Battle Circuit is a 2D side scrolling beat'em up drawn in a comic (manga) style in a futuristic science fiction setting. A group of bounty hunters must capture the mad scientist Dr. Saturn with a giant head. The roster of heroes has 5 characters for the player to choose from: Cyber Blue, a human bounty hunter with cybernetic attachments to his body; Captain Silver, a humanoid shape-shifting hunter who has ability to project ice particles from his body; Pink Ostrich, a large, sentient, pink ostrich, who is always accompanied by its owner, a young girl named Pola Abdul; Yellow Iris, a part-time fashion model with claws and Alien Green, a space creature looking like a giant, moving plant. Gameplay is quite typical for the genre, like in Final Fight, Streets of Rage, or Cadillacs and Dinosaurs - players go right, beat the enemies (player has access to various attacks), collect bonuses and money, and fight against bosses, for example Dr. Saturn and his robots. Players' abilities can be expanded by purchasing special "upgrade discs" after the completion of levels using coins obtained from dead enemies.

Taking place in the future year 20XX, Battle Circuit follows the exploits of a group of super-powered bounty hunters as they apprehend wanted criminals (identified by special serial numbers) in the city of Neo Koba. The game begins with the player attempting to apprehend criminal 9696X, a scientist named Doctor Saturn and his blob-like sidekick aboard his spacecraft orbiting Earth. After the battle, the character selected by the player returns to his employer, Harry, and is promptly given another assignment to capture a member of the "Delete Gang", Johnny, who holds a valuable floppy disk in his possession. The bounty hunter then confronts Johnny at his disco hideout and learns that the disc contains a malicious computer program known as the "Shiva (Tentei) System", which is capable of controlling all computerized systems in the world. After selecting one of the available characters, players must travel through various levels- fighting through a variety of enemies from the Delete Gang- to obtain the disc and claim their bounty.