Gameplay involves completing missions assigned by the "Training Academy Coach", ranging from protecting bases from enemy fire or delivering cargo to a certain area.

Commissioned by Argonaut president Jez San after being impressed by the Game Boy at the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show, Cuthbert and a team of programmers were forced to reverse-engineer the system due to official development kits being hard to find.

A planned North American release named Lunar Chase was cancelled as Nintendo of America felt a game of its type was too advanced for a console meant for children.

Controlling the starship VIXIV, the player is tasked with completing missions assigned by the Training Academy Coach to protect the planet Tetamus II from being taken over by a mysterious alien race.

[2] It was presented to both Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi and engineer Ishuna, who were "blown away" by its usage of 3D wireframe graphics, requesting that Dylan and his team fly over to Japan and meet them.

[2] After being shown to other employees, Nintendo became so impressed with the game that they purchased the rights to it from the original publisher, Mindscape, and made Argonaut an official third-party licensee.

[5] At first, the title was named Eclipse, but then-Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi insisted upon it being renamed X, calling up director Yoshio Sakamoto a month before development was completed.

[6] A North American version titled Lunar Chase was completed by Cuthbert; however, Nintendo of America felt that the idea of a 3D first-person game on a handheld for children was too complicated, and (to his disappointment) cancelled its release.

[4] In a 2018 interview with USgamer, Cuthbert admitted that he lost the source code for Lunar Chase and didn't think to make a backup copy at the time.

[9] Family Computer Magazine had a similar response, saying that it could drive away potential players with its high difficulty level, while simultaneously praising its 3D gameplay and soundtrack, claiming that it could easily be brought over to the Super Famicom with the addition of color and newer features.

cited it as an important title in the console's history, saying that it helped pave the way for Star Fox,[15] which was a game created by the collaboration between Nintendo and Argonaut.