Caves of 64 is a side view horizontal shooter where the screen scrolls from right to left constantly, and you control a spacecraft flying inside your Commodore 64 over various levels. The idea is to reach the CPU while flying through palaces and the BASIC and Kernal ROM. You must shoot or avoid various obstacles as well as avoid lasers or touching the walls or you lose one of three lives. Your craft has fuel which decreases as you fly but you can shoot fuel capsules to increase it. Parts of each level has different ways to fly but only one doesn't end up into a dead end where you have no option but to lose a life.