Dodonpachi Sai-Dai-Ou-Jou is the final game in the DonPachi series of overhead 2D shooters and Cave's final arcade game. It follows in the footsteps of Dodonpachi Dai-Ou-Jou, featuring a variation on that game's scoring system and a traditional set of Dodonpachi ships. Players choose one of several ships to blast through five intense vertically-scrolling levels, dodging bullets and shooting down countless waves of enemies. Unlike previous Dodonpachi games, there is only a single, tightly-focused loop, and the game's true final boss is encountered at the end of this one loop by collecting every bee medallion in the game, not dying, and not using any bombs. The plot picks up after the previous two games. Most of humanity was wiped out in the Blissful Death Wars; the survivors group together in cities managed by bio-mechanical element dolls.