective, Battle Mode is the fitting route. If you want a battle to sit inside a character’s story progression, use Episode Battle. If the fight needs authored dialogue, special conditions, or a custom sequence of events, use Custom Battle.
The available official descriptions do not establish one universal button-by-button path, submenu naming, or online ruleset for every platform and current build. Use the labels shown in your own game rather than relying on a navigation sequence that may differ by platform or version.
What to know about local split-screen
Local multiplayer has a dated qualification. In Bandai Namco Europe’s June 13, 2024 gameplay showcase, producer Jun Furutani said: “After careful consideration, we have decided to implement the split-screen multiplayer mode exclusively within the Hyperbolic Time Chamber stage.” The same showcase described character selection as one player at a time. These are statements about the design presented in that 2024 showcase, not an independent verification of every detail in the October 2026 build. Check the current game and platform information if local play is the deciding factor.
Episode Battle: eight character-led story perspectives
Episode Battle is a single-player story mode, but it is not one identical campaign viewed through eight interchangeable characters. Bandai Namco’s official descriptions identify eight perspectives: Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Future Trunks, Goku Black, Frieza, and Jiren. The amount of content, stage count, and set of fights differ by character.
The publisher’s pre-release showcase gives a sense of that variation: Goku’s route runs from the Raditz fight through the Tournament of Power Saga, while Jiren’s episodes are limited to Tournament of Power fights. Treat those examples as the campaign outline presented before release, not as a guarantee that every later update leaves all campaign content unchanged. The handbook lists the eight perspectives; the June 2024 showcase describes the contrasting campaign examples.
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Choices, objectives, and alternate outcomes
Some Episode Battle stages can change direction. A choice or a secondary objective may lead to an alternate outcome, route, or hidden scene. This is conditional rather than universal: not every fight branches, and the official material describes branching on certain stages under particular conditions. If a stage presents an additional objective or decision, it can be worth considering whether you want to pursue the alternate result rather than simply finish the main fight.
A story map visualizes campaign progress and makes it easier to revisit earlier choices. That matters because a route is not just a linear list of fights: when the game records decisions and outcomes, the map helps orient you among completed stages and possible revisits. It is a navigation aid for the story route, not evidence that every stage has a branch.
Difficulty and post-launch changes
Episode Battle has received at least one documented post-launch adjustment. In a notice dated January 20, 2025, Bandai Namco said difficulty could be changed even when using a Dragon Orb. The same notice records other changes to battle systems and Custom Battle content; it does not describe the entire present-day build. See the January 20, 2025 update notice for the specific adjustment.
Custom Battle: play a scenario or build one
Custom Battle has two distinct entry points. Bonus Battles are scenarios prepared by the game, with a matchup, dialogue, and victory conditions. Edit Mode is for making or modifying a scenario. You can start from scratch or copy and edit an existing Bonus Battle, then configure its cast and the way its battle unfolds.
Bandai Namco Europe’s launch-era overview reported over 30 Bonus Battles in 2024. That is a dated launch-era count, not a confirmed total for the current version. Updates can add content, so the live in-game listing is the right place to check what is available now. The count is given in the publisher’s battle-modes overview.
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- Engage in heart-pounding, high-speed 3D battles that stay true to the anime and video game series
- This game contains breathtaking visuals and authentic combat moves like beam clashes, rush attacks, and movements too quick for the eyes to see
- Step into an arena that reacts to your every action including planet-razing ultimate attacks
- Watch the environment respond with stunning realism, and leave a trail of destruction in your wake as you battle to your heart’s content
What you can configure
Edit Mode goes beyond selecting a pair of fighters. The official handbook describes configuring characters, teams, guest characters, and battle details. The modes overview also describes adding pre- and post-battle cutscenes, events during fights, and special rules or conditions. In practice, that means you can shape both the setup and the sequence: who is present, what happens before combat, what triggers during combat, and what scene or result follows.
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The official overview gives examples of how conditional events can work: a player might trigger Sparking! mode after health falls below a threshold, switch in a reserve character after a set amount of time, or trigger a cutscene after defeating an opponent. These are examples of scenario logic, not a list of mandatory mechanics in every custom battle. A carefully chosen trigger can make a fight feel like a story beat; a poorly matched trigger can make the intended sequence difficult to reach, so think through the condition as well as the scene it is meant to produce.
Cutscenes and subtitle text
The publisher’s 2024 overview says creators can use up to five cuts before a battle and up to five after it. It also reports over 5,000 base subtitle texts, some of which allow a noun to be replaced. The overview specifically says voices are not included for those subtitles. These figures describe the announced creation tools, rather than a guarantee that every current update, language, or platform exposes an identical set of options.
For a readable scenario, keep the setup, objective, and ending aligned. A pre-battle scene can establish why the fighters are meeting; the victory condition should make the player’s goal clear; and a post-battle scene can respond to the result. Custom Battle is most useful when these parts work together, rather than when a scenario uses every available scene or trigger.
Sharing creations
Custom battles can be uploaded and played by others online, according to Bandai Namco’s official descriptions. Producer Jun Furutani summarized the purpose in the 2024 showcase: “In this mode, players can create their original scenes, play, and share their creations.” The statement describes the mode’s design intent; it does not establish current online-service availability in every region or on every platform. The showcase is the source for the quote and its attribution.
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How to make a Custom Battle
The official materials explain the creation options, but do not establish one current, platform-independent sequence of menu labels or button presses. The following workflow describes the decisions to make in Edit Mode without assuming a particular controller layout.
- Choose a starting point. In Custom Battle, select Edit Mode. Decide whether to start from scratch or copy and edit a Bonus Battle. Starting from an existing scenario gives you a structure to change; a new scenario lets you define the setup yourself.
- Set the cast and teams. Choose the characters, teams, and any guest characters that belong in the scenario. Make the matchup serve the scenario you want to present.
- Define the battle details and objective. Establish the conditions for winning and any special rules. A custom scene only works if the player understands what must happen in the fight.
- Build the narrative around the match. Add pre-battle and post-battle cuts where they help explain the situation or respond to the result. The official overview describes up to five cuts before and up to five after a battle.
- Add event triggers deliberately. Decide whether a change should happen at a health threshold, after elapsed time, or after a particular opponent is defeated. Connect each trigger to an effect or cutscene that makes sense at that point.
- Review the text and sequence. Use available subtitle text to make the scenario legible, and check that the dialogue, trigger, battle condition, and ending do not contradict each other. The official overview reports over 5,000 base subtitle texts, some with noun replacement; voices are not included for those texts.
- Play-test the scenario, then share if desired. Confirm that the required condition can be reached and that the intended event occurs. When satisfied, use the game’s available sharing option to upload the creation for others to play online.
Because button prompts and menus can vary by platform or be revised in updates, follow the current on-screen controls rather than treating this conceptual sequence as a universal UI walkthrough.
Counts that are easy to confuse
The game’s announced roster size and its story-campaign count refer to different things. Bandai Namco Europe announced 182 playable characters for the base game in 2024; that is a roster figure, not the number of Episode Battle perspectives. The eight Episode Battle characters are the campaign viewpoints described above. The same launch-era information also reported over 30 Bonus Battles, while the overview’s figures for cutscenes and subtitle text describe creation tools rather than fighters or story stages.
These numbers are attached to official 2024 descriptions and should be read with their scope and date, not silently treated as a live count after subsequent updates. The official mode overview is the source for the launch-era roster and Bonus Battle figures; the handbook provides the campaign and mode descriptions.
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- Choose Battle Mode if you want to arrange a direct fight without campaign progression or authored scenario events.
- Choose Episode Battle if you want to follow one of the named characters through that character’s own selection of story fights and scenes.
- Choose Custom Battle if you want to play a prepared Bonus Battle, create a scenario with custom conditions and scenes, or share a battle you authored.
The modes are complementary rather than three versions of the same activity: one centers on the match, one on a character’s story route, and one on scenario design. A player can move between them depending on whether the immediate goal is to fight, progress through a story, or create a particular kind of encounter.
What can be confirmed about updates
Mode descriptions and counts are not all equally current. A January 20, 2025 Bandai Namco notice documents an Episode Battle difficulty adjustment involving Dragon Orbs and additional situations, effects, and text for Custom Battle. Bandai Namco’s official game overview also lists later update notices, including one dated September 2026. The presence of a later notice establishes that the game continued to receive updates; it does not by itself establish what that notice changed. For an exact claim about the latest patch, consult the matching current notice on the official game overview rather than extrapolating from the 2025 notice.
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