As in all shoot 'em up games, enemies must be shot and destroyed. While flying enemies are the most numerous, many ground targets (buildings, vehicles, turrets) can be destroyed as well. Bosses appear at the end of each wave or even halfway through the later, more difficult waves. For each target destroyed the player earns credits. The amount of credits earned per enemy destroyed is usually proportional to how tough or dangerous it is, with some of them dropping additional credit bonuses. The Raptor jet is particularly durable compared to player-controlled craft of other scrolling shooters which can the destroyed with a few hits. However, there are no "lives" so the game is over when the player dies, although the player can reload a recently saved game.
Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".