The player controls a white kitten-like character who must venture through side-scrolling platform levels similar to Super Mario Bros.

The game consists of four levels (six in a version which was available at 4399, eighteen on Android and iOS versions) riddled with traps designed to trick the player, and abuse their previous knowledge of Super Mario Bros. gameplay, including normal-looking ground tiles that fall away into pits, blocks that sprout spikes when touched, a coin block at the start of a level that goes up when the players try to hit it, enemies that spawn nearly on top of the character, deadly background scenery, coin blocks rigged at the edge of a pit to cause the character to fall down, warp pipes flying, and a Mario-style flagpole that kills the character in two different ways, either by falling over or shooting a laser towards the player character.

Despite the surprise factor of these traps, the levels do not change between plays, allowing the player to memorize their locations and patterns and eventually make progress.

Chiku chose to make his game a spoof of Super Mario Bros. due to its massive recognition and popularity.

[4] Shobon no Action was generally received positively, though the reviews note the intense and often frustrating difficulty of the game.