Based on the cartoon short, players control Daffy on his quest to save the Earth from Marvin the Martian. In order to succeed, Daffy must travel between planets collecting atoms that Marvin needs to power his weapon. On each planet, Daffy explores several sublevels, each of which contains a few atoms. Many of the sublevels involve traditional platform gameplay with pits to leap over, puzzles to solve and enemies to avoid. Others play more like mini-games, such as an arcade where Daffy competes in a Pong-like tennis game.

Unfortunately, the sloppy control lowers Duck Dodgers' overall quality. Most of the levels use the now standard behind-the-character view. In these levels, the camera swings around erratically while Daffy jumps, which causes a great deal of frustration after the player repeatedly misses the same platform. The camera also moves irregularly when Daffy backs into a corner or stands behind objects. Other stages switch to different perspectives, such as overhead, side-scrolling and first person views. The control on these levels feels more predictable than the 3rd person ones, although it never feels truly precise.

Enemies also come across as cheap. Daffy spends most of the game avoiding enemies rather than attacking them. His kick, the only attack method available throughout most of the game, inflicts no damage on all but the smallest characters. As a result, the game often forces players to run around enemies and take hits while simultaneously searching for items. When Daffy does acquire a weapon, it is frequently challenging to aim precisely. Also, some stages appear to lack a technique that allows the player to consistently complete them. Instead, players must hope the AI will simply err and hence allow them to win. Indeed, completing a stage often leaves the player feeling relieved rather than accomplished.

Graphically, Duck Dodgers looks similar to many other Nintendo64 platform games. Like the cartoon, the game displays colorful worlds and characters along with some pretty nice animation. Players will appreciate the clear, fog-free horizons and near-zero popup problems. The sound too comes across as similar in quality to other games on the system. Simple, light-hearted music accompanies each stage, although it loops frequently. Daffy spouts various humorous comments as he wanders through the stages and gathers items. While most games' characters display a special animation if the player remains idle, Daffy even insults players who do not hit the Start button at the title screen quickly.

With better play mechanics, Duck Dodgers' characters and humor might give Nintendo64 owners a reason to purchase it over the system's many similar games. But due to the high frustration factor caused by the controls, most players should probably buy a different title instead.