The objective is to defeat the enemy aliens using grenades and other weapons. The story directly picks up at the ending of Ikari Warriors. Congratuled by General Kawasaki for rescuing him, Paul and Vince return home to their native country in a plane arranged by the general. Expecting a heros welcome upon arriving home, a mysterious storm appears and they are hurtled thousands of years into the future. They are met by an alien creature who says that the villain Zang Zip has taken over the land.

The NES version includes the added feature of collecting zeny as currency. This money was then spent at a store also unique to the NES port where the player could buy improved weaponry and armor. The NES version emulates the controls of the arcade version by locking the facing of the character in one direction for as long as the fire button was depressed.

Weapons no longer have limited ammunition.

Player begins with a flamethrower, but when player loses a life, it is changed to machine gun.

Weapon powerups are scattered throughout the levels often hidden under rocks destroyable by the bazooka weapon or grenades.

There are no vehicles in this game, but it was replaced by armour, which allows player to take limited number of hits without time expiration.