Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero - Why Are There So Few Great Apes?

Quick Links

• The Great Ape Form
  • Ways To Induce And Prevent Transformation

• The Great Apes Of Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi 3

• Why Are There So Few Great Apes In Sparking Zero?
  • The Lore Reason
  • The Mechanical/Balance Reason

The Saiyans of the Dragon Ball universe look just like any human, but they have one key difference: they have a tail like that of a monkey. Any Saiyan with a tail can, when looking at the moon or any brightly similar shape, transform into a giant ape the size of King Kong.

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This is a widely known fact by fans, and some of these great apes are present in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, but not as many as there were in Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Characters like Bardock or Teen Goku, who used to have this transformation, no longer do, so why is that?

The Great Ape Form

As stated before, any Saiyan with a tail can transform into a Great Ape when looking at the moon, and this was the main method of conquest the Saiyans had: they would arrive somewhere at night, look at the planet’s moon, and start a rampage of hundreds of giant monsters to beat their enemies into submission.

Of course, not all Saiyans can control this form; only the elite are either capable or taught how to maintain their consciousness. They even developed special armor that can stretch to unthinkable levels, so they are still protected and fully clothed when transformed.

Ways To Induce And Prevent Transformation

Since the Saiyans were known for conquering multiple planets, they needed a way to transform without a moon; it limited the time of day they could attack or prevented them from using the strategy altogether on planets without a satellite. For this, they developed the Power Ball.

This is what Vegeta uses during the Saiyan saga, essentially working as a portable tiny moon that he can use to transform. It seems that this is a technique known by all Saiyan elites, but other “lesser” Saiyans can still use someone else’s Power Ball, like what happened with Gohan.

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To prevent or revert the transformation, the Saiyan’s tail needs to be cut. Saiyans don’t seem to lose balance when they lose their tail, but considering that most of them can fly, it might never have been a factor to begin with.

The Great Apes Of Dragon Ball Budokai Tenkaichi 3

Since Sparking Zero is widely considered to be a spiritual successor to Budokai Tenkaichi 3, many of the characters present in one game were expected to make it to the other. Of course, not everyone made it, but we still have many new characters, and old favorites like Super 17 can still potentially make it as DLC.

Several Saiyans were part of that roster, and all the ones with a tail could transform into their Great Ape form. This turned them into powerful giant characters, slow in their movements but immune to most grab and rush attacks.

The characters below are all the ones that can transform into the Great Ape form in Budokai Tenkaichi 3, most of them needing to look at the moon to transform:

Name

Method

Present in Sparking Zero?

Kid Goku

Moon

Yes, as Goku (Teen)

Raditz

Moon

Yes

Nappa

Moon

Yes

Vegeta

Power Ball

Yes

Turles

Power Ball

Yes

King Vegeta

Power Ball

No

Bardock

Moon

Yes

Fasha

Moon

No

Baby Vegeta

Transformation

Yes

Out of the characters present in Sparking Zero, only Vegeta and Baby Vegeta can transform into their Great Ape form. Now, Baby Vegeta is a special case, but the original Vegeta from the Saiyan saga is just a Saiyan like any other, so why can’t the other Saiyans transform in Sparking Zero?

Why Are There So Few Great Apes In Sparking Zero?

We can’t know for sure why most of these iconic monkeys didn't make it into the roster, but there are two likely reasons: They either don’t fit the story of the games, or they required too many special mechanics to make them work.

The Lore Reason

We don’t know the logic behind what transformation makes it and what doesn’t in these games, but the rule of thumb is that if it didn’t appear in the show, then it shouldn’t make it into the game. This is the case, for example, for Gotenks or Goku (GT) being unable to turn into Super Saiyan 2; they have the 1st and 3rd forms, but since they never used the 2nd form, it isn’t in the game.

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The same happens with forms that are barely used, like Goku’s Super Saiyan 3 form in the Super Saga or Vegeta’s base form during GT. They did have these forms during their respective arcs, but since they did little fighting with them, those forms didn’t make it in.

As such, while characters like Bardock or Nappa used to be able to turn into a Great Ape in Budokai Tenkaichi 3, and they have the biology to do it, they never did so in the show. However, the one that stands out using this logic is Goku (Teen), since he transformed several times during the show, but his lack of control of the form makes it strange that he would willingly turn into it.

The Mechanical/Balance Reason

Four out of the five characters that are missing their transformation need the moon to do so, a celestial body that only appears in specific variants of certain stages. This made it so that if you wanted to use these forms, you had to pick them outright or make sure to fight on the right stage.

This already presents a problem with online match balance, since no other type of character has a map requirement, making the Saiyans feel incomplete if chosen at certain stages. On top of that, local matches would be completely locked out of transforming into the form, since they can only fight in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

On top of all that, there is the very real fact that most of these Great Ape forms are too similar to one another. The movesets of both Great Ape Vegeta and Great Ape Baby already feel strangely similar, and the level of power between the two is meant to be astronomically large.

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