You know what I liked about DBZ/ESF. The speed, and the smacking people around the place.. across massive areas and into mountains and buildings and stuff. But mainly the speed.
They slowed the game down after v1.1 (which I didn't notice, but that's because I played it [v1.2] about 3 times). I stopped playing because I was on dialup and v1.2 was very uch impossible to play. v1.1 I could play online, even with people in the US for some reason. It was laggy, but it was still playable - really late at night.
v1.2 seemed too complex to just pick up and play. This was the beauty of v1.1. ANd it's the beauty of any good game. "Easy to learn, hard to master" - all the old arcade games are like this. v1.1 was closer to this than the latest versions. But it does get boring. So stuff like transformations and new moves would add a lot to it. Something you have to work for to attain. A goal for you to reach. Combos would be cool, but a system that is intuitive and still looks good is needed.
I originally suggested the system they use now for advanced melee, with the direction pressing. Although I suggested more of a rock, paper, scissors system. Something went wrong with v1.2. Whether it was the netowkr code (so it was too laggy for me) or the slowing down or the advanced melee, I don't know. I just know the game lacks something now more than it did then.
edit:
This fast paced stuff is utter crap imo, for a start swooping had a lock on in 1.1, meaning all the time you're being guided towards the player you are swooping at, if you had that speed swoop without the targeting you'd never be able to hit the other oponent, as ive read in previous discussions from team members you would just slide of the other player all the time, so unless you want the lock on system, and no room for speeds with higher transformations then fine, but to me thats idiotic and makes no sense.
the lock on in v1.0/1.1 was not a real lock on. all it would do is put a box around the target player so you could find them. you still had to aim yourself at the player and if they moved or teleported, you would MISS. all i know is that DBZ is fast, and the game should be fast. if they slow things down, then the game loses appeal, because it is no longer like DBZ.