The gameplay is similar to Taito's Violence Fight and SNK's Street Smart. The player must punch and kick their opponents until their energy runs out. If the player presses all three of the buttons at once, the character will perform a "super move". The player begins by choosing one of the three playable characters, who each have different moves, speeds, and powers. Up to three people can play at a time, but there will be extra opponents to fight during any of the game's 15 different matches.
Every third fight is a bonus round known as a Grudge Match.[3] In a Grudge Match, the player must fight against a CPU controlled clone of the fighter if playing alone, or against the other players in a multiplayer game. Getting knocked down three times eliminates a player from the Grudge Match; the winner is the last one standing. Losing the Grudge Match does not eliminate a player, but the winner gets bonus money.
The final battle, the "Championship Match", is between the player and the mysterious entity that taunts between matches periodically, the Masked Warrior. If more than one person is playing the game before this match, they must fight each other to the death until only one becomes victorious and can fight him.
The crowd can interfere by attacking, dropping usable weapons, or pushing a stray player back into the fight. The "power pill" power-up makes the player temporarily stronger and take less damage from hits.
Characters[edit]
Pit-Fighter features 3 playable fighters:
Buzz (Bill Chase): A big and strong ex-professional wrestler.
Ty (Marc Williams): An agile kickboxing champion.
Kato (Glenn Fratticelli): A quick 3rd degree black belt.
Pit-Fighter has 8 unplayable opponents. Several of the characters share the names of the actors who played them:[4]
Executioner (John Aguire)
Southside Jim (James Thompson)
Angel (Angela Stellato)
C.C. Rider (Rich Vargas)
Mad Miles (Miles McGowan)
Heavy Metal (Kim Rhodes)
Chainman Eddie (Eddie Venancio)
Masked Warrior (Bill McAleenan)
Others:
Knife Woman (Dianne Bertucci)
Knife Man (Milt Loper)
Finale Woman (Tina Scyrater)
Finale Woman (Maria Lenytzkyj)
Big Kid In The Crowd (Gabriel Koura)
Crowd (Rob Rowe)