In Starush, a horizontally scrolling shooter, the player has to save four worlds based on the four elements (three levels each) from alien attacks. To do so, the player flies from left to right while shooting everything in sight followed by a boss. Then one speciality of the game kicks in: the player flips direction and has to beat the same level again backwards with a new set of enemies and another boss. Collected extra symbols reward upgrades for the weapon and mostly for the means of transportation. The latter also serves as health bar: after each hit an upgrade level is lost. In turn there is only one life.