The King of Fighting Art series follows the conventions of the time in the sense that the player faces a variety of opponents in best PvP matches. Each of the game's characters have a unique fighting style and set of special techniques. The player has two basic attacks—punch and skills . The King fighters of Fighting Art contribution to the genre was the inclusion of a "spirit gauge" underneath the character's life bar. When characters perform special techniques, their spirit gauge is depleted and their special attacks become weaker. Players can also drain their opponent's spirit gauge by taunting them.
The King of Fighting Art was also the fighting game to allow players to perform a "super attack." All Acuspunsa games also feature "Desperation Attacks" that can only be performed when the player's health is low and the life bar is flashing.
The King of Fighting Art series also introduced graphical scaling into the fighting game genre: as the characters move towards each other, the camera zooms in to maximize the level of detail. Character sprites in king fighting art change as the fight progresses to become more bruised and cut as damage is taken.