The game distinguishes itself from the rest of the series by shifting focus from the two main characters of the previous games (Douglas Bild and Rick Norton in Japan). It also adds a variety of new features including new special attacks, branching gameplay paths and multiple endings.
Like the previous games in the series, "The Peace Keepers" features various changes from the original Japanese version. The story was altered, as were various aspects of the game's presentation and gameplay.
Many of the character and place names in the North American version are derived from esoteric real-world, literary, and cultural sources. This includes the villain Iago (from Shakespeare) and the weakest and most prolific enemy in the early stages of the game known as Fnord (from Robert Anton Wilson's books, "The Illuminatus!" Trilogy).
Levels with these name conventions include the stage Stalag 17 which takes place in the ruined Deutschland Moldavia labs; the street level "Snake Plissken Ave." (from the Kurt Russell character); and "Ozymandias Island" (from the Shelley poem). The "Roy D. Tutto Hospital" level features a misspelling of "Ray D. Tutto," Robin Williams' pseudonym credit in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. The Pirate Dock known as "Agrajag Cavern" is named for a minor character in the radio comedy series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. "Alan Bradley Airport" is likely a reference to Bruce Boxleitner's character from the TRON series.
Two poems are also referenced: The final stage "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!" is derived from Dante Alighieri's epic poem The Divine Comedy; and the text shown in Flynn's ending (if Norton is unavailable) is a quote from T. S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."