The players takes control of a duo (or squad) of undercover police officers who are assigned to rescue a group of kidnapped damsels from a crime boss and his army of punks.

Much like Konami's arcade version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (released during the same year), the game was available in a four-player dedicated cabinet, as well as a conversion kit that was available in 2-player and 4-player versions (meant for either Atari Games' Gauntlet or Konami's own Main Event).

Unlike Ninja Turtles, each player character is identical, save for each one sporting a different palette swapped color.

In the four-player versions, each player position has its own coin slot and each credit value adds around a hundred health points to that position which slowly drains one health point per tick (similar to Gauntlet).

In Japan, Game Machine listed Crime Fighters on their August 1, 1989 issue as being the third most-successful table arcade unit at the time.