The player shoots enemies as they come from the top of the screen while attempting to dodge their attacks, and fighting a boss at the end of each stage.

However, they can enter Focus Mode at any time, which lets them deal more damage in a concentrated area, at the cost of movement speed.

Youmu is the fastest character and her focused shot can deal heavy amounts of damage at once, but requires a few seconds to charge.

Instead of a shot type, Wily Beast and Weakest Creature features three different "animal spirits" for the player to choose from, each with distinct abilities.

In actuality, they had no intent on invading and merely caused a commotion to get the nearby humans to enter the Animal Realm, located in Hell, to stop Mayumi Joutouguu, who has created an army of living haniwa, which threatens to interfere with the natural order.

However, while he did enjoy the general gameplay and the fact that challenging segments were approachable, he criticised the Animal Spirit Item collection mechanics for being confusing and too difficult for new players, and also said the level design felt "a little loose."