 Thanks to S. Fabian for requesting this one via my Patreon page. Here's kind of a weird one that was released in Japan as gimmick and only made it over to PAL regions as Mr. Gimmick, so it never came out in North America. This is a platformer released late in the Famicom lifespan in January 1992, and it didn't even hit certain PAL regions until 1993. Let's start with the story. It's a young girl's birthday and the dad goes to the store and buys her a present, this green little guy, which unbeknownst to the dad, isn't actually a stuffed animal and is actually a living thing, and that's where it gets weird. The little girl opens her present and loves it so much that her other toys come alive with jealousy somehow, kidnap her, and drag her into another dimension. Boy, that escalated quickly, didn't it? What is this? A royal doll story? Anyway, the gameplay centers around the green guy, or gimmick, going into this other dimension to rescue the girl. What makes gimmick unique from other action platformers is the use of this star projectile he can generate. He can only shoot one at a time, but what's interesting is that the angle and velocity of the star all depends on your wind-up, so to speak. In other words, if you get a running start and spike the star into the ground, it'll travel much faster and bounce much higher. That's really cool. And the way the star reacts to different angles and platforms and enemies is well done too. It might seem crazy and random at first, but it's definitely consistent and follows its own internal, uh, star projectile logic, I guess. This is also true of the gimmick sprite itself. It might seem a little annoying at first that he can't even walk up a simple incline, but you have to go back and build a little momentum, jump at the right time, and make your way forward. This is all just a really long way of saying the physics behind this game are really impressive, and the primary reason this game stands out amongst a sea of other action platformers. And it doesn't stop there. Even more interesting is that you can use this star as a makeshift platform to reach areas that you couldn't otherwise. The trick being, of course, that the star isn't going to sit still for you, so it's going to take quite a bit of practice to make proper use of it. Now, gimmick's abilities and the star projectile are nice and all, but they're not going to amount to much without the level design that complements the star's capabilities, and thankfully that's here in spades. There's six levels here that all feature some variety, like riding this cart, balancing on these spinning gears, or jumping over these flames while enemies come charging at you. At first, gimmick is going to be a really tough play through for most people. Yeah, I know there's always that guy who's like, well, actually I beat this game in like 30 minutes, whatever. Gimmick is really, really tough, and a big part of this is because of the enemy design. These aren't just your run-of-the-mill and pushover flunkies, they have a variety of ways to ruin your day, like these guys that throw arrows or these green dudes here that actually dodge your attacks. At times, this game can seem like a one-on-one fighting game. That's how advanced the enemy AI is here. And this is just the second level. So yeah, this game is hard as hell, but for the right reasons. It's not difficult in an outdated kind of a way. You only get two hit points and you die, but the game does at least offer a chance to find a potion that will increase your life to up to four hits. Like I said, there's six stages here, but you can't get the game's proper ending without unlocking a seventh stage, and you do that by finding a hidden item in each of the first six stages. If you beat the game without doing that, you get a crappy ending where the girl stays lost, but if you unlock the seventh stage and beat the final boss, you'll get the happy ending. Hooray. Here's the thing though, the game gives you unlimited continues. Okay, that's great. But if you use even one of them, you won't get the good ending. What the hell is that? Another major factor that makes gimmick stand out is the music, and I'm just gonna shut up and let you hear the music for yourself. The developer Sunsoft added an additional audio chip to the game that allowed for three more audio channels for music and sound, and you can tell because this doesn't sound like ordinary NES music. The soundtrack here is good to the point that it's the kind of stuff I feel like listening to just for the hell of it on its own, even without playing the game. So yeah, if there's any one word to describe gimmick or Mr. Gimmick, it's intelligent. Everything about this game is so smart and cleverly done, from the star projectile to the level design to the enemy design to the music. Yeah, this game is pretty dang tough, but this is the thinking person's action platformer. It takes a lot of practice to get the hang of this game, but it's rewarding because everything about it is so well thought out. No joke, this game is up there with the very best NES games. I'm talking DuckTales, Contra, Castlevania, and the like. If you can find a way to play this game, whichever way it is, whether it's emulation or a flash card or a reproduction card, you should do it. This is well worth your time. This is a great game.