The Semi-special (blitz) moves are much weaker than in the previous game to start, but can be upgraded, with the ‘power stars’. When a player accumulates 40,000 points on a single life, the player receives a power star, enabling a more powerful blitz attack. Dieing will cost the player a power star. Gameplay features a large increase in pace from Streets Of Rage 2. The heroes attack and move faster, but so do the enemies. Enemy attacks can be avoided with new running and vertical-dodge moves, but most player attacks deal less damage than in the predecessor. The timer has been removed and was replaced with a ‘power meter’. The end-of-level ‘Time bonus’ has been replaced with a ‘Life bonus’. A big change is that special moves don’t always drain the player’s life bar, thanks to the power meter. The power meter takes only a few seconds to fill, when empty, the players attack is weaker, and takes more damage when hit and when using special moves. When full, the player defends and attacks at full strength, and use of a special move will not drain the player’s life bar at all, though it will drain the power meter to empty again. The change means special moves can be used alot more, extending a character’s normal repertoire. Though this is balanced by the moves being weaker.
On a Tetris-like board the player drops blocks containing various things including Ghosts, Blocks, Pac-Men, and one Fairy to the ground. The objective is to not let the blocks overflow, let Pac-Man eat the ghosts, and make lines to shorten the on blocks on the board. When Pac-Man eats a ghost, the Fairy Meter goes up. Once full, in the Pac-Man Bar the Pac-Man icon disappears and changes into a fairy icon. Once on board, when it hits something, it waves its wand and several lines below of anything disappear. Once the fairy disappears, the score bonus is given, and play continues. Pac-Attack can also be played in 2-player mode. Player 1 must eat Blinky, while Player 2 must eat Sue, the purple ghost from Pacmania.
The story takes place in the future, at a time when Earth’s fossil fuels are beginning to dwindle. There is a huge war taking place all over the earth for control of these resources, also for territorial rights on the moon. The two warring governments, the Axis and Federation, can go into space and create giant space stations and weapons of mass destruction. The game is centered around Jake Brian. He is a soldier drafted into the Pacific States’ Marine Corp and pilots a Federation Assault Suit. The Suit is shaped like a human, with legs,arms, torso, and head. It is equipped with a variety of weapons and other special gear, giving it full land and minor air capabilities.Jake and his platoon are give the task of destroying Bildvorg, the most powerful mech of the Axis forces. The different missions in the game lead up to the completion of this objective. Cybernator was released on the Wii Virtual Console on December 17th 2007.