Crime Fighters is a beat-em up arcade game where your job is to rescue several women that have been kidnapped by a crime boss and clean up the streets by pummeling as many gang members as possible with your bare hands, as well as anything else you might possibly discover. You will travel through eight levels throughout the city, in locations that range from subways to the docks.

At the end of every stage is a fight with a boss character, many of whom happen to be knockoffs of famous horror movie antagonists like Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees. Scoring is handled by a system wherein you simply get a point for every enemy you kill. Occasionally examples of cartoon physics pop up, such as when your character gets squashed flat by a moving steamroller or a falling billboard.