Enemy characters include punks, mercenaries, various kinds of ninjas clad in different colors and the Mongolian swordsmen who are guarding each hostage. Musashi can bump into most enemies without harm and can only be killed if he gets struck by an enemy's attack (such as a punch or a stab), gets hit by a projectile or falls into a bottomless hole. When that happens, the player must restart the stage from the beginning, although hostages that have already been saved do not need to be rescued again. When the player runs out of lives, they can insert additional coins and press "start" to continue the game. This option is not available during the final mission. The player has a time limit of three minutes to complete each stage. Bonus points are awarded based on how quickly the player clears the stage, along with additional bonuses if the player clears the stage without using a ninjutsu technique (except on the fifth level), or using only melee (close-range) attacks (that is, sword, punches, or kicks, but not stars or bullets). Extra lives are awarded by achieving certain scores, completing the bonus round, or when rescuing a special hostage.