CD Consoles ' David Taborda commended the audiovisual presentation and playability but criticized its creativity on display and slowdown during gameplay but he nevertheless regarded the title to be a good game. Like Manuel del Campo, Superjuegos ' Roberto Serrano praised the visual design, music, sound design and playability but criticized the occurrence of slowdown when many sprites are displayed on-screen, stating that the sequel far exceeds its predecessor. On Neo CD, we are entitled to expect much better".
Player One 's Christophe Delpierre reviewed the Neo Geo CD version, remarking that the graphics needed more work and criticized the levels for their short length, concluding that "in short, Aero Fightere 2, without being bad, still disappoints a little. Mega Fun 's Martin Weidner visually compared the title with Last Resort and Viewpoint, criticizing the music, slowdown during gameplay and lack of additional options. MAN!AC 's Ingo Zaborowski commended the visuals but criticized the music for being inappropriate and unmotivated, comparing the game with both Raiden II and Twin Eagle II. Because even soundtrack side, for CD, the result is trivial". Joypad 's Benji regarded the Neo Geo CD version to be dissapoiting, writing that "we found ourselves in front of a game which would have been all the rage (although!) On Neo cartridge five years ago. Hobby Consolas 's Manuel del Campo praised the graphical design of stages and enemes despite the small size of the player's plane, music, playability and ship varietry but criticized the lack of variety with sound design and "wow factor". The higher levels offer more challenges, but not new ones". Next Generation reviewed the Neo-Geo version of the game, stating that "players with any skill will beat the game on the easy or normal level in under an hour. While citing some issues with slowdown and an absence of sound effects for the player's jet, as well as a general lack of originality, he considered it an overall enjoyable shooter with fun weapons, huge bosses, and "crisp" controls. GamePro 's Captain Squideo gave it a generally positive review. AllGame 's Kyle Knight praised the variety of ships and backgrounds, sound, level designs and gameplay but criticized its replay value. It holds a 90% on the video game review aggregator GameRankings. The game was met with generally positive reception from critics. Play Meter also listed the title to be the fifty-seventh most-popular arcade game at the time. In North America, RePlay reported it to be the fifth most-popular arcade game at the time. In Japan, Game Machine listed Aero Fighters 2 on their Septemissue as being the seventh most-popular arcade game at the time.
The game then loops with palette changes, but after the looped stages are beaten, the game truly ends. Once those levels are beaten, there is a character-specific ending. When the player reaches the end of the stage, the player has to face a boss ship. When certain ground enemies and buildings are destroyed, money bonuses appear which give a set number of points based on how fast you destroy them and how quickly you collected the bonus. The maximum level only lasts for a limited number of shots. There are two types of Power projectiles: "P" Power projectiles, that increase the plane's firepower by one level, and "F" Power projectiles, that increase the plane's firepower to the maximum level instantly. Power projectiles can be obtained by destroying buildings and armored enemy planes. The game is played with two buttons, with the A button firing projectiles from the plane and the B button launching a special bomb attack which uses a bomb from a limited stock of bombs.