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 offense.
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)
- Some special attacks (such as Majin Buu’s
Hurricane Dash)
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.
Ki Blasts
Every character is able to perform generic Ki Blasts by pressing 6L or 6H. These Ki Blasts will be fired directly towards the opponent, and are often a useful poking and zoning tool from midrange. Note that Ki Blasts cannot be performed by holding 6 and then tapping L or H - it can be useful to consider the input as being closer to 56L/H in this respect.
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 stun.
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.
Defensive Mechanics
Blocking
Hold G to block all incoming attacks. Super DBZ does not have any distinction between high and low attacks, so attacks of any hit level are blocked the same way. Critically, only attacks that hit the front of a character's model can be blocked, and characters will not turn around to face the opponent while they are blocking. This means that attacks that hit a character's back are unblockable, which in turn means that blocking characters are susceptible to a timing-based "cross-up" of sorts, which is central to Super DBZ's mixup game.
Reflect
By inputting 46 while holding G, characters will perform a Reflect, a parry-like animation that will reflect basic Ki Blasts at the opponent, and nullify stronger projectiles. If Reflect successfully interacts with a projectile, holding G will hold the reflect stance, allowing for the reflection of further projectiles. Otherwise, releasing G will allow the character to perform any other action almost immediately. Reflect only works against projectile attacks - it can be punished at all points of its animation by physical attacks.
Super Meter
The Super Meter is displayed below the life bar. It holds up to three stocks, and is spent primarily on Super Attacks and, for some characters, Dragon Finishes. The Super Meter is filled by landing attacks, performing special moves and taking damage - landing attacks builds the most meter, performing special moves builds slightly less, and taking damage building the least meter. In general, the Super Meter fills faster when playing aggressively. In addition to this, the player who lands the first hit in every round will be given First Attack Bonus, granting them 30 points of the Super Meter.
Further uses of the Super Meter rely on various System Skills which can be gained on the character's Skill Tree. See the Skills page for more information.
