Dragon Ball fans are in for a treat this upcoming fall. Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero release date is revealed to be October 11, and the latest fighting game will bring all the iconic characters with their perks and abilities.
However, it seems some licensing legal issues are forbidding Sparking Zero from including certain manga-exclusive concepts, like the recently introduced Ultra Ego transformation for Vegeta. This news has sparked outrage among fans as the legal issues cast a dark shadow over the Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero roster, which feels incomplete to the die-hard fans of the franchise.
Vegeta’s Ultra Ego Explained
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, better known as Budokai Tenkaichi, will feature more than 120 playable characters. The past trailers have revealed many forms of Goku and Vegeta, the two legendary staples of the franchise. However, past iterations of video games were focused on Dragon Ball Z and GT, while the next installment will focus more on the Super manga series.
With that said, in Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta’s Ultra Ego is the newest transformation, revealed in the Granolah Arc. Vegeta’s power increases as he sustains damage, transforming his pain into a relentless offensive battle cry.
This grants Vegeta ultimate destructive power. It can be recognized as his hair turns a deep purple, his eyes become sharper, and his overall physique becomes bulkier. However, it looks like Vegeta won’t be able to display all his destructive power in the upcoming installment which promises to be a visual masterpiece. This is all because of legal ownership.
Failing to Include Ultra Ego is a Missed Opportunity for Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero
The core of the issue is in the ownership of Dragon Ball IP. As everybody knows, Akira Toriyama created the franchise, but Shueisha, the publishing giant behind Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, holds the rights to the manga.
On the other side, separate companies handle anime and video game adaptations. These broken ownership pieces create a rather sticky situation, as including manga-specific elements in games requires additional licensing agreements between entities under the same umbrella. In a recent news post, it seems that Shueisha’s alleged reluctance to sign off on such agreements. This has left fans bewildered and frustrated, with some sarcastically pointing out the absurdity behind the legal case.
According to reports, even if the name of the transformation is changed and it becomes an ability with a color change, Dragon Ball would just sue Dragon Ball, which makes it rather paradoxical.
Fans have already expressed their anger, with one fan saying that Shueisha is playing dumb in this situation.
Another fan has simply said that legislation can at times be quite a drag.
One of the fans continued on the sarcasm by saying that he just loves it when these things happen due to split ownership between entities.
Ultra Ego is the strongest form Vegeta has appeared in and it is still to be seen whether this Vegeta character form will be included in the game. What are your thoughts? Will the issue between the fraction be resolved before the release of the game or will it come with DLCs? Let us know in the comments.
