Set in Japan in the post-apocalyptic year of 2097, Speed Power Gunbike entails the war between humanity's last survivors and a technologically advanced race known as the Michi.

The plot follows a team consisting of three members, each piloting a titular "Gunbike", a weaponized vehicle capable of taking different forms including a motorcycle and a bipedal mech.

An invading race known as the Michi has staked its claim on Earth by artificially creating extreme changes in the planet's atmosphere, pushing humanity to the brink of extinction.

The player is tasked with doing all this while keeping watch on the Gunbike's "Anergy" meter, which acts as both health and a time limit and slowly ticks down from its full tank of 99, shown on a heads-up display (HUD).

[5] The first, Bike mode, appears as a motorcycle and is used primarily to quickly race through a stage at high speeds, but is easily affected by enemy attack and is difficult to turn.

Simultaneous presses of different face buttons allow this mode to utilize a laser cannon, a rush maneuver, or a jump-thrust attack for battling enemies.

An even more powerful attack, capable of wiping out all on-screen enemies, can be executed if enough combinations are done in succession in order to fill the HUD's "G-Power" meter.

[6] Speed Power Gunbike was the first game developed by Inti Creates, a company formed in 1996 by 11 ex-Capcom staffers with similar goals and passions.

[8] Yoshihisa Tsuda was the designer and director of Speed Power Gunbike, while Inti Creates president and CEO Takuya Aizu took on the role of producer.

[8] The game's premise was largely inspired by science fiction anime of the 1980s in order to cater to a PlayStation user demographic of young males in their teens or 20s.

[12][13][14] A pre-release version of Speed Power Gunbike was showcased at the Autumn Tokyo Game Show in September 1997 alongside other SME titles like Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, Lagnacure, DamDam Stompland, and Escaper.

He also blamed poor advertising from Sony Music, claiming that there were both disagreements and a lack of communication between the developer and SME's marketing department regarding the game's target audience.

Dave Halverson of Gamers' Republic positively proclaimed, "The gameplay's a speedy mix of dodging, transforming, destroying, and racing through a bleak metallic landscape.

[3] GameSpot writer Josh Smith similarly described its "sluggish and awkward" controls and maze-like stages as serious flaws and that mastering the game's training mode was required to surmount its extreme difficulty.

[5] Anthony Chau of GameFan and Georg Döller of Mega Fun also criticized the controls and found that the fast-paced, action heavy gameplay became too monotonous or boring in the long run.

[7][22] Both Smith and Joe Salina of Hardcore Gaming 101 criticized the camera for taking too long to correctly position itself behind the player character's viewpoint when he or she is quickly turned around.

"[6] In another positive blurb, Retro Gamer suggested that the gameplay mechanics were initially difficult to grasp, but that it offered a rewarding experience once players could overcome the learning curve.

The magazine echoed Salina's comparison, calling it "some kind of strange, less forgiving alternate universe Sonic game that wanted the player to earn the feeling of freedom and speed.