Cadillacs and Dinosaurs is a side-scrolling, beat 'em up arcade game based on the comic book series Xenozoic Tales. In the game, the player has access to several attacks. Each character has two special moves including one that depletes a character's health upon contact with an enemy and when two or more players play together, they can trigger a team-attack. Players can also find and use various firearms, throwing weapons such as rocks and explosives, and melee weapons such as clubs.

The plot is based on the comic Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and takes place in the "City In The Sea" and its neighboring nearby jungle. The story starts 500 years from the 20th century, when an ensemble gang called the Black Marketeers begin hunting the dinosaurs to serve their unknown purpose. The continuous hunting process has made the dinosaurs violent and now they have started attacking villages and people.

In order to get things sorted again, mechanic and shaman Jack Tenrec, diplomat and explorer by profession Hannah Dundee, friend and engineer Mustapha Cairo, and mysterious Mess O'Bradovich have decided to team up against the evil deeds of the Black Marketeers. The protagonists reach "the City in the Sea" where they suspect the whole hunting network being operating from.