The player can also pick up another of the currently equipped weapon to gain a temporary boost to attack power, or an armor jacket to raise defense temporarily.

Rolan's Curse uses the Game Boy's directional pad for cardinal movement, while the "B" and "A" buttons are used to activate the first and second item slots respectively.

The "START" button calls up the stats menu where the player can see how strong they are; as well as the password required to continue the game upon power-off.

Because of the sprite limitations of the hardware, Rolan's Curse's artists opted for a Japanese super deformed (SD) approach to the style.

The game relies on a password system that can be viewed from the menu and executed when the player picks "CONTINUE" from the title screen.

The game updates the current password every time a new item is in inventory, a new upgrade has been found, and when the next level's map is reached.