Players control the protagonist, Dex, who is made younger and weaker by the villain Borf, through platforming-action and shooting segments.

During gameplay, Dex must dodge attacks and jump over pits while the perspective automatically scrolls along the path to the end of the level.

Players can find various secrets and items along the way, and can also turn Dex into Ace, at which point he can engage in combat using a gun against his enemies, which wears off eventually.

Like the original arcade version, this game has videos that play during certain events, like ending the level of being hurt by an enemy, the latter which takes a life away.

Electronic Games staff also questioned advice given by Absolute product developer Stephen Ross on making proper jumps, commenting that it seemed like Dex would get killed no matter where they went at times.

[5] GamePro critic Lawrence of Arcadia found the adaptation poorly done, suggesting that people wait for the Sega CD port of the arcade version to be released.

The Gamer writer Derek Draven ranked it as the worst Super NES game of all time, criticizing it for poor controls, uneven levels, and for "insulting" Don Bluth's art by including "drastically compressed snippets" of his work from the original.

[11] Den of Geek writer Matthew Byrd also included it on their own list of worst Super NES games, criticizing the publisher for trying to emulate the original Space Ace instead of making something new.

[14] Writer Chris Scullion criticized the game for its trial-and-error gameplay, calling it "gruelling" and finding it tedious to have to replay levels until he could figure out how to play it properly.