In this game the flag gave the player an extra life and this feature was carried over to numerous subsequent Namco games.

Among these was the 'special flag' which first appeared in Rally-X. It was one of the first games to have hidden bonuses which are not mentioned in the instructions but can be revealed by a secret maneuver. The graphics were revolutionary for their time, and characters were rendered with remarkable clarity and effect through careful use of shades of gray and palette-shifting. Xevious was one of the earliest vertical scrolling shooters (it was preceded by at least the 1981 Atari 8-bit computer game Caverns of Mars) and greatly influenced games in this genre. As the Solvalou constantly flies forward, it is possible to advance without killing any enemies. If the player has completed at least 70% of the area before dying, play will begin at the start of the next area instead. If the player dies, play normally resumes from the start of the area. The Solvalou continually advances over varying terrain, and the boundaries between areas are marked only by dense forests being overflown. The game scrolls through 16 areas, looping back to Area 7 after Area 16. These are considered one of the first level-bosses to be incorporated into a video game. Giant floating Andor Genesis motherships appear in certain areas these are killed by knocking out their cores. Ground enemies are a combination of stationary bases and moving vehicles, most of which also fire slow bullets. There are various aerial enemy aircraft which shoot relatively slow bullets, as well as (presumably unpiloted) fast-moving projectiles and exploding black spheres. The game, presumably set in Peru, was noted for the varied terrain below, which included forests, airstrips, bases, and mysterious Nazca Line-like drawings on the ground. The player uses an 8-way joystick to pilot a combat aircraft called a Solvalou, which is armed with a forward-firing Zapper for aerial targets and a Blaster which fires an unlimited supply of air-to-surface bombs for ground targets. The beginning of a regular game of Xevious.

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