The game takes place in the future, during a time when Earth's fossil fuels have begun to dwindle. There is a massive war taking place all over the earth for control of these resources, as well as for territorial rights on the moon. The two warring governments, the Axis and Federation, have the ability to go into space and create giant space stations and weapons of mass destruction.

Jake is the game's protagonist. He is a soldier drafted into the Pacific States' Marine Corp and pilots a Federation Assault Suit. The Suit has a humanoid shape, with arms, legs, torso, and head. It is equipped with a variety of weapons and other special accessories, giving it full land and minor air capabilities.

Jake and his platoon are tasked with destruction of Bildvorg, the most powerful mech of the Axis forces. The various missions in the game lead up to the completion of this objective.

Although Cybernator was released after Target Earth, Cybernator takes place a decade before Target Earth.

In Assault Suit Valken 2, Jake makes a cameo appearance as a 30 year old veteran soldier who assists in battles as an NPC.

Jake Brain Main character. An AS pilot in the United Pacific States Marine Corps, assigned to carrier Versis' AS Squadron.

Claire Coral/Crea Coral Communications officer on board Versis.

Chuck Jonston/Chack Jonston Captain of Versis.

Francisco Flako/Geltz Enemy commander of Space Fortress Arc Nova. He is a small sized, ruthless man who has no qualms for civilian casualties as he tries to drop the fortress to Earth during the third mission. He pilots a gigantic mobile weapon. In Cybernator's manual he is named "Francisco Flako".

Alex Bedrach/Alef Berdach Enemy ace pilot. He appears during the fourth mission and becomes the nemesis of Jake during the game. He is also the final boss.

Claus Von Meister Barron/Schermalk Enemy supreme commander. A ruthless military dictator that started the war. In the uncensored Japanese version, he commits suicide after Jake's Assault Suit raids the enemy's assembly building.

Kurt/Herman One of Jake's wingmen. He is a cocky but reliable pilot. He was killed by Bedrach during the fourth mission.

Apollo One of Jake's wingmen.

The soundtrack was composed by Masanao Akahori, and was later rearranged on a ROMpler synthesizer (the same synthesizer used to provide the SNES samples played back on the SPC700) and released as a CD in Japan.

Cybernator was the subject of censorship during its localization. The Japanese version features written dialog accompanied by a portrait of the speaker, but these portraits were removed during localization. There is also a scene absent in which the president of the enemy forces, whose banner is the EU one's, after realizing that his nation has been defeated, commits suicide. Also some written dialog is taken out, which shows the soldier rescued in the fourth level being in the robot fought before the final boss.

The instruction manual of the English version is also filled with inconsistent information. For example, the sixth mission takes place in the Alps where Versis tries to fly over the mountains to reach the Allied front lines, but according to the manual, the player's aim is to raid the enemy commander's mountain retreat.

The game has two endings. The bad ending can be acquired if the player were to fail most of the side-missions in the game, such as failing to stop Arc Nova from falling or allowing the enemy space shuttle escapes in the 5th mission. In this ending Versis is critically damaged and most of her crew were killed including Claire, which leaves Jake devastated in the credits. If player succeeds the side missions, Versis survives and Jake returns to carrier, the war is over and Jake and Claire embrace each other in the Versis' deck.

A remake was released for PlayStation 2 only in Japan and Europe, but the game received poor reviews as it did not have any new features.

• Armored Core
• Front Mission
• Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
• Metal Warriors
• Target Earth