He navigates through a series of mazes patrolled by monsters, and touches Crosses to power up and summon the ability to breathe fire and eat the dots.

The large winged demon simply called "the Devil" dances at the top of the screen, and will point in a direction for four of his minions to move the maze by using pulleys and ropes.

During development, Tezuka suggested holes the player's character would fall into, causing him to lose a turn.

Chris Kohler called Devil World "a typically ingenious Miyamoto-directed take on the maze genre, with inventive graphics and fun game play" which "absolutely could not be released in America" because its satanic and religious imagery "would be seen as unsettling or even blasphemous".

The reviewer stated that Devil World is "worth experiencing just for the bizarre nature of the concept", but also commented that its "abundance of ideas ultimately get in the way of the simple gameplay".