SpellCaster is an action/adventure game where you play as Kane, who has been summoned by Daikak, the great leader of the Summit Temple, to check on a group of warriors sent by him to guard a temple. However, he feels grim certainty that the coming events will not be pleasant.
The game takes place in two formats: action and adventure scenes. In the action scenes, you must navigate through hordes of enemies while being careful not to use up all your strength. Some enemies will drop spheres: blue ones that increase your strength and orange ones that increase your energy. You'll often face a boss inside the temple, which you must defeat to continue your journey. When defeated, a giant blue ball is dropped, giving you maximum strength.
The adventure scenes allow you to select commands to travel to new locations, talk to characters, look at objects, take items, and use existing items. You can choose to look at the terrain or an object, and a pointing finger will help highlight the object of interest. Throughout the game, you can use various spells to defeat enemies, help them, or even yourself. The available spells include:
HAKUJI focuses your "Ki" energy into a beam of destructive light.
INDRA calls on the Thunder God to storm lightning on your enemies.
FUDO calls forth a great ball of fire.
KANNON is a kinder spell that returns evil spirits to the underworld, but not all.
MARS calls on the God of War to restore your strength.
HATTEN calls on the God of Winds to send a tornado or high winds against your enemies.
MAKIRI gives you the power to fly.
NOBOTA creates a shield impervious to all enemy missiles.
PASSWORD allows you to password a point in the game, so you can resume at that point later.