One of Mickey's friends is in trouble, and Mickey and Minnie Mouse are on a rescue mission! Mickey Mousecapade is an action platform game. In order to reach your goal (and find out which of Mickey's friends is in trouble), you'll need to jump and climb your way through various levels which take place in different locations (including a fun house, a treacherous sea side, a pirate ship, and a castle). Each screen has numerous obstacles and enemies which will drain your energy if you come in contact; lose all of your energy, and a life is lost and the game ends when you have no lives left. You control Mickey Mouse and Minnie follows along. You'll need to make sure Minnie stays safe as you make your way through the levels (for example, if you mistime a jump and Mickey lands safely but Minnie doesn't a life will be lost). In addition to avoiding obstacles, there is also some occasional puzzle solving (such as locating a key to open locked doors, or finding your way out of the woods).

There are some differences between the US and Japanese versions of this game. Most enemies are different in each version, specially the bosses. While the Japanese version has most of its bosses based on Alice in Wonderland (the Cheshire Cat in stage one, the Dodo in stage two, the Caterpillar in stage three and the Queen of Heats in stage five), the US version has enemies from several other Disney movies. Captain Hook from Peter Pan appears in the Japanese version as the boss for the fourth level, while in the US version he's replaced by Peg-Leg Pete. The other bosses in the US version are Witch Hazel (stage one), the Crocodile from Peter Pan (stage two), Kaa from The Jungle Book (stage three) and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (stage five). There is also a gameplay difference: in the Japanese version Mickey sometimes finds hidden keys which lead him and Minnie to a secret room. In that room, he must pick 4 fairies in the right order; doing so, he earns an 1-Up.