Your world's teetering on the brink of disaster but there's something that can be done. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pilot a small one person space craft to four other planets. On each of the planets, you will find the crucial nuclear plasma that has been stored away for just such an emergency. If you can bring it all back, you can save the world.

1985: The Day After is a side-scrolling action game in the style of Lunar Lander. Your craft only has four functions: rotate left or right and engage or disengage thrusters. You'll explore worlds filled with mazes and tunnels and have to keep your craft from touching the tunnel edges. Your spacecraft is very frail and any contact will cause its destruction. When you engage the craft's thrusters, the ship accelerates in a straight-ahead direction but retains some momentum after you disengage.

The worlds you explore have their own gravity, so utilizing your thrusters correctly is necessary in order to maneuver through the tunnels as well as resist the pull of gravity. Your ship also has a limited supply of fuel that gets used up as you engage your thrusters. Running out of fuel before you find more results in loss of one of the three lives you receive at the beginning of the game. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide