An accomplished and graphically superb sideways scrolling shoot-em-up that borrows many of its visual and gameplay elements from all three games in Irem's legendary "R-Type" series; including the Beam weapon and R-type's infamous pod attachment. Unlike "R-Type", however, Pulstar's pod cannot be detached from the front of the ship and merely acts as a shield to protect the player's ship.

Pulstar consists of eight challenging levels, with the player able to start the game on any one of the first four.