Dogyuun features many elements common to Toaplan's shoot-em-ups, including brilliant visuals, inventive weapon options, striking boss designs and intense gameplay. Players are charged with bringing the fight to a race of alien robots who have taken over the planet Dino, piloting Sylfers attack fighters that can combine (if there are two players) into a single formidable (but vulnerable) ship. Though some have complained that the game put too much of an emphasis on visuals over gameplay (as some previous titles had been criticized for the opposite balance – you can't please them all), the game strikes an enjoyable balance between earlier Toaplan titles like Truxton and the dizzyingly-complex games the team would later create at Cave.