You're standing there as Goku, facing down Raditz. The canon says you die. You know the drill—Piccolo charges the Special Beam Cannon, you hold your brother in a full nelson, and you both get a hole through the chest. But in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, things don't have to go down like that. If you finish the fight fast enough, or if you make a specific choice during a dialogue prompt, the entire timeline fractures. That's the magic of the Episode Battles.
Honestly, finding these paths is half the fun, but it's also incredibly frustrating if you don't know the specific triggers. Most players just spam attacks and hope for the best. That won't work here. You need a Sparking Zero what if guide that focuses on the nitty-gritty requirements because the game is surprisingly strict about "Secondary Completion Objectives." Sometimes it's a timer. Sometimes it's a health threshold. Sometimes it’s just about not being a scrub.
The Struggle of the Goku Branching Paths
Goku's saga is the beefiest part of the game. It’s the foundation. Most people get stuck right at the beginning because they can't beat Raditz fast enough. To unlock the first major "What If" path, titled Side by Side, you have to defeat Raditz before Piccolo even finishes charging his move.
It’s hard. Like, really hard on standard difficulty.
If you manage it, Gohan doesn't get kidnapped the same way, and the fight against the Saiyans changes completely. You end up with a timeline where Goku doesn't die and stays on Earth to train. This ripples. It affects Nappa. It affects Vegeta. It even changes who goes to Namek.
Then there’s the Pushing the Limits path. This one triggers during the Android Saga. If you choose to go help Piccolo instead of following the canon path, you end up in a frantic race against Cell. The game doesn't explicitly tell you that your speed in the previous fight dictates whether this option even stays viable. You’ve basically got to stay aggressive. Don't let the AI breathe. If you're playing on lower difficulty, these triggers are much easier to hit, but the rewards feel a bit "meh" compared to the sweat-fest of doing it on Dragon Spirit difficulty.
How Choice Changes Everything in Future Trunks’ Saga
Trunks has the most emotional "What If" scenarios in the game. Period. We all know the tragic vibe of the Goku Black arc. But in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, you can actually save the future without the Zeno button-mash ending that everyone hated in the anime.
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To get to the Embodiment of Hope path, you have to stay sharp during the "S.O.S. From the Future" chapter. You’ll be faced with a choice: stay and fight or go back to the past. Choosing to stay and deal with Black and Zamasu yourself leads to a grueling gauntlet. You have to defeat them within a hidden time limit.
- Tip: Use Trunks' "Burning Attack" to keep distance, but his sword combos are where the real damage is for the time trials.
- The Reward: You get a sequence where the humans of the future actually contribute to the victory in a way that feels way more earned than the original show.
There's another branch involving Gohan. If you choose to have Gohan come to the future with you, the dynamic shifts. Seeing Gohan interact with the future version of himself (or the memory of him) is the kind of fanservice Spike Chunsoft nailed. But be warned: the difficulty spikes here. The AI Zamasu is a nightmare for defensive players. He regenerates health. He teleports. He makes you want to throw your controller. You have to use "Sparking Mode" efficiently. Don't just pop it and mash; use the vanishes to get behind him.
Vegeta’s Pride and the Secret Fights
Vegeta’s branching paths are all about his ego. No surprise there. The most famous one is the Parental Bond path. During the Buu Saga, you get a choice as Majin Vegeta. Most people just go for the Final Explosion because it's iconic. But if you beat Goku fast enough—and I mean fast—the story shifts.
Vegeta decides that dying isn't the way to atone. Instead, he decides to live and actually be a father. It sounds cheesy, but the resulting fights against Babidi’s forces and eventually Buu are some of the best-designed levels in the game.
Why the Difficulty Setting Matters
A lot of people think they can just cheese these "What Ifs" on easy. Here’s the catch: some rewards and specific trophies only trigger on the "Normal" (Standard) difficulty. If you lower it, the game might let you see the scene, but it won't count toward your 100% completion in the same way. It’s a bit of a gatekeeping move by the devs, but it adds to the prestige of the Sparking Zero what if guide mastery.
Frieza’s Path to Universal Domination
Playing as the villain is where the game gets weird. Frieza has a path where he actually succeeds on Namek. Imagine a world where the Ginyu Force isn't just a bunch of jokes but actually the enforcers of a galactic empire that never fell.
To get here, you have to win the fight against Goku on Namek before he turns Super Saiyan. It sounds impossible because the game wants that transformation to happen. But if you use Frieza’s "Death Beam" spam and keep your ki charged, you can deplete Goku's health bar before the scripted event triggers.
What follows is a total rewrite of Dragon Ball Z. You end up fighting the Androids as Frieza. You end up facing Beerus as a Frieza who hasn't spent years in a cocoon being tortured by teddy bears. It’s wild. It’s the kind of "What If" that makes this game better than Xenoverse or Kakarot for pure "what-could-have-been" storytelling.
Common Mistakes People Make
Most players fail these paths because they don't look at the screen. Seriously. During the dialogue scenes, there's often a tiny prompt. If you blink, you miss the choice.
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Another huge mistake? Neglecting the "Sparking" gauge. In many of the secret paths, you're required to finish a fight with a "Ultimate Blast." If you just chip away at their health with basic punches, the game assumes you're "canon" and gives you the standard ending. You have to be flashy. You have to play like the characters would in a high-budget movie.
- Watch the clock: Almost every secret branch has a hidden 2-3 minute timer.
- Check your health: Some paths require you to finish with more than 50% HP.
- Read the Episode Map: If you see a dotted line leading nowhere, that’s a branch you haven't found yet. Hover over it; sometimes the hint text is actually useful.
The Technical Side of Unlocking Everything
If you're hunting for the "Asterisk" icons on the map, you're looking for the branching points. The game uses a web-style UI. If you see a node with two lines coming out of it, that's a choice. If you see a node with a faint, transparent line, that's a "performance-based" branch.
Performance branches are the hardest. They don't give you a choice. They just judge you. "Oh, you took five minutes to beat Cell? No secret ending for you." You have to go back to the "Main Menu," go to "Episode Battle," and replay the stage. Luckily, you can skip the cutscenes you've already seen, which saves your sanity.
The Jiren "What If" is particularly brutal. To unlock his secret path in the Tournament of Power, you have to basically humiliate the Universe 7 team. If you let them get too many hits in, the game forces the standard "Jiren loses" ending. You have to be perfect. His counters are your best friend here. Use his "Power Impact" to keep them at bay and never let your ki drop below two bars.
Actionable Strategy for Completionists
If you want to clear every "What If" in the game, don't try to do it all at once. The burn-out is real. Start with Goku, then jump to a villain like Frieza to keep the gameplay fresh.
- Custom Battle Mode: If you're struggling with a specific fight's mechanics, go into Custom Battle and practice against that specific AI character. The AI behavior in Episode Battle is slightly different, but the move sets are the same.
- Item Shop: Don't forget to equip items. You can buy "Ability Items" that boost your attack power or give you faster ki recovery. This is basically a legal cheat code for the harder time trials.
- Focus on the Purple Orbs: These are the rewards for completing "What If" paths. They give you massive amounts of Zeni and player XP, which helps you unlock more characters in the shop.
The beauty of the Sparking Zero what if guide journey is that it rewards your knowledge of the franchise. If you know that Krillin dying is the trigger for Super Saiyan, you can guess that preventing his death might lead somewhere interesting. The game respects your time by giving you these wild alternate realities, but you have to earn them.
Go back to that Raditz fight. Don't let Piccolo do the dirty work. Charge up, get in his face, and see how much the world changes when Goku actually survives the first encounter of Z. It’s a completely different game from there.
Next Steps for Success:
Open the Episode Battle menu and look for the very first mission with an "Alternate Path" icon (usually a small branching symbol). Check your current difficulty—ensure it is set to "Standard" if you want the full rewards. Focus entirely on speed for your first three attempts; if you can't trigger the branch, head to the shop and purchase the "Rising Spirit" item to start fights with more Ki. This will give you the head start needed to beat the hidden timers.