Wangan Midnight is the first video game adaptation based on the Wangan Midnight manga. The cabinet consists of two racing units with a chair and steering wheel. Similar to the concept of the Tokyo Xtreme Racer \ Shutokō Battle series, players roam the Metropolitan Expressway in Tokyo that has been divided into eight tracks. The Story mode adapts parts of the manga as the player's character seeks out and defeats increasingly challenging opponents. The player can freely roam the expressway with a traffic density that shifts according to the time of day. When an opponent is encountered the game enters a battle mode and the cars start to race each other. Each car has a life gauge, shown as an SP meter, that is drained for the trailing car. The race is over when time runs out or when one of the cars loses all SP.

The other game modes are the Time Attack mode and a Versus mode played against another player locally. The available cars are licensed from manufacturers such as Mitsubishi, Nissan and Subaru.