Controlling the titular starship, the player is tasked with completing each of the game's seven stages in order to wipe out the Zeograd Army, an alien race bent on conquering Earth.

Miscommunication between Uribo and staff lead to several mechanics being altered or changed by mistake, such as several stronger enemies instead being easy to kill.

Retrospective reviews were much more positive, with some labeling it one of the TurboGrafx-16's definitive shooter games for its fast-paced gameplay and easy learning curve.

The player assumes the role of the titular starship, which must complete each of the game's seven stages (referred to as "operations" in-game) in an effort to wipe out the Zeograd Army, an alien race bent on conquering Earth.

[2][3] The Soldier Blade begins the game with a standard "Vulcan" projectile, which can destroy most enemies with a single shot, and can collect other weapons by acquiring different colored power capsules; these include a wave gun and a deadly laser that wipes out anything in its path.

[1] Completing the main game will give the player access to a stage select, allowing them to play whichever area they choose.

[5] Hikaru Aoyama suggested creating a new shooting game with the tournament in mind; Uribo was hesitant to begin working on it due to it being around six months away, but Hudson executives pushed for the idea to go forth anyway.

[5] Planning for the project was known to be constantly under pressure via time and memory constraints, with employees simply throwing in ideas on the spot and creating the game as they went.

[5] It was originally called Sonic Blaster F-92 in early versions, named after the player's ship designed by artist Tatsuya Doe, however trademark issues caused it to be renamed Soldier Blade instead.

[5] Miscommunication between Uribo and the rest of the development team within the planning documents caused some elements of the game to be altered by mistake, such as the large "Bay Wolf" battleships in the first stage being near-defenseless and easy kills and the "missile pod" enemies in the sixth stage to fire a simple spread shot instead of homing missiles.

[6] Per Uribo's request, Keita Hoshi created a medley theme featuring music from each stage of the game to be played at the end credits.

[16] Many publications greatly appreciated the power-up system for being unique and fun to use,[4][2] with GameSpot in particular liking its flexibility and for being easy to understand.