Designed for use with R.O.B., the Robotic Operating Buddy, Gyromite has you keeping the add-on toy's gyroscopes spinning in order to assist a mad scientist in defusing all the bombs in his laboratory. R.O.B. helps you move the gates blocking the scientist's way so he can get to the dynamite before it explodes.

Gyromite consists of 40 side-scrolling phases, with six bundles of dynamite per phase. Some of the dynamite is hidden. A portion of the game involves controlling the professor who, with a mere touch, can defuse a stick of dynamite. At times you will control R.O.B. and the gyros, which help you raise and lower gates interfering with the professor's progress. You can toggle control back and forth as needed.

As you guide your character around his lab, you will be pestered by little Smick creatures, whose deadly bites prove fatal for professors. To distract the Smicks, you can feed them the turnips that pop up here and there. If the professor falls in a hole, the odds of a Smick capturing him increase significantly.