In Seiken Psycho Caliber: Maju no Mori Densetsu the player controls an unnamed hero, which legends say will rid the lands from the clutches of evil forces from the Dark World. The gameplay resembles that of the original The Legend of Zelda game. On his quest the player has to travel and fight his way through the game world which consists of nine overland areas and several dungeons. While its possible to go back and visit already explored and finished areas the game is a lot more linear than the aforementioned Zelda game. The player starts out with only a sword as a weapon. Better sword variants can be found and bought and it can eventually also shoot projectiles at enemies, not unlike Zelda again. Other typical items like health refills, ranged weapons, teleport items and a handful of special items that are needed to progress the story, are also incorporated into the game. In addition to a normal health bar, which gets reduced when the player comes in contact with enemies, there has to be paid attention to an extra counter that works as a sort of time-limit because it gets lower even when the player doesn't move or does anything at all. When killed, enemies might leave an item behind that increases the counter as well as the chance for a money increase. Money is used to buy stuff from shops which can be found scattered throughout the areas.