Raiden DX is an arcade shoot'em up. The game features similar vertically scrolling shooter gameplay as in its predecessors Raiden and Raiden II. The player controls a jet fighter and blasts his way through various stages which are divided into levels.
When destroying buildings and enemies the player can collect power-ups to gain better weapons, bombs, missiles and score extra points. There are three stages, Practice, Novice and Expert. Practice features one level only. Novice features 5 levels and Expert features 8 levels, including remixed versions of the Novice and Practice levels. At the end of each level the player has to defeat a level boss.