Top Gun: Firestorm for Game Boy Color is a mission-based shooter played from an isometric perspective. Structured similarly to games like Desert Strike and Jungle Strike, the game has players taking out various land-based and aerial threats in a series of 12 free-roaming levels covering four distinct types of terrain: arctic, desert, forest, and ocean. As players embark on each mission, they will have to monitor two horizontal gauges indicating fuel and damage. An aerial map is also available to help players isolate targets while in flight.
Players can receive repairs and refuel at any time during a stage by returning to base and landing on the nearby airstrip. The F-14 Tomcat comes equipped with cannons, rockets, homing missiles, and bombs, all of which can be used to neutralize tanks, helicopters, airplane hangars, satellite dishes, and more. Two difficulty settings are available (easy and hard), and progress can be resumed via passwords awarded at the end of each stage. Though the Top Gun license is featured, the events depicted in the game are original and do not follow those from the 1986 movie starring Tom Cruise.