This is very important as every attack you perform will consume some power from your characters energy meter. This is how you power up. Hold the power up button, your character will glow and become surrounded by energy, the longer you hold it, the more your energy meter fills. You are very vulnerable while doing this so be careful.
Flying:
The controls in this game are very simple. To advance towards your opponent, simply hold up on the directional pad, to retreat, hold down. If you press the power up button while flying towards or away from your opponent, your character will fly faster, leaving a trail of energy. This burns up your energy level very fast, so use it sparingly. To revert back to normal speed, press the power up button again. While the flying fast energy boost is being used you can double tap left or right on the control pad to fly in a circular pattern from your opponent, thereby changing the angle of attack (and rotating the screen). You can also fly at angles this way by double tapping diagonally on your control pad. To get a quick burst of speed in a certain direction, double tap and hold the control pad that way and press the power up button, your character will get a short burst of speed. Other than this, you will only move towards or away from your opponent.
Blocking:
Holding the block button will block everything, no power at all is gained on the power meter for the opposing team if you block moves. The games biggest problem(in my opinion) lies in the blocking system that the game uses. Yes everything can be blocked, but you can only block attacks by your targeted opponent, which is just fine in a one on one fight. But when you have more than one character on each team, the computer will gang up on(or your opponent can send his whole squad after) one of your characters. You cannot block anything an opponent who is not your primary taget does. This gets extremely frustrating when your after one character, but he's always near another member of his team, now you can't advance on them because the one that your not targeting will hit you easily. You are then forced to use energy flying away quickly. This flaw also comes into play when attacking, you will only hit your targeted opponent, even fireballs that are in a direct line with a non-targeted opponent will not hit(but they can hit your characters in the back :).
Fireballs(energy attacks):
Press the fireball button to shoot an energy burst. Hold the button for a bit and let go, when you do, your character will launch a barrage of energy bursts very fast. The longer you hold the button, the more the character will fire(and the more energy it will consume) As soon as the button is pressed, the character locks his aim at the spot that his targeted opponent is in. When the button is let go, the energy bursts will travel towards that spot, if the opponent has moved towards you they will still hit, as he is still in their path. If your opponent has changed his angle of attack, the bursts will pass by him and you'll be stuck firing for the length of time you held the button, leaving you wide open to an attack. Fireballs will only slightly sway the power meter in your favor, and thats with an awful lot of them. Use them primarily for slowing down your opponent.
Character select button:
This is available in Z Campaign mode only. It brings up the character select screen, where you can substitute or call out a player from your team. The computer takes control of all fighters on your team when this screen is up. To select a new character to join the battle you must have less than 3 characters in use at the time. If you have 3 in use, Highlight the character you wish to have leave the battle and press A (Saturn), O(Playstation). The word "Chain" under the chosen character will roll to read "Over." Then select the character you wish to join the battle(must have the word "Over" under him) by highlighting his portrait and pressing the A(Saturn), O(Playstation) button again, the word "Open" will roll to "Chain" and he will join the battle under your control. To get back to the battle press the Character select button again.
Scroll player characters button:
This button, when pressed scrolls through the characters on your team, allowing you to directly control different characters at different times. The larger portrait at the top is the character currently under your control. The Saturn has one button for this and it scrolls from top to bottom through the characters. The Playstation has two buttons for it, one scrolls top to bottom, and the other scrolls bottom to top.
Scroll through opposing team(targeting) button:
This button, when pressed scrolls through the characters on the opposing team(represented by large pictures on the top right hand side of the screen in one player modes, or small portraits at the end of your characters life and energy bars in two player modes). Whichever character you stop on will be the only character that your character will/can attack while under your control. It is also the only character that you can block the attacks of. As with the player character button, the Saturn has one button for this, it scrolls from top to bottom through your opponents. The Playstation has two, one scrolls top to bottom, the other, bottom to top.
Attack button:
The attack button has a few different functions, depending on the way the directional pad is pressed before hitting this button.
Just the button(no motion)= a flurry of punches and kicks, this will deflect fireballs(starting move for 2nd and 3rd grab and attacks, also regular grab and attack on Playstation)
Forward, Forward+Attack= grab and attack(combo starter)(on the Playstation, this must be done during normal flurry of hits attack)
Forward+Attack(during any grab and attack)= knock opponent across the screen
Back+Attack(during any grab and attack)= knock the opponent the opposite way across the screen
Up+Attack= hit that knocks opponent into the air
Down+Attack= hit that knocks opponent downward onto the ground
Back, Forward+Attack= knocks opponent left or right across screen
Half circle from right to left+Attack(during normal flurry of hits attack)= grab and attack pushing your opponent upwards with hits(the initial flurry of hits has to make contact) It does not matter which side of your opponent you are on.
Half circle from left to right+Attack(during normal flurry of hits attack)= grab and attack pushing your opponent downward with hits(the initial flurry of hits has to make contact) It does not matter which side of your opponent you are on.
All the attacks can be strung after the grab and attack(except the last 3) to create combos. The grab and attack can be hooked onto the other moves as well, making for very long combos(I've done a 23 hit with SS Trunks). To do this just keep the directional pad held(on the Playstation you must Tap and hold) in the direction of your knock away move. Your character will then chase the knocked opponent, stopping where they land(or as soon as you let go of the direction held). Then just follow up with another move, there you have it, instant combo. Be warned on the higher levels characters controlled by the computer are very good at breaking combos.
