In River Raid the player is in a B1 StratoWing Assault Jet that is retrofitted with rapid-fire guided missiles and can accelerate, slow down easily. The jet is going down the River of No Return where it is on a mission to break the enemies blockade and halt troop advances.[3]
River Raid is played with the joystick. The player can control movement left and right on the screen and forward and backwards to accelerate and slow down respectively. Players can shoot with the button to destroy enemy tankers, helicopters, fuel depots and bridges. The goal in River Raid is to collect as many points as possible before crashing or running out of fuel. Fuel can be collected from flying over a depot fuel to fill up the gauge shown at the bottom of the screen. As the river progresses, there will be less fuel tanks. You lose one of your jets if you collide with the river bank or enemy objects. If they have remaining jets, the player restarts play at the same section of the river they crashed. If the player has managed to destroy a bridge at the end of a section, the player will restart at that bridge at the beginning of the next section.[4] The river in River Raid has no end.[5] On the Atari 2600 version, selecting Switch A had the player's missiles shoot straight, while Switch B had guided missiles.[6]
New gameplay elements are added to the Atari 800 version. New gameplay elements include being able to select what bridge to start at, and the player can earn further points for shooting a bridge with tanks on it, having to avoid explosions, and helicopters will eventually start shooting at the player.[5]