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Super Dragonball Z is the first outing for the new development studio Crafts and Meister, founded by the executive producer for Street Fighter II. Past experience has shown that the design of a 3D fighter is fundamentally different than a 2D fighter and many games have died in the transition (Mortal Kombat being among the most notable victims). However, the team for Super DBZ has found a way to keep a very strong 2D feel in a 3D fighter.

DBZ games have a very long history, with many below average or terrible releases. In the current generation they became very prolific, starting with Budokai for the PS2. Last year the release of Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi set the bar very high with a DBZ game that had solid gameplay mechanics, a game that used the license but wasn’t carried by it.

Most of the PS2 games have been very clear upgrades following the same basic ideas and design principles from game to game, each evolving from the last. Super Dragonball Z, however, takes a massive sidestep. Rather than becoming Tenkaichi II, SDBZ feels like and old school fighter with some lateral movement and flying thrown in for good measure.

Where button sequences and combinations are the order of the day in the modern 3D fighter, SDBZ uses old fashioned joystick maneuvering. If you still have dragon punches, fireballs, and psycho crushers in your thumb, waiting to be unleashed, you’ll be right at home in SDBZ.

The control is simple, but effective. Two basic attack buttons (a heavy attack and a light attack), a guard button, and a jump button. Combinations of those four buttons handle everything, but by default shoulder buttons are mapped to work as the harder to reach combinations for throws, dashing, and homing attacks. Double tapping a direction will quickly move that way, toward an opponent or getting out of the way of an attack. Certain sequences of the light and heavy attacks will perform combos, most of which are easy to figure out, as they’re often shared between characters. Pressing the direction toward the enemy and an attack button will fire a basic ki blast, an easy projectile for all characters suited to the style of fighting that comes with the license.

Two systems work to keep attacks limited. The “ultimate gauge” is a set of three bars, each representing one very powerful special attack, most of which are performed through doubling the motion for a normal special attack, most often two quarter-circle rotations and an attack button. It builds as characters battle, and can be upgraded to build other ways. In addition to that is the action gauge, a series of bars that varies in length by character that essentially functions as a stamina meter. Quick movements such as dashes and dodges subtract a bar, as do homing attacks. Flying is a constant drain on the gauge which works out around the same speed as continuous dashing. Though running out of action doesn’t disable a fighter, it does prevent those dodges or flight, which means abuse of acrobatics can leave players vulnerable.

Each available character (13 are available initially, the other five are very easily unlocked) fights and feels differently from the others. Videl, for example, has almost no ability whatsoever with energy attacks, but is extremely powerful in close combat. Vegeta has less prowess in close combat but is unmatched at a range, with a wide array of energy blasts that prevent an opponent from approaching or even dodging.

Characters become further defined when a character card is made. 30 are available, and they essentially start a character at the very basic level, with a low power level, a few special attacks, and the character’s basic style. During fights a character’s power level goes up for a bonus after the round, and experience points are gained. Enough experience and the character levels up. A skill tree system is in place, with varying amounts of tiers for each character. One skill per tier is picked, which, while letting players work a character their preference, can feel a little limiting. Sometimes the choice is between stat boosts, sometimes different types of attacks. The skill tree forks occasionally, meaning if a certain skill is chosen, not all of the skills on the next tier will be available.

Overall the card system is very rewarding, though it limits the game at first to a very basic level. As a result of that, players are forced to learn the basic style of a character before getting into more advanced techniques. It slows the game at first, but it adds surprising depth and helps one to learn a particular fighter’s strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the tree, every fighter is truly differentiated from the next and the player will have a solid style. One way to customize Vegeta is to focus on defensive skills and speed, making him extremely hard to hit at all, much less damage. Another option is to take skills that increase offense and a skill that allows ultimate attacks to be launched in the middle of special attack or another ultimate attack. Where one Vegeta sidesteps and throws ki blasts frustrating opponents, another charges in, unleashing a special kick combo and three massive energy blasts without a moment of respite for the enemy. Yet each still comes from the same core.

The effort to level a character up completely is generally a small investment, worth the time. Once a character is completely leveled up, it isn’t the end. A character card can gather Dragonballs, which are used to unlock hidden characters and features in the game, or alter the character that found them. Options to add skills and change skills are plentiful, and with seven Dragonballs (which take a minimal time to collect), a character’s skill tree can be completely reset, but experience kept. With that, a player can instantly have a fully powered character with a totally different skillset.

Super Dragonball Z has graphics with a similar feel to those of the DBZ games of the generation. Cell shaded, heavy lines, bright colors and sharp angles. Backgrounds are particularly brightly colored, but they tend to be rather low-poly and flat looking. Still, plenty of surfaces break after enough damage. The special effects for energy attacks are nothing special, really, but they function well enough, which is the general theme for the game’s graphics. Nothing amazing, but they do the job.

As standard, the sounds from the game come straight from the show. The English voice cast is present in its entirety, and plenty of musical tracks have been lifted for the game. Sound effects for special attacks as well come from the show. And while it can’t quite be proven, there’s a pretty good chance the smacks and crunches in combat come from the show as well. Nothing amazing, but no bad voicing to make baby Goku cry.

Overall the game is very fun, though it takes a little time to get past the learning curve. Once the player begins working with the card system, a ton opens up. It would be nice if there was a little more variation on the backgrounds in survival mode (only the World Tournament is available), certainly, but it’s far from a game killer, as it’s one of the more entertaining arenas. The unlockable characters are good, and the feel of the game is generally DBZ. Unfortunately, this game, as all DBZ games, fails to reach that truly over the top level. Fighting can be intense, though not particularly technical, but it never feels like the world is hanging in the balance. The series is getting there at least in terms of destructible surroundings, but never quite feels like the attacks are as epic as the show makes them out to be. Maybe a little more screaming and grunting to match the source.

For gamers who have the patience to learn some unique characters, and a system that’s not quite like anything else that’s been made before, Super Dragonball Z is worth the purchase. It’s a solid fighting game that, though initially simple, manages to get into surprising depth, and has a very strong old-school feel.

JIVE Magazine Rating: 4 out of 5 senzu beans