At it's roots, it's essentially Super Street Fighter II with giant robots, but it has enough quirks to make it good.
The first major departure from Street Fighter is that there's a 4 button scheme instead of 6. 2 are attack buttons, 1 is a boost button used for dodging and recovery, and the last is a range weapon. The pilot you choose doesn't matter except for storyline. Mechs share some ranged weapons and leg types (such as hovering mechs), but each has completely different movelists, which are executed exactly like Street Fighter special moves. Super attacks are also present in Cyberbots. The final difference between Cyberbots and Street Fighter is the ability to knock off your opponents limbs. If you rack up a large enough combo, you can separate weapon arms from the enemy mech, drastically reducing their abilities until it is reattached.
This game is very rare in the U.S., and you've likely never even seen it. But if you do, go ahead and give it a spin.
P.S.--Jin Saotome and his mech, the BX-02 Blodia appear as playable characters in Marvel vs. Capcom. He doesn't actually fight in the mech, he just summons it for his special moves.