The evil Dogurava, commander of an alien army known as the Gidans, is attacking the planet Borogo. The army uses five giant asteroids as fortresses for the invasion. After surviving an attack on an orbiting cargo barge, a lone pilot takes the only remaining fighter craft and embarks on a suicide mission: draw the Gidans' fire to himself, while attempting to bypass their fighters on the way to the fortresses.
Truxton is a vertically scrolling shooter. The player controls a fighter craft that has to eliminate the enemies with primary weapons or bombs. The basic weapon comes in three varieties: Power Shot (small spreading projectiles), Sun Laser (a powerful, fast-moving straight laser beam, and Truxton Beam (an electric beam that spreads in all directions if the player is holding down the fire button).
Each one of these weapons can be upgraded to a more powerful variant by collecting power-ups. This will increase attack power and add additional properties. Power-ups may also grant increased ship speed, extra bombs, or extra lives.