Super Dragon Ball Z is a fighting game featuring 18 fighters from the Dragon Ball franchise, of which 13 are available from the start. The gameplay is most similar to the one from popular fighting games such as the Street Fighter, SNK or Mortal Kombat series, mostly based on dial-input special moves. Some character can enter a temporary special mode (such a Super Saiyan mode). The game modes include "Original" mode, a classic arcade mode, "Z Survivor", in which the player faces opponent as long as his character has some health left, a "Training" mode to hone their skills, "Versus" to fight against another player. There is also an option to create custom characters to use in these modes. The custom character will grow stronger and learn new skills as he gains experience from battles. A custom character can collect the seven Dragon Balls, and upon collecting them enter "Shenron Summon" mode to summon the legendary dragon and wish for various things, such as additional attack and unlockable characters.

The base roster includes:

• Goku
• Vegeta
• Future Trunks
• Teen Gohan
• Krillin
• Android 18
• Frieza
• Cell
• Chi-Chi
• Piccolo
• Android 16
• Android 17
• Fat Buu

Unlockable characters:

• Ultimate Gohan
• Videl
• Mecha Frieza
• King Piccolo
• Majin Vegeta