Highway Fighter is a scrolling top-down shooter, where you control a car equipped with advanced weaponry, sent out to destroy a world-threatening criminal organization. Each level is a long, winding road along which the car drives, facing various enemy vehicles coming at him from the opposite direction. Close contact with the edges of the road or with the enemies will result in destruction. The car is equipped with a laser cannon with which to destroy the opponents. There are a couple of pick-ups that can be found on the way: a weapon upgrade, a bonus that allows the car to destroy enemies by running into them, a bomb that instantly clears the screen of enemies, and three types of shields: a rotation shield (it orbits the car and destroys bad guys on contact), a side shield (prevents the car from destruction from the edges of the road) and a forward shield (destroys enemies in front of the car).