Virtua Fighter Animation

In the story mode, the player follows the anime's plot, with anime style cutscenes before and after each fight. The story is divided into acts, each corresponding to a single fight. The player controls Akira Yuki, who recruits other characters as he wins fights. These characters can be chosen for future matches.

The versus mode allows players to choose any of the seven available characters to fight against the CPU. In the two-player versus game, Kage-Maru is removed from the character selection.

The Game Gear version has three viewing modes: Normal, Large and Real-Time. The Normal mode shows fighters from a distance with smaller sprites, while the Large mode uses larger sprites. The Real-Time mode simulates camera effects seen in other Virtua Fighter games, alternating between Normal and Large modes. It also includes an extended intro sequence.

In terms of gameplay, the game is similar to other 2D fighting games, allowing punches (button 1), kicks (button 2) and jumps (up). Special maneuvers are also available. The Game Gear version adds a block function (START button), which is not present in the Master System version.

Fights are best-of-three round matches. A player loses if their energy is depleted, they fall out of the ring, or run out of time and have less energy than the opponent.