[6] It was released by SNK in Japan and Europe 1981,[7][3] and licensed to Centuri for manufacture in North America in October[1] and to Zaccaria in Italy the same year.

[8] Vanguard is one of the first shooters with forced scrolling, following Scramble and Super Cobra from earlier in 1981 and released the same month as Cosmic Avenger.

Vanguard II, an arcade sequel with top-down, multidirectional scrolling, and gameplay similar to Time Pilot '84, remained obscure.

Vanguard is similar to Scramble, in that the player controls a ship which automatically flies forward through scrolling levels.

Vultan's theme (composed by Queen's Freddie Mercury) from the 1980 film Flash Gordon is used as the sound effect when a power-up is attained.

Note was also made of the fact that this version of Vanguard marked the first time a continued play option was offered in a game cartridge.

Game Machine listed the sequel on their May 1, 1984 issue as being the twenty-second most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

[17] NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere, who enjoyed playing this game, used "Vanguard" as his title within the organization.