Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero – How to Unlock Piccolo’s Branching Paths and His Story Changes

Dragon Ball Sparking Zero has become the talk of the town ever since its release, and with good reason! The title has breathed new life into the long-dormant Tenkaichi series and also brought more attention to the franchise as a whole with new mechanics and content.

The new content comes in the way of Alternate Stories, which showcase events that did not happen in the anime or the manga. These original non-canon narratives can be explored when going through each character’s Episodic Battles, and we’re going to break down every decision you should make with Piccolo to witness his branching storylines.

How to Unlock Piccolo’s Branching Paths in Dragon Ball Sparking Zero?

To unlock all of Piccolo’s Alternate Stories, you will need to begin his Episodic Battles and choose options that deviate from the known narrative set by the anime. These instances will come up during your playthrough as choices that you can select to make the Dragon Ball Sparking Zero narrative move forward. While fans of the anime would know which choices lead to an Alternate Story, others might not be keenly aware of these moments.

Piccolo’s Episodic Battle saga is one of the shorter ones among all the other characters, but Spike Chunsoft has managed to add some original content for our favorite Namekian.

His saga is centered around his fight with Android 17 during the Android Saga, preceding the Cell Saga. His Alternate Path can be triggered right at the start of the Cell Saga, during “A Mentor’s Guidance,” leading to a different conclusion entirely.

Choose to Help Goku in His Fight Against the Androids

To begin Piccolo’s Alternate Story, you need to step in and help Goku in his fight against Android 19. This is the first step in the Alternate Story which will result in Piccolo training Gohan for his fight against Cell and even taking on the green Android himself. Before you get to train with your apprentice, you need to first deal with the first two Androids who make their appearance in the anime.

Thankfully, it’s a pretty straightforward fight and you don’t need to tax yourself too much to take down the animatronics. Piccolo’s moveset during this fight will be similar to the one throughout the Saiyan Saga and on Namek. This means players will have access to his All-Out skill, allowing the Namekian to enter Sparking! mode without charging his Ki. With this, you can easily get off your Ultimate attack after a rush of combos against Android 19.

Prepare with Gohan to Fight Cell

Once the Androids are dealt with, your next major challenge is going to be Cell in his Semiperfect, Perfect, and Super Perfect forms. The final two of those forms are going to be the biggest challenges in this Alternate Story. You do have a small skirmish with the Semi-Perfect Cell, but simply lowering his health ends the episode, as it’s clear the Z fighters can’t take him down just yet.

It’s time for Piccolo and Gohan to enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for some serious training. It’s also during this time that Piccolo gets his power-up, just like in the anime, by fusing with Kami. While this may sound like a good thing, it replaces the very useful All-Out Skill with the less impressive False Courage defense buff.

Piccolo’s Special Beam Cannon now becomes his Super Attack and can be used for great effect by knocking your opponent away and firing it off as they are flying. Wild Sense should also help you avoid any incoming Rush Attacks, with Light Grenade also offering substantial damage capabilities. Hellzone Grenade, his new Ultimate Attack, is easy to connect but does require some placement for maximum damage.

Once the Cell Games begins, the Android now calls Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo to join the Tournament. However, this time Cell needs to be defeated, and this can be quite a challenge as he is aggressive, fast, and becomes stronger the longer the fight goes on. This Alternate Story can only be completed by taking out Cell and winning the Tournament, but it does offer a more nuanced look at Piccolo’s and Gohan’s mentor-student relationship.

Piccolo’s Other Alternate Stories

The Cell Saga Alternate Story is the most prominent, but Piccolo does have smaller Episodes in other sagas that can be unlocked by completing the Alternate objectives for each battle.

These objectives can be viewed by pausing mid-fight and checking all your mission objectives for the battle. Usually, the Alternate Objective is to defeat the opponent in a short amount of time.

Episode	Saga	Alternate Objective
The Saiyan’s Attack	Saiyan Saga	Defeat Nappa quickly, and Piccolo will play a large role in the overall story.
Piccolo Returns to His Birthplace	Frieza Saga	Defeat Frieza quickly in his third form, resulting in a small deviation from the main story with a new cutscene and additional fight.
Android 17 and Cell	Cell Saga	There is a second, smaller Alternate Story during this saga that can be unlocked by quickly defeating Android 17 and Cell to witness new dialogue and a bonus battle outside of the main story.

Spike Chunsoft’s decision to add these “What If?” scenarios has been a big hit, as many fans are claiming Dragon Ball Sparking Zero is their game of the year. Which Alternate Story has been your favorite so far? Let us know in the comments below and check out our other Dragon Ball Sparking Zero guides for more tips and tricks.