All three mainline console games (and Tenkaichi Tag Team) were all directed by Christopher Sabat, as is per the norm for the franchise, alongside voicing several characters like Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha, etc.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: None of the games in the series received a re-release after their initial launches on either the PS2 or Wii, with all copies of the games being found second-hand.
No Port For You: The first three games in this series were only on the PlayStation 2, with the latter two also on the Wii, as they never released on the other 5th-gen consoles such as the the original Xbox console and the Nintendo Gamecube, nor the other six-gen consoles besides the Wii such as the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. Even more baffling for the said 6th-gen consoles, as the last two games came out during said gen in 2006 and 2007 respectively, so there it would have made complete sense for those games to come out on the newer and much more powerful consoles, but yet were ultimately only on both PS2 and Wii. Tenkaichi Tag Team in particular was released as a PlayStation Portable exclusive title. Sparking! ZERO would be the first time that a Sparking! title released on an Xbox console.
Genre Popularizer: The Tenkaichi series is largely attributed for writing the book on the anime arena fighters that would come after it, from Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm to Jump Force. While it can be argued some take more from Storm than from Tenkaichi, it is Tenkaichi which set the standard.
Budokai Tenkaichi 1
Ascended Fanon: Fans have often wondered why Krillin never used the Destructo Disc after a Solar Flare. This game is the first time Krillin can now use this combo. Among other games involving these two moves include Burst Limit, FighterZ, Infinite World, and Shin Budokai.
The Other Darrin: Christopher Sabat properly became Burter's voice here replacing Mark Britten and Vic Mignogna, who had voiced the Ginyu Force member in the anime at the time. After a spell with Mignogna reprising the role in Dragon Ball Z Kai and games up to Ultimate Tenkaichi, Sabat has reclaimed Burter and has voiced him ever since.
Budokai Tenkaichi 2
The Other Darrin: Brandon Potter voices Appule in the game instead of Kyle Hebert or Bill Townsley who played him in the anime. Potter has oddly continued to voice Appule in subsequent video games in the series despite Hebert reprising the role in Kai.
Brina Palencia replaces Parisa Fakhri and Kimberly Grant as Bulla and Baba's ghost usher respectively as both of the latter actresses had since departed Funimation the previous year (2005).
In Japanese, Naoki Imamura would replace the late Kōji Totani as Kewi for this game and the succeeding title.
Budokai Tenkaichi 3
The Other Darrin: Babidi's usual voice, Duncan Brannan, was apparently unavailable, so Guldo and Cui's voice Bill Townsley filled in.
Brina Palencia officially took over as Chiaotzu from Monika Antonelli with this game when the latter moved to Minnesota to devote her full time to being a librarian.
What Could Have Been: Demo footage for the game shows that Legendary Super Saiyan Broly's Gigantic Hammer attack was a more straightforward Rush Attack, with the initial rush involving Broly charging at the opponent, but was turned into a grab special in the final game.
Creator-Driven Successor: The original studio of the Budokai Tenkaichi and Raging Blast games, Spike (now known as Spike Chunsoft after its merger with Chunsoft Co., Ltd. back in 2012), are back in developing Sparking! ZERO. Not only is the game a successor to Budokai Tenkaichi 3, but also a successor to Raging Blast 2, as mechanics from the latter are being incorporated into this entry.
Inspiration for the Work: According to an interview with Sparking! ZERO producer Jun Furutani, this game was inspired by his observations of Dragon Ball FighterZ's Esports scene, where players enjoyed recreating iconic battles from the anime. As such, he wanted to recreate that feeling for Sparking! ZERO.
Furutani:Sparking! Zero is different than [Dragon Ball FighterZ, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot]. FighterZ was created with esports intentions with 2D fighting. Kakarot was about experiencing the story. Xenoverse [had players] go in as an avatar into the world. The focus here is to push the limits of how much a player can completely immerse themselves into the world and how intensely we can make that [happen].
The Other Darrin: As this is the first Sparking! series title to use Funimation's English voice cast post-Dragon Ball Z Kai, some actors have been changed when comparing Sparking! ZERO and Budokai Tenkaichi 3:
Daman Mills makes his entrance into the Sparking! series as Frieza, succeeding both the original actor who voiced the tyrant in the Budokai Tenkaichi games, Linda Young, along with Chris Ayres after his passing in 2021.
after Sparking! ZERO's reveal, Daman Mills, voice of Frieza since Dragon Ball FighterZ/Dragon Ball Super, announced that he would be the game's lead voice director, alongside reprising the galactic tyrant.