In Bomber Raid, the player controls a small "Freedom Fighter" aircraft able to fire different types of projectiles through five levels. As a shoot 'em up game, gameplay is similar to the arcade games 1942 and Raiden.
The player starts with three lives. Any collision with either an enemy aircraft or enemy fire results in the loss of a life. One type of enemy, a strange disk like object with a green and red flashing center, drops a powerup when destroyed. Power-ups, which can be a weapon power-up (p) which replace the standard twin cannon, speed power up (s) or provide the player with a fighter plane companion to assist in destroying enemies. The player can only have up to two fighters. The player also starts with a limited number of cluster bombs, which will clear the screen of many enemies (except bosses), and power pods, which give extra points, weapon power-ups, and a temporary "backup squadron." The cluster bomb's explosion is influenced by the squadron (up to two small planes that fly in formation with the fighter and shoot when it shoots). If there are no planes, then the cluster bomb will be a ring of fire that flies forward. With one fighter, the bomb's explosive area is over a wider area, and with two fighters, the "orbs" of the explosion will radiate outwards in all direction.
The miniature planes' formation and the direction they fire in depends on the last "squadron" power-up received.
Source: Wikipedia, "Bomber Raid", available under the CC-BY-SA License.