Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO’s Yajirobe is ridiculously overpowered in an unexpectedly in-character way
Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO just released on PS5 and Xbox X|S yesterday (with the Steam version dropping today). Already, Yajirobe is attracting attention for how absolutely overpowered he is in battle.
Long-awaited by fans, Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO is the most recent game in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series of 3D arena fighters since 2007’s Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. The game features a huge roster of over 180 playable characters from the Dragon Ball manga and anime’s long history. Among them, however, Yajirobe has been stunning players with his sheer game-breaking potential.
Yajirobe is a stocky, eating-obsessed masterless samurai who tends to run from a fight- although his sword is deadly enough to slice off Vegeta’s tail. He has saved the day in Dragon Ball many times by showing up with sacred, health-restoring Senzu Beans (awkwardly boasting that he is the Bean Daddy in the English dub). This is also the ace up his sleeve in Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO.
In the game, his Senzu Beans skill enables Yajirobe to repeatedly heal himself for the price of three skill stocks. This, combined with his ultimate can make Yajirobe a formidable opponent. Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO’s battles are timed- if no-one is knocked out when the timer hits zero, then the player with the most health wins. This means that having Yajirobe get in some quick attacks, and then running away from your opponent to sneakily heal to full health just as the timer runs out can net you some cheeky wins- much to the annoyance of many players online.
To balance the overpowered characters out, Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO has a cost system called DP (Destruction Points). Naturally, super strong characters typically cost more DP, preventing players from making their entire team game-breaking. However, Yajirobe can be added to your team for the very low cost of 2DP- putting him in the same league as weaker characters like Saibaman and Guldo.
As producer Jun Furutani mentioned in our interview with him, the developers made a conscious decision to make certain characters stronger or weaker in order to fit how they are portrayed in source material. “For example, I think Gogeta is known for being super strong, and we made him very strong in the game. Characters like Mr. Satan who tend to have a tough time in the story are also likely to struggle in-game. Making characters who are strong in the source material feel overwhelmingly strong in the game is another way we hope to deepen the Dragon Ball experience for players.” Furutani explained.
Yajirobe’s OP-ness seems to be dividing players, as some think he should be nerfed, while others like that he plays true to character. The fact that Yajirobe can be used to cheaply win a fight by healing up with some Senzu Beans just before the timer runs out makes his portrayal in Dragon Ball Sparking ZERO exactly in line with his character lore.
Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam).
