It is an interactive movie, using animation from two Lupin III films, and requires the player to respond to quick time events to progress the storyline.

The game's plot is based loosely on The Castle of Cagliostro and follows the eponymous Cliff Hanger as he attempts to rescue Clarissa from the evil Count Draco (in some materials called "Dreyco"[2] and in the instruction manual "Dragoe"), who wants to marry her.

According to the instruction manual, a setting on the game cabinet's logic board would allow the individual owners/operators the option of not playing the sequence if they so chose.

[6] In the film The Goonies (1985), Chunk is playing Cliff Hanger when he sees the Fratelli Brothers driving past while being chased by the police.

[7] Cliff Hanger helped expose many Americans in the 1980s to Lupin III, Hayao Miyazaki, and Japanese anime in general, as it was released in the United States before any Lupin III or Miyazaki anime productions had officially been released theatrically or on home video.