[2] Set in Feudal Japan, the player assumes the role of a Shinto shrine maiden who must use her o-fuda scrolls and gohei wand to defeat renegade spirits and monsters from Japanese mythology.

Sayo-chan, determined to help the gods, sets off on a journey across the countryside, where she confronts a number of strange creatures from Japanese mythology, including obake, and yurei.

[5] Kiki Kaikai is an overhead multi-directional shooter game that requires the player to move in four directions through various levels while attacking harmful enemies as they approach from off screen.

The Family Computer Disk System version of Kiki Kaikai introduced a few gameplay changes over the original arcade version, including new levels and enemies, as well as limiting the number of times the player may use Sayo-chan's ranged o-fuda attack, along with a second playable character: "Miki-chan", another shrine maiden who is designated as the player two character, but only playing alternately.

Pulling inspiration from tales of Japanese mythology, as well as several top-down arcade shooters popular during the era, the game put a conventional spin on the usually technologically driven science-fiction "shoot 'em up" titles at the time.

Utilizing action game elements, the player is free to move about the screen as he/she chooses, instead of being forced forward in normal scrolling shooter fashion.

[4] This version, though not officially licensed by Taito, was an exact duplicate of Kiki Kaikai with an altered title screen, and contained no new gameplay elements or features.

Later on August 28, a version for the Famicom Disk System was released entitled Kiki Kaikai: Dotō-hen, which added two-player support (playing alternately) via a new playable character, "Miki-chan".

[6] A port programmed by MediaKite appeared on May 14, 2004 for Windows-based PCs,[7] and a web-based game service was launched on Taito's Japanese website later that year courtesy of EZWeb.

[12] Kiki Kaikai's soundtrack, composed by Hisayoshi Ogura, is reflective of traditional Japanese folk music, mostly utilizing woodwind and string instruments like the shamisen with an electronic beat.

The music was originally presented in mono format, and was composed entirely of synth-based chiptunes, a standard audio development system for older video game hardware.

A new installment, Pocky & Rocky Reshrined (which will be released as KiKi KaiKai: Kuro Mantle no Nazo in Japan), is currently in development for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 by Tengo Project.