Unlike most other fighting games, you can control only one character (Joe) in single-player mode. In two-player mode, you can choose to fight as any of the seven available fighters, and also choose a scenery. The game plays like a standard 2D fighter: you can punch, kick, and jump on you opponents, but the fights are not entirely 2D, since you can also take a few steps vertically.

You are Joe, a young American who has been secretly training to become a powerful fighter. One day, he meets an old martial artist who tells him he should travel all over the world to meet other teachers and to learn from them. During his travels, Joe encounters many other fighters, and has to become more and more skillful in order to prove that he is the greatest fighter in the world.