0D Beat Drop is a falling block puzzle game featuring musical aspects reminiscent of the Lumines games (the beat-matching mechanism from those games was licensed for 0D Beat Drop). Instead of scenic design, the player must combine puzzle solving with matching the beat as a critical aspect of the gameplay. Tetris-like in its basic layout. On the playing field, groups of three pieces in a square of four tiles fall. The following groups may be seen to the right, and a beat meter moves in time with the music. The goal is to keep the stacked pieces from reaching the top of the screen.

The groups collapse and can be moved and rotated. They must be positioned to construct matches of three identical pieces horizontally, vertically, or in an L-shape. These do not vanish immediately after formation, but only when you do a Beat Drop. When the matched pieces are dropped with a separate button when the beat meter is near the top of the bar, additional points are scored, and a multiplier is built up. Even if matches are on the field, timing it incorrectly does not clarify anything. As the multiplier increases, matching the beat and achieving a Beat Drop becomes more challenging. As most game types center on a competitive play against a friend or AI opponent, eliminated pieces become shadow pieces and are dispatched to the opponent’s playfield, similar to the Puyo games. A competent player will stack chains and then conduct a massive Beat Drop to assault the opponent. However, there is a danger of missing it owing to the increased difficulty of making a successful drop at a high multiplier. In that instance, all shadow pieces fall onto your playfield. While you make a chain while your opponent is ready to deliver those pieces, you can immediately counter and clear the pieces. Shadow pieces are depicted as open items that can still be utilized to make chains traditionally.

Hyper Mode is available to advanced players. This mode is initiated when you allow shadow pieces to fall into your playfield twice in a row without completing a beat drop (with at least 42 shadow pieces). At that point, you can either make a spectacular comeback or risk everything.

The single-player game types are as follows:* Planet Quest: one player vs. the computer

Survival Four pits one player against three artificial intelligence opponents.
Co-op In 2-on-2 combat, use COM to collaborate with a computer player.
Time Attack: complete three modes to achieve a specific score.
Task: complete various difficulties
Watch an AI battle: two computer opponents compete.

The following multiplayer game modes are available:* 2 Player Versus

4 Player Versus
4 Player Team Versus
2 Player Co-op

There is also a music player for listening to in-game music and a Beat-O-Matic for capturing, analyzing, and synchronizing your music from a music player or the Xbox 360 hard drive to be utilized in the game.