Each Densha de Go title contains actual train (or tram) routes based on real services in Japan.

While the specifics vary slightly between versions, the user is expected to obey speed limits and other posted signs, sound a warning for work parties along the track, arrive at between-station waypoints on time, and perform similar tasks.

Densha de Go differ from Ongakukan's Train Simulator series primarily in that while the Ongakukan series uses video taken from cameras mounted to the front of real-world trains for its graphics, Densha de Go titles rely upon computer-drawn graphics.

While still popular in an absolute numbers sense, the series had lost the novelty of its heyday while development costs for individual titles continued to climb due to the detailed virtual worlds that needed to be created.

In April 2010, 5 years after Square Enix acquired Taito Corporation as a wholly owned subsidiary, Densha de Go!

In June 2011 a version of the game also covering the Yamanote line was released for Apple's iOS (only available in the Japanese App Store).

Unbalance, who had long supported the franchise by publishing ports of each title to the Windows platform in Japan for over a decade, discontinued the last of its released Densha de Go!

A line of custom USB controllers for the series had been discontinued even earlier and now command a large premium on sites such as Yahoo!

In 2017 Taito, which is now owned by Square Enix, released a new arcade cabinet in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the game series.

According to an article from Geek: "The cabinet includes four displays, three of which act as windows showing the track and simulated outside world, whereas the fourth forms the dashboard the player sits at.