The game follows the typical 8-way directional pad/stick with 6-button layout common to most fighting games (including Street Fighter II) at the time consisting of weak, medium and strong punches and kicks. The Genesis version supports the standard 3-button controller (making use of the start button to toggle between punches and kicks), as well as the 6-button controller released during the previous year. The characters has several special moves, as well as finishing moves called Overkills where the losing character has their own unique death animation when they are defeated by a certain type of basic attack.