The whole Virtua Fighter series is based around realism. As such, there are no projectile attacks or 100-hit combos here. Different fighting styles add diversity to how many different moves you can use, also making each character unique. The three main buttons are Punch 
, Kick 
, and Guard 
. Hundreds of different moves and combos can be accessed with the three buttons and the joystick.
The original arcade layout is shown above in the form of a Virtua Stick. The Virtua Stick was released primarily for Virtua Fighter (to match up with the arcade version), but can be used for other Saturn fighting games as well. For the original Sega Saturn controller: 
to punch and 
to kick. For the original Sega Genesis controller: 
to punch and 
to kick. For Virtua Fighter Remix, the controls are the same, but for the PC port: to punch and to kick.
| Saturn | Genesis | Windows | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Punch | |
|
|
|
Kick | |
|
|
Guard |
As in many other fighting games, win a set by KO, ring out, or time out, and win a match by winning the most sets. Knock the other opponent out of the ring to get a ring out, knock them out by getting their health bar all the way down, and have more health by the time the clock stops to win by time out.