Cosmic Carnage/Gameplay

Controls
One player may compete against the computer, or two players may simultaneously compete against each other. Each player has an 8-way D-Pad and 6 buttons, 2 for punches, 2 for kicks, and 2 for provoke.

D-Pad
The D-Pad works intuitively in that pressing left will generally move your character left, and pressing right will generally move your character right. But it is more important to think in terms of relative direction. For this reason, all instructions are given with respect to forward and backward since the left and right directions change purpose when your character switches directions.
 * If your character is facing to the right, then pressing left on the D-Pad means backward, and pressing right on the D-Pad means forward.
 * If your character is facing to the left, then pressing left on the D-Pad means forward, and pressing right on the D-Pad means backward.

The following directions assume that your character is facing right, the starting direction of every fight for player one, who begins on the left side:

Rules
Each battle consists of a match between you and your opponent. At the start of each round, both player's life or health bars are full. The first player to drive the other player's health bar to zero wins the round. The first player to win all the necessary rounds wins the match and moves on to the next opponent. If a single player loses to the computer, the game is over and the player must continue to rematch the recent opponent.

Attacking
To win a round, the player must use his or her character's attack moves to damage the opponent, and block or dodge the opponent's attacks. Each player may attack from a standing or crouching position, or they may jump and attack in the air. To attack from a standing position, press any single attack button. To attack from a crouching position, pull the joystick in a downward direction (including both diagonals) and press any single attack button. To attack from the air, direct your character to jump straight up, or jump in a diagonal position, and press any single attack button in mid-air.

Blocking
To block an attack, a player must push backward on the joystick when the opponent attacks (otherwise, pressing back on the joystick moves the player away from the opponent.) Blocking can be done standing which blocks middle and high attacks, as well as attacks in the air, but does not block attacks that are low to the ground. Blocking can also be done down crouching by pressing the joystick diagonally down and back. A Crouching block will successfully block low and middle attacks. High attacks will usually go over your character's head if they are crouching, but a crouching block does not defend against air attacks.

Special Attacks
In addition to normal attacks, there are attacks known as special moves. A special move is a move that requires a more complicated joystick motion and an attack button to perform. Special attacks can be blocked like any other attack, but they do what's known as "tick damage". That is, even when blocked, they remove a single hit point from your health bar. Most special moves have a pause associated with them that leaves you vulnerable to attack if you miss the opponent.

Throwing
Throws are executed by standing immediately next to your opponent, pressing the joystick either towards or away, and pressing a punch or kick button. If performed correctly, your character will grab the opponent and toss them to the ground in a manner specific to your character's fighting style. In general, every character can throw with any punch or kick buttons. Throws are unblockable.

Fatalities
Finally, rather than a normal finish, your character can finalize your opponent with a fatality in a Samurai Shodown-style, to execute an fatality, the player must do this:

1. 1 or 2 rounds must be won by the player (the 1 or 2 rounds depend on the number of rounds you put at the options, if put as 1 round, a fatality can be executed on the first match).

2. Your opponent's health bar must be low.

When you do this, you must finish your opponent with a special move, It doesn't matter if your opponent is knocked to the ground or air, but this doesn't happen when your character defeats the opponent with a special move while the opponent is blocking an attack (but all of this things showed about can happen with you or your opponent), 1 of 3 things will happen to either you or your opponent:

1) - Your/Their head will explode.

2) - Your/Their arms will be cut off.

3) - You'll/They'll be cut in half at the waist.