Super Dragon Ball Z/System

Movement

On the ground, every character is able to walk in eight directions around the arena. Characters are also able to dash in each of the four cardinal directions by either tapping the desired direction (66, 44, 22, 88) or by holding the desired drection and pressing the Guard and Jump buttons (6/4/2/8G+J).

Characters are able to jump by pressing the Jump button. Characters can jump in place, forwards and backwards (5/6/4J). Additionally, it is possible to high jump by pressing J alongside any upward direction (8J for neutral high jump, 9J for forward high jump and 7J for backward high jump).

All characters are able to fly by pressing either G or J at any point during a jump. While flying, characters gain access to most grounded movement and attack options. Pressing the J button while flying will cancel flight, returning the character to a regular jumping state. This is often referred to as a Fly Cancel (FC for short), and is an extremely important part of combos and general offence.

The Action Gauge

The Action Gauge is the meter at the bottom of the screen which regulates Super Dragon Ball Z's movement options. The Action Gauge is comprised of between 3 and 5 stocks depending on the character and their Skill Tree assignments - generally speaking, more mobile characters (such as Chi-Chi) will have more Action Gauge stocks available, while less mobile characters (such as Android 16) will have fewer. The Action Gauge is expended when performing the following options:

• Dashing (one stock per dash)
• Flying (drains the Action Gauge over time)
• Homing Attacks (one stock per Homing Attack)

The Action Gauge will refill over time when it is below full and no movement options are being used. If the Action Gauge is completely emptied, then movement options other than walking and jumping will become unavailable until the Action Gauge has been adequately refilled - meaning any amount for flight, but at least one stock for everything else. Also note that running out of Action Gauge while flying will force the character out of flight and back into jumping status.

Offensive Mechanics

Throws

Throws are performed by pressing both attack buttons (L+H) while close to the opponent. Throws universally impact on frame 10, have a punishable whiff animation and cannot be broken or softened in any way - they must be avoided, primarily by jumping.

Strings

Each character has a number of preset attack strings that can be performed with various combinations of the Light and Heavy attack buttons. Many of these strings allow for cancels to special moves at certain points, so while their usage varies a lot depending on the character, they universally form a significant part of pressure and combos.

Dashing Attacks

Every character has access to two dashing normal attacks: dash L will perform a launcher, while dash H will perform an attack that slams the opponent into the ground, causing a ground bounce. Both attacks are useful in combos - dash L as a combo starter, dash H as a combo extender - and can even see use as whiff punishment tools from mid range.

Homing Attacks

Homing Attacks are special attacks which fly directly towards the opposing character. They cost one stock of the Action Gauge to perform, are have two variants - Light Homing Attacks (LHA) are performed by pressing L+G, while Heavy Homing Attacks (HHA) are performed by pressing H+G. Any normal attack that can be cancelled into a special move can also be cancelled into a Homing Attack.

Light Homing Attacks can be cancelled into special moves, have low recovery on hit and bounce away from the opponent on block, making them important tools in both combos and in block pressure. Heavy Homing Attacks are much less safe, with higher recovery on block and no special cancel window, but they fly at a faster speed than Light Homing Attacks and are universally able to inflict wall slam.

All Homing Attacks can be cancelled before making contact with the opponent by pressing G - this is called a Homing Attack Cancel (HAC for short). Light HACs are extremely useful for basic combos and pressure, as well as for supplementing the use of LHA as a burst movement option. Heavy HACs are more niche in usage, since their faster travel speed means the window to perform a HAC at close range is extremely small. That said, they still see use in some optimised combos, depending on the character.

Combo System

Wall Smash

Wall Smash is a broad system term used to describe a property of certain moves that allow them to slam the opponent into the wall or the floor. Wall Smash attacks will have one of two behaviours: wall stun attacks will slam the opponent into the wall, putting them into a brief dizzy animation that allows for further punishment; ground bounce attacks will bounce the opponent off the floor, allowing for extended juggle combos.

While the majority of Wall Smash attacks only gain these properties once the Wall Smash System Skill has been added to a character's Skill Tree, every character has access to two Wall Smash attacks at all points: dash H will universally inflict ground bounce, while Heavy Homing Attack will universally inflict wall stun.

Juggle Limits

There are a number of rules governing the tools used in Super DBZ's juggle combos that are worth outlining:

• Attacks that cause a launch, such as dash L or Battle Skills like Rising Sun, can only be used once per combo. Subsequent uses of launching attacks will cause the opponent to spin, and they will be immune to further attacks until becoming actionable again.
• Attacks will deal additional knockback the longer a juggle combo continues. This "knockback growth" begins accumulating even before the opponent has been launched, meaning that extended grounded strings will cause subsequent launchers to knock the opponent further away.
• Attacks with Wall Smash properties can only be used once per combo. Critically, both wall stun and ground bounce are counted as the same combo state, meaning that, as an example, the wall stun from HHA and the ground bounce from dash H cannot be used to extend the same combo.