
When you think of classic NES platformers, the likes of Super Mario Bros, Mega Man, and Duck Tales will probably spring to mind. You probably won’t be thinking of Gimmick! (also known as Mr Gimmick) and there’s probably a good reason for that. Releasing in 1992 on the Famicom, two years after the launch of the Super Famicom, it had a pretty hard time getting a foothold on the older console. That didn’t stop Sunsoft from trying, however, as they put together a rather impressive team to ensure that the game was a technical masterpiece.
Unfortunately that didn’t help all that much, as the rather tepid reviews meant that an international release was off the cards and it only saw the light of day in Japan and Scandinavia.
… at least, until now! City Connection and Bitwave Games have brought the game to modern systems to introduce the rest of the world to the little green blob.
Was it worth the wait?
Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.
MORE THAN JUST A GIMMICK?
The plot of the game feels like a bizarro version of Toy Story, as the protagonist Yumetaro is bought as a birthday present for an unnamed young girl. He’s so cute that he quickly becomes her favourite toy, much to the dismay of the rest of her collection. In rebellion, all the other toys kidnap the girl and take her to another dimension so that they can keep her for themselves. Of course, Yumetaro takes on the hero mantle and chases after them in order to rescue her from danger.
The presentation of the story is faultless as the cute cutscenes set the mood perfectly before you dive straight into the action. Unfortunately the levels themselves fail to reflect the actual narrative and feel rather disconnected from one another. Sure, this was the norm at the time as many games saw the plot as an afterthought to frame the setting, but these levels don’t even feel toy-like either, making it easy to forget what you’re actually fighting for.
Thankfully, that’s about the only gripe you can level at the game’s presentation as the rest really is top notch. Considering that this came out on an 8 bit system, the level of detail in the sprite-work is impressive. It shows a mastery of the system and even looks better than a lot of first party released around that time.
Where things start to falter is with the gameplay. The titular gimmick involves holding the action button to summon a star above your head, which you can then bounce along the ground to take care of enemies. It has an unusual bounce that alters depending on Yumetaro’s momentum, but there is a degree of consistency that makes it possible to learn how to use well.
It’s a cute idea for a platforming game, but the game fails to really take advantage of it. Whilst you are able to jump on the star to perform platforming feats, the game never really uses it as such bar from the odd secret or shortcut. Instead, your star is only really used for the game’s combat – which is fine for the boss fights that are tailored to it, but ends up being near useless for the dull standard foes who typically just make a beeline for you in large groups. It’s disappointing as it removes the strategy the game could have had and forces you to try and avoid the enemies instead.
Thing don’t really improve with the game’s platforming either, as the majority of it is rather rudimentary and only made difficult by a combination of slippery movement and the game’s tendency to put enemies in really annoying places (such as right when the screen transitions). There are some neat moments, especially when the game uses slopes that allow you to use your momentum to jump over larger gaps, but those moments are few and far between. Usually the game instead opts for obnoxious moments that make it hard to avoid/kill enemies without taking damage. It’s an artificial difficulty that rarely feels fair and will make you glad that the developers were generous enough to add rewind functionality.
The rewind function and the use of save states are probably the biggest addition to this Special Edition version of the game. Given its brutal difficulty, they’re almost essential to anyone who isn’t a hardened Gimmick! veteran already. Other additions have been made too, such as an achievement system and speedrun mode, but there’s not a great deal more when compared to some other retro releases making it quite a difficult game to recommend.
Gimmick! Special Edition is an interesting curiosity from the 8 bit era, and looks impressive even by today’s standards. However, lacklustre gameplay and an obnoxious level of difficulty makes it a tough game to enjoy.

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