Starting with Nokia 7210, the sequel 'Space Impact 303' came available not pre-installed on the phone but available as an J2ME applet via download from the Nokia website. Phones with dedicated pages for this game were Nokia 3220, Nokia 3100, Nokia 6100 Nokia 6610, Nokia 6610i and many other phones that shared the 128x128 resolution screens. Phones with the 176 x 208 resolution screens, such as Nokia 6630, Nokia 3650, Nokia 6600, were later provided with a re-sized version of this game available for download.

The player has the ability to freely move horizontally and vertically (with a few exceptions on some platform-like levels in Space Impact Plus) but can not increase the speed of the screen's auto-scrolling feature. Powerups can be picked up while going through the levels (such as missiles, bombs, and energy beams) and the player can use them when the regular projectiles are of little effect against the enemy.

As each level is played, various enemy ships confront the player, some of them following strict paths, others following the ship itself and others shooting it (with the latest games the player can encounter sub-bosses midway through the level too). On the first game there are eight levels, set on different planets and underground areas, with a boss at the end of each level.

After losing all lives, the player is awarded a score and depending on how many enemies killed, how many powerups picked and how many levels the player passed, that score can be placed on the Top Scores page in the game's menu.