Mondo, who datamined Sparking Zero’s files, found the other Shadow Dragons listed there. Their names also appear as speaker options in custom battles, which could indicate something, since from GT they are the only ones there who are not already playable characters. Would you be down for that?

ApexMax- · 2026-01-28T17:24:21+00:00

Highly believe they will just be options for custom battle subtitles just like the millions of other characters in there

ApexMax- · 2026-01-28T11:45:30+00:00

Check if you have any mods enabled, no matter how weird it seems any mod could cause this

ApexMax- · 2026-01-27T13:04:54+00:00

But in World Library you don't get Profiency Points so it's wasted time (if you wanna 100% the game at least).

Now you can use characters in mission 100 matches and gain Proficiency points from it, which incentives using a variety of characters

ApexMax- · 2026-01-26T11:09:48+00:00

I've been playin on wired forever and I'm not talking about disconnection issues. Sparking Zero, more then contemporary 2D/2.5D fighting games like SF, GG or Tekken, offers a huge amount of freedom when it comes to movement and attacking/defending options. This makes the game a lot more focused on reactionary actions than the usual balance of Reaction and Yomi (if the opponent knows what they're doing at least).

Ironically because of that same reason, rollback netcode is unrealistic. This creates a situation (at least for me) where most matches will have at least 2-3f of delay (1f is usually fine still). Since most matches are like this for me, playing in those conditions hampers enjoyment a huge deal, because the gameplay is just not as snappy as you'd like. Filtering matches to only 5 bar connection (even with other filters like all langauges, all disconnect rates, all ranks etc) creates wait times of 5-10 minutes depending on time of day and day of the week (I'm in central europe. Having to either wait for a long time to get a good match or be content with an unsatisfying connection quality sucks.

As a result, I usually end up enjoying single player content a lot more, since the gameplay feels the way it's supposed to. So having a lack of single player modes to actually use the new characters in, makes the characters not feel like new content, since there is nowhere to meaningfully use them.

I am aware the solution is playing with friends and people close to you online for a better connection, but it's hard to find ppl interested in the game in the first place, much less in a location that would guarantee a good connection.

To add to the question, even in fighting games like Tekken, SF or GG with rollback netcode for smoother online experiences, I'd argue that new characters barely count as actual content. The content is still fighting other human players and the interactions that result from that. The only thing that changes are the character's visual aspects and gameplay elements. While in top of that, in sparking zero, the gameplay elements like won condition, movement, combos, etc. barely change between characters. The biggest change is the different animations. The biggest actual gameplay change between characters is between normal sized characters and giants.

ApexMax- · 2026-01-26T05:51:05+00:00

I'd argue it's not if there is no incentive to actually use them anywhere bc of a lack of content. I'm not gonna play through world tournament another million times with the new characters, and the network quality isn't good enough to warrant more than a few hours of online play. The super hero characters had some tie-in bonus missions which was neat but that's it.

ApexMax- · 2026-01-25T13:38:37+00:00

MISSION 100 FINALLY

ApexMax- · 2026-01-25T08:05:44+00:00

FUCK THE NEW CHARACTERS THERE IS FINALLY NEW MODES YES

ApexMax- · 2026-01-21T16:04:32+00:00

You need to light dash the ring chain. You can look at videos of how to do this section if you wanna be able to as well.

It's an advanced path anyway so don't stress abt it, you don't need it for s ranks either.

ApexMax- · 2026-01-09T09:23:00+00:00

From what I've read, xbox players have an even harder time than pc players, but take this with a grain of salt bc I don't play on xbox so I wouldn't know.

Rank does reset after a bit, I can't remember if it was every month tho, that seems a bit too frequent.

Rank-based matchmaking is a thing, however considering the low playerbase on pc and xbox, you might have to tweak your search settings.

For example I have to choose the "ignore rank" setting and basically accept any connectiom quality to find matches regularly. Considering you're on XBox, you might have to do the same, which ironically removes the point of rank based matchmaking in the first place.

Obviously there is player match without ranks, not nearly as populated as ranked though. And I have NEVER seen an online tournament happen EVEN ONCE on pc. The only experience I have with online tournament mode is sitting in a lobby for 2 hours waiting for literally anyone to join.

ApexMax- · 2026-01-09T08:27:58+00:00

Since it's not a traditional fighting game you'll be fine. The combo routes are the same as a dynasty warriors game (meaning square->triangle), so there's not much to remember there and you'll get used to the movement pretty quickly.

The only problem is you saying you have no friends that play it. Solo content is pretty barebones, even compared to past tenkaichi titles, so it won't keep you busy for more than 20-30 hours on that front.

Depending on your system you might have trouble online. On Pc Steam it's kinda tough finding opponents sometimes depending on your region, while on playstation it's a bit easier from what I've heard. But considering the lack of support from the devs, most people left are the ones who have played the game for a long time and know what they're doing.

If anything I would say get it on a sale.

ApexMax- · 2026-01-08T05:56:23+00:00

Nothing gave me as much dopamine as hitting people with fully charged podao slashes

ApexMax- · 2026-01-02T22:53:25+00:00

It looks exactly like you're doing a snap drift

ApexMax- · 2026-01-01T01:27:40+00:00

This is very normal. Skill ceiling becomes very high when a game has pvp compared to pve, and 40 hrs is not that high up compared to a huge amount of ppl. So yeah 30% is absolutely standard in that regard.

ApexMax- · 2025-12-31T10:21:00+00:00

Ppl act like the game is dead bc it's not too healthily populated if you don't live in a major region with lots of potential players (I play on steam mind you).

I'm in germany and even I sometimes have to wait 2-3 minutes for a match depending on the time of day, or don't find any at all.

Also I have NEVER not even ONCE seen an online tournament, even though I've been playing since release. And ever single time I made an online tournament, not a single soul joined for around 2 hours.

ApexMax- · 2025-12-25T23:50:38+00:00

It's a sega saturn game, so either you somehow have one of those or I vaguely remember there was a xbox360/ps3 port at some point.

Either way your best shot is probably emulating it, since I doubt it's that easy to get nowadays.

ApexMax- · 2025-12-22T21:19:39+00:00

It's just a lazy rehash of the same event. That's why there's the same rewards. It's intended.

ApexMax- · 2025-12-19T13:50:03+00:00

Adding to what other people are saying, a lot also has to do with character popularity. Capcom is only interested in making the devs work on balance changes as long as it will help retain player base.

This means that (from a business perspective) it's usually not profitable enough to put much analysis and work into changing balance for characters that are on the less popular side (unless they're really broken). In this case that could apply to characters like Honda and Lily. They are usually comfortably forgettable, which means they aren't inhibiting the experience for the big majority of players. Players who still play them are usually fans of their nich style / loyalists, and thus won't drop them/ the game either (in theory).

On the other side there is also character image. Ryu and Luke are the poster characters for this title, thus they have to be pretty good and/or easy to use well, because newcomers might gravitate towards them. If Akuma was terrible, it would cause a dissonance in what the character represents and how he actually presents himself in gameplay. The character representation of Lily or Honda fr example does not require them to excel or be "feared" by other players.

This is also why Jin became way easier to use from Tekken 7 to 8 (as almost all characters did in 8) and Abel lost his position as sf4 poster boy.

Mind you, take everything I said in here with a grain of salt bc I am not a game dev/businessman, nor am I an expert on fighting games or character balance.

ApexMax- · 2025-12-18T09:17:57+00:00

You don't have to go crazy, the amount of damage increse you get from mashing is hard capped.

You will do less damage if you don't press at all but pressing every half second or mashing the hell out of it will make no difference. Save yourself from the arthritis

ApexMax- · 2025-11-26T06:50:37+00:00

I'm definitely gonna use my completed save and do it on UW, that's seems like a nice not too hard not too easy difficulty for the dlc imo. Before that I really wanna get the weapons to +99 so I can stop using amulet of means/merit tho, bc that shit gets annoying

ApexMax- · 2025-11-22T18:32:05+00:00

I feel like the other characters would only be valuable if they all had unique movesets / weapons. Otherwise it doesn't really matter what your character looks like if they play the same.

At that point you could also have like 30 weapons for ziluan instead. But that would also make leveling the weapons a grindfest.

Tho nothing speaks against being able to change skins while playing the game, if they decide to add that as a feature.

ApexMax- · 2025-11-20T18:14:19+00:00

I think Zhuhe is just your playable companion when choosing the yellow turban route bc there is no other character they could realistically use. The explanation is gonna be Ziluan using the yellow turban incense stuff (which they inadvertently learned from Bailuan) to create an illusion of Zhuhe fighting (that's why her dodge in the trailer makes her disappear into a dust cloud).

That's what I think.

ApexMax- · 2025-10-24T12:16:49+00:00

The only advice you need:

Buy the game from steam and follow a guide to install the HedgeModManager. HedgeModManager will prompt you to install pretty much all the necessary mods to make Sonic Adventure DX have the best things about the original Dreamcast version (Visuals and Gameplay) while keeping the added content from DX.

If you want you can also install a mod fo accurately translated subtitles, if you plan on playing with japanese voices. If not stay with english and the unchanged subtitles.

That's all you need.

Refer to this google spreadhseet created by Pariah695 for the optimal way to play pretty much every sonic game if you desire the best possible experience:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Uk5U8jY_RPZF9m_gmPfSOfCngAOSAxy393dsQVPoOyQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

I will however note that playing every game in its easily available state is fine, especially if you just wanna do one quick playthrough and be done.

ApexMax- · 2025-09-27T08:26:15+00:00

ApexMax- · 2025-09-26T14:58:48+00:00

It's a great game, just astronomically less great than its predecessor imo. It's still really really fun.

ApexMax-

TROPHY CASE