Gameplay involves shooting enemies and collecting different ship parts that each provide their own unique weapon, such as a wave gun or a double shot.

The Famicom release was later published in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Vic Tokai; it features a few alterations from the Japanese version, such as a remade soundtrack and the ability to customize the position of the player's ships when they separate from formation.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Terra Cresta on their October 15, 1985 issue as being the third most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

[4] They greatly praised Terra Cresta for its unique power-up system in particular, namely the ability to split the different ships apart for a short while, and favorably compared the gameplay itself to Xevious for its design and challenge, alongside its several nods to Japanese science-fiction shows and mecha.

[11] Terra Cresta was released for the PlayStation 2 by Hamster Corporation in 2005 as part of their Oretachi Gēsen Zoku series, including, among other things, a mini soundtrack CD and a replica instruction card.