The player takes the role of the title character battling foes throughout the Louisiana swamps and other locations in a side-scrolling format.

The player must venture through various stages, which include a graveyard, chemical factory, toxic dump, and finally, Arcane's lab.

Swamp Thing also uses tools like camouflage and thorn skin, and he must recycle scattered garbage in order to score points and gain additional powers.

[4] Aside from marginal graphics, the NES Swamp Thing has received average to generally negative reviews for its high difficulty, poor music, and dull gameplay.

While perhaps faring better than its NES counterpart, the Game Boy version of Swamp Thing was not met with high praise either, getting a 2.5/5 score from Nintendo Power.