As the title suggests, the game includes characters from Marvel's X-Men franchise and the cast from Capcom's Street Fighter series.

[5] X-Men vs. Street Fighter also includes a meter system similar to the two aforementioned games called the "Hyper Combo Gauge".

[10] In Arcade Mode, the player fights several artificial intelligence-controlled teams before competing in a final battle against the boss character, Apocalypse, an antagonist from the X-Men series.

[7][9] The sprite designs themselves are based on the characters' appearances from the 1990s animated X-Men television series, complete with the original voice actors.

[7][12] X-Men vs. Street Fighter debuted in Japan in September 1996 for the CP System II arcade board, and was released worldwide later on in 1996.

[20] Sega licensed the game from Capcom, intending to release it in Europe bundled with the expansion cartridge;[21][8] however, these plans were eventually shelved.

At a November 6, 1996 press conference, Capcom announced that the home version of X-Men vs. Street Fighter would be exclusive to the Saturn.

"[44] In a retrospective review, AllGame gave it a score of four stars out of five, praising its combination of two of the most popular franchises of its era and its tag team mechanic.

[45] X-Men vs. Street Fighter was only mildly popular when first released in North American arcades, but after several months it caught on and became a hit.

Reviewers praised the Saturn edition's close recreation of the original arcade version, particularly the animation and sound quality, fast loading times, and absence of slowdown.

[6][38][40][42][10] Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot commended the character sprite animations and background details, claiming that "there is no better looking 2D fighter on any console system".

While Gerstmann also praised the port for its fast loading times and lack of slowdown, he criticized the game for its defense-oriented gameplay and recycling of the Street Fighter music themes.

[40] GamePro was pleased by the tag team feature, responsive controls, and accurate arcade conversion, though they remarked that "the gameplay at times relies more on flash than actual skill."

"[10] Rich Leadbetter, reviewing the later cancelled European edition of the Saturn port for the British Sega Saturn Magazine, criticized the lack of PAL optimization and compared the game unfavorably to its predecessor Marvel Super Heroes, saying the selection of characters is less exciting and the lack of console-exclusive modes is conspicuous.

However, he acknowledged that X-Men vs. Street Fighter is a much more accurate conversion of its arcade counterpart, and concluded it to be outstanding in absolute terms.

[37][27][29][26][41][47] Jeff Gerstmann, again reviewing the game for GameSpot, argued that Capcom should never have released X-Men vs. Street Fighter for the PlayStation, since it clearly could not handle a decent conversion.

[11][26] GamePro said it was "worth a cautionary rental at best", arguing that the slowdown is not only frequent but dramatic enough to throw off the player's timing, making the port not fun to play.

[47] Electronic Gaming Monthly's four-person review team was split: Dan Hsu and Shawn Smith both said that while the conversion is so terrible that anyone who had played the arcade or Saturn versions would have a hard time enjoying it, it was decent fun on its own merits, while John Ricciardi and Sushi-X both agreed with GamePro that the slowdown kills any enjoyment of the game.

[5] The game is notable for introducing "assists" into the Marvel vs. Capcom series, which allow players to summon their off-screen character to perform an attack during battle.