Laser Run owes its entire gameplay to the sequence of the Star Wars arcade game where you fly through a trench on the Death Star with the ultimate goal of shooting into a vent leading to the main reactor of the weapon. In fact, this blatant copy even plays the theme from Star Wars on the title screen. Since there is not much point in steering your ship while it runs down a straight trench, you instead control the crosshairs of your gun so that you can shoot down the TIE fighters that come flying in your opposite direction. The first fighter waves leave you alone, but soon they start to fire at you. When you encounter the hole in the trench, you must shoot into it – not in order to destroy the Death Star, but so as to replenish your shield energy. Two gauges on the screen show your remaining energy level and the distance to the next hole.