Episode Battle, the story mode of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, briskly glides through various sagas of the franchise. While it’s fun to revisit these iconic fights against giant space apes and gods, all from different character viewpoints, it’s more exciting to check out the unique alternate endings. Unlocking these can be a pain sometimes, and the most painful are related to Jiren.
The main antagonist of the Tournament of Power saga has a short Episode Battle run, but it can be frustrating to unlock all of his endings. They’re unfortunately pretty obtuse compared to all the other characters’ stories. You don’t need to go Super Saiyan out of frustration—we investigated how Jiren’s story branches are laid out and how to properly trigger every ending.
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Jiren’s Episode Battle forks off into two branches, with three separate endings. This divergence occurs in Saiyan Rampage, the first episode of Jiren’s story. The choice you make regarding Kale will decide which branch you unlock.
Conversely, both paths converge at the Ultimate Climactic Battle episode. Unlike other characters’ branching paths, which have completely different fights, Jiren’s alternate story ends at the same fight. That also means that all three of his potential endings sprout from the same final battle.
What makes this truly complicated is that episode battles only support a main objective and a single alternative objective. That limitation means it’s only possible to unlock Jiren’s canon ending and one of the alternate endings at one time. If you’re having trouble getting the right ending, you might need to return to the Saiyan Rampage episode and make the correct choice again. This will set you on the right path for the final fight. There is no need to go through every fight again—simply making the choice and quitting is enough.
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After choosing to intervene with Kale, you need to work your way towards the Ultimate Climactic Battle episode. The opponents for this fight are Frieza, Android 17, and Goku.
Your main objective is to survive against these guys. There is no need to defeat them.
Unfortunately, being defeated by them does not lead to an ending. You shouldn’t feel bad if they do keep beating you up—all three are strong with a lot of health and projectile supers that they love to throw out. Lowering the difficulty is a fine option, since that doesn’t prevent you from completing a main objective.
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This ending is unlocked through the same path as Jiren’s canon ending. The trick to unlocking the Strength Is Absolute ending is to win as quickly as possible. That isn’t the easiest task, since you have to beat all three enemies within just a few minutes.
On the off-chance you beat the other path first and are now aiming to get this ending last, it’s important to make sure the alternate objective is correct. It needs to read as “Beat Frieza, Android 17, and Goku” to acquire the Strength Is Absolute ending. If it reads as something else, then you’re considered on the other path, and will need to go back to the first episode to make the other choice about Kale.
Read More: Getting To Grips With Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s Wish-Granting Dragons
As this is for an alternate ending, lowering the difficulty is a no-go. Only main objectives can be completed under lowered difficulty. If you’re still having trouble, you can always summon one of the dragons to gain a Dragon Orb. These items are used on the story map screen and will make the alternative objective easier to achieve.
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Choosing “Wait and see” during the Saiyan Rampage episode will place Jiren on a new path. A majority of the fights will be different and he’ll have an important encounter with Master Roshi. All of this comes to a head at the same final battle, however, which still functions identically. Even the alternate objective is completed the same way.
To unlock the True Strength ending, you need to beat everyone quickly and the alternate objective needs to say “With Master Roshi defeated, defeat Frieza, Android 17, and Goku.” If it just says to beat the three enemies, you’ll need to reaffirm your choice back at the first episode. Defeating them fast enough with the right objective will treat you to a fully animated cutscene involving Jiren making a wish with Super Shenron.
It’s unfortunate that unlocking these Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero endings can be so perplexing. They’re not the craziest that the story mode has to offer, but they’re still enjoyable. Seeing them all provides two achievements, as well as a full set of Dragon Balls for Super Shenron, which is great if you’re trying to unlock additional characters or some unique ability items.
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