Pogotron is a horizontal side-view scrolling shooter where the screen scrolls left or right when you move your hero as he tries to find the parts to his spacecraft on various planets bouncing on his Turbo-Pogo. On each planet you start close to a landing pad protected by two forcefields to keep aliens out, and you must find six parts to your craft one at a time and take them back to the pad to build the craft. As you search for the parts there are aliens that need shooting or avoiding as well as lasers, and if you touch the aliens or lasers then you lose part of a energy gauge. If the gauge empties then you lose one of three lives and you star by the pad but any part collected stays with you. Once the spacecraft has been built then you have to find fuel pellets and place them in the craft before you can take-off and leave the planet. Between each planet is a sub-game where you try to blast and destroy a guardian but if you fail you don't lose a life and you still go to the next planet.