Cave Fighter is a flick screen platform game where you have to escape eight levels before a timer runs out. You can walk left or right but to jump you have to hold the fire button down and the longer you hold it the higher and further you will jump. Careful use of this is needed as you can only land on the ground or the top of a platform, if you touch the sides of a platform, wall or touch an obstacle like water or spikes then you lose one of nine lives. As you get deeper into a cave you will encounter various creatures but you have a gun that fires in four directions and will send a creature back to it's original starting position when shot. If you touch a creature then you lose a life as well. Ropes can be used to climb and to get across gaps between platforms. Before you start a game you can select whether to start on the last level you were on or start from level one.