The game takes place in the far future, where mankind has recently developed technology allowing them to quickly travel to other planets. If the ship's energy reaches zero, the player must insert another credit, and then can begin immediately where they left off with a newly restored energy bar. This version opts for an energy bar instead of lives, and the Flintlock can take multiple hits before being destroyed.

The Flint's tentacles have been shortened in this version, and it now can only be shot forward and released instead of being able to be detached near the ship. In the overseas versions, the only available weapon is the Proton Laser, with Missiles acting as a secondary weapon powering up the Proton Laser increases its spread, and powering up the Missiles increases the amount fired.The game uses a traditional lives system, and when a life is lost, the player continues play from a checkpoint. The name of the current weapon is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Defeating certain enemies will drop other weapons. In the Japanese version, the player starts with the Proton Laser, a thin stream of weak bullets.The enemy patterns are also changed slightly and the bosses have more health. The overseas versions introduce a variety of changes, with the most notable being the removal of all but one upgradable weapon, as well as the removal of a lives system, which is replaced with an energy bar. There are different gameplay mechanics between the original Japanese release and the overseas releases. Power-ups can be obtained to increase the Flint's tentacles, movement speed, change the main weapon, or even give the player an extra life or energy. The player's ship, the Flintlock, has a detachable orb attachment called the Flint, which behaves similar to R-Type 's Force Device. The gameplay is similar to R-Type and X-Multiply.

Download Xexex