Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit is a fighting game, which let's players experience the major battles from the first three sagas of the anime (the Saiyan, Frieza and Cell sagas) both from the perspective of good and evil characters. The game features 3 playable characters at first, but completing Z-Chronicles mode, a total of 21 characters can be unlocked. New to the series are the "drama pieces", events that can be triggered during gameplay, playing a cut-scene and affecting the battle in some way (like granting a health boost to one of the players, blocking an attack etc.)

Next to the Z-Chronicles mode and common Versus mode (which also features online play) there's also a Training mode, teaching new players the basics and 3 Trial modes: Survival mode, which tasks you to defeat 100 opponents in a row, Time Attack challenges you to beat 10 opponents under a certain time limit and Battle Point, which scores you based on the moves you use to defeat your opponent.