[2][3] Hidden Star in Four Seasons is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game, in which the player is always facing upwards, and is required to maneuver around enemy projectiles, shooting enemies that appear from the top of the screen, and fighting bosses that appear twice in each stage.

This circle clears enemy bullets, but does not make the player invincible, and usually costs all of the mini orbitals and sets the season gauge back to zero, ready to be filled again.

The Hakurei Shrine is showered in cherry petals, Youkai Mountain is basking in the middle of autumn, and the Forest of Magic is blanketed in snow, and thanks to some strange force, Gensokyo's fairies are running rampant with unfathomable strength.

In the midst of this undeniable incident, the heroines, Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Aya Shameimaru, and Cirno set out to investigate and find the perpetrator behind it.

Unfortunately for Okina, all of the main heroines are deemed unfit to be her servants (Except for Marisa Kirisame, who declines of her own free will.)