In Battle arena Toshinden you have to join one of eight different Martial Arts performers, each with their own weapon and special moves. In the tournament you have to fight (and win) against all other opponents. Then you have to fight a "mirror fight? against a reflected image of you. To finally become the fighter of the century, you fight against Gaia ? the boss character.

Before trying to fight the tournament you can practice new moves in practice-mode. For beginners the game has some helping features, such as an auto-defense move. The game also has a two-player option, via network and modem on PC. The game uses a real 3D engine, which is fully rotatable.