If you grew up watching Dragon Ball Z in the late 90s and early 2000s, then chances are you have also played the Budokai Tenkaichi games. This series has been dormant for a long time but the time has finally come for a grand return. 

Back in March, Bandai Namco and Toei Animation announced that a new Budokai Tenkaichi game was in the works with a short teaser trailer. Now months later, it seems we are another step closer to release, as Bandai Namco has filed a new trademark for a game called “Sparking! Zero”, as confirmed by Gematsu.

For those out of the loop, in Japan, the Budokai Tenkaichi games released under different names, often starting with Sparking! followed by another word. Previous releases were Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! (Budokai Tenkaichi), Sparking! Neo (Tenkaichi 2) and Sparking! Meteor (Tenkaichi 3).

The name Sparking! Zero suggests a reboot, starting the Budokai Tenkaichi series over from the beginning, but the English name is still unconfirmed, so it could still end up being named Budokai Tenkaichi 4 outside of Japan.

The last Budokai Tenkaichi game released 16 years ago. These games were famous for their massive character rosters, including characters from the original Dragon Ball, as well as Z and GT. Based on the previously released teaser, which showed Goku transforming into his Super Saiyan God form, we can safely assume that characters from Dragon Ball Super will appear in the new Tenkaichi game.

A release date for the next Budokai Tenkaichi game is still unconfirmed but we expect to hear more official details before the end of the year.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: I loved the Budokai Tenkaichi games growing up and am excited to see it return. However, I do worry about the potential for microtransactions. Previous games in the series had huge character rosters but nowadays, additional characters are often sold separately, or as part of a season pass. 

Become a Patron!