Zarlor Mercenary is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up in which the player controls a spacecraft destroying enemy spaceships and buildings in order to earn money which can be used to buy upgrades between levels. At the end of each level there is a boss ship or landing craft that needs to be destroyed. Up to four players can play simultaneously using the Comlynx. Noted in the game manual you don't start with life but a fleet of ships. In single-player you start off with four ships, in two player mode you start off with three ships each. With three and four players you only start the game with two ships each. There are seven different pilot mercenaries to choose from, each having their own permanent unique weapon or skill. When playing in multiplayer mode, each player has a unique colour, you can either work together or towards completing the game. However one can purchase the weapon attachment backstabber that can kill another pilot causing him to loose money. The ship health bar is on the right as a horizontal green bar, this will deplete to yellow and flash red when near destruction. Ships left in the fleet are displayed as blue dots, while the mega bomb is displayed as a red dot.