Gameplay differs depending upon the craft - for instance, missions featuring Thunderbird 1 involve side-scrolling shoot 'em ups bombing enemy satellites and rescuing hostages, whilst missions featuring Thunderbird 2 involve navigating mazes from a top-down perspective.

The Game Boy Advance version of Thunderbirds is broadly similar to the design of its Game Boy Color counterpart,[5] although featuring updated graphics and different levels, including side-scrolling platforming and a meteor-dodging race in Thunderbird 3.

[5] SCi Games obtained the licensing rights for Thunderbirds in December 1999 to coincide with the digital restoration and relaunch of the 1965 television show on BBC2 in 2000.

[4] 64 Magazine stated Thunderbirds is "incredibly well designed and great fun, the different gameplay styles providing a ton of variety" and with "superb" sound.

[15] James Cottee of Hyper praised the game's "great deal of variety in play styles" and the "flair" of the graphics.