Updated version of the Original? I think it is, but it's not a bad thing either!
Let me just start with the graphics. Some of the sprites are imported from the last game. They're given a nice gleam, and there are still a lot more sprites, not just reused ones. With the DS quality and the look of the game these reused sprites look better. There's advanced pixel art of every character, and they're not reused. They look incredible and give fluidity to the main storylines. The backrounds to the game are mostly 3D. It's an incredible change from the original version. The higher polygon count of the DS is a never before seen blend of our graphics to 64 bit ones; which is why they look so amazing. You could stare at the backrounds. Not just because they're pretty, but they also give your fight a good feel of realism, and a sense your playing the show itself. The graphics are fine, perfect for a DS game. It may even show off it's capabilities!
Next is the audio of the game. The music of this game contains battle music, which is different for EACH STAGE, and menu music. I won't tell you about the menu music because you won't pay attention to it at all. However, some of the stage music in this game is incredible. There's techno, rock, and in one stage rap. The few rock pieces you hear in the game are pretty good, especially in the Brolly movie stage. The techno is separated from slow and fast beats. Some of the stages have you play in near silence, then bursts out with fast paced action music. Most of the slow tempo techno is pretty bad, sometimes laughable at how bad it is! About half the stage music of the game is good, and the other half is bad. Then there's the audio for the characters. Some of the characters don't have the original voice actors. For example, Super Buu sounds like a little kid laughing in a deep voice. Most of the characters have good voiceovers; you may be a little dissapointed in some though. This isn't much of a problem though, because there are a lot of techniques in this game. This didn't have to mean more audio, but they did it anyway. You'll feel like you're playing as your character, because of all the little comments they make about their techniques, about the opponent, and when they win, lose, or are about to fight. You won't be dissapointed in the audio! This is probably the best quality of the game!
Now the gameplay feels a little different. For starters, the game is less fast pased then the original one in main combat. However, it makes up for this with a balanced fighting system, more time for reactions, and a new powerlevel system. Let me start with the new techniques. You have the original super attack depending on whether you're above, next to, or below your opponent. This can get the job done, but there are much deeper techniques then this. First we have team powers. Depending on what two characters you have on your team you can do great techniques that do high damage until the other character you need is defeated. The downside is it takes 200% ki to do so everytime, but doing it as many times as you want makes up for it. These attacks are well done and animated. The first time you play you'll be amazed by them. Now there are ultimate attacks. When your hp is red, you have to have at least 150% ki and go in a certain direction (above, below, sideways) to perform this technique. These techniques are extremely powerful, and can give you an edge in battle if they don't kill your opponent. This is a great idea because instead of being defeated as such, you can leave your mark on the opponent by going all out and doing major damage before you die if you don't kill them afterwards. Everyone also has special ki blast attacks, some being really powerful and nicely animated, to others being long or annoying. Most are personalized for every character. Then there's basic melee, which gives you much more ki and is redone to actually be useful. It's harder to dodge special attacks, and guard is on another button. This is a traumatic change from the original. If you don't get used to the new guard then be prepared to take every blow from your opponent! I got 100% complete with the game not mastering the guard, but it definately makes it faster and easier.
There are a lot more stages in this game and you can choose between them. There are about 10 different levels. Each is big and some of bigger or prettier. Something to note is that now when you take a characters story, it'll go through the normal series. If you do special things in a certain fight you go through a what-if story. The story mode in this game is transformed into a mission like form, you can also skip to your favorite part of the story, and they're longer now. The final, and very big change from the original, is the specific powerlevels of every character. Ginyu will always be a low powerlevel, while SSJ 3 gotenks is probably the cheapest and most powerful person in the game. There are 7 Dragon Points, or DP. 1 DP means that character is weak, whilst level 7 DP characters are very powerful and cheap; they're made for fighting against a large group of people, even if they have 6 or 5 DP. This makes much more sense and makes for more realistic gameplay in the terms of krillin fighting super buu.
This is all I have to say about this game. It's an update of a classic and fun game. They managed to take the flaws of the original, maybe get rid of a few good things from the original, but managed to create a great game that surpasses the original. There are problems with this game, but it's so fun and so good it won't even matter. This game deserves praise from DBZ fans, especially since you can take this game anywhere!