Once the 16-bit Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis hit the scene in the early 1990s, the developers at Sunsoft who had previously saw success with titles like the 1989 Batman NES game and Blaster Master were still pumping out titles for the 8-bit Nintendo and Famicom systems. The company did not transition as fastly into the 16-bit community of gaming as most other developers did, and it's a shame that their last game they made for the Famicom and Nintendo, 1992's Gimmick! (released only in Japan and later in Scandinavia as Mr. Gimmick), would fall into rarity due to mixed reviews upon release and the change into the 16-bit era that most players were following into. The reason this is such a misfortune is that, for an NES title, Mr. Gimmick is fantastic beyond belief.

The plot invovles a girl who gets a cute green blob for her birthday, only for her other toys to get jealous and kidnap her. It is up to you as this lovable Kirby-lookalike to save her through a total of seven very cute, yet visually impressive and complexly designed levels that would also be fitting in a Kirby game. While this game may graphically look very appealing for younger players, that only tricks you into thinking that this is going to be very easy. That's not to say that Mr. Gimmick is brutally difficult, because while it's a very, very hard platformer, it becomes a lot easier as you replay each of the levels and get use to the realistic psyhics Sunsoft decided to use. It's that proper kind of hard that significantly adds to this game's replay value, tasking players to be stragetic and sometimes on first play needing to plan out how their going to run through a stage in the future.

Gimmick's main form of attack is a shining, yellow star, which is also quite a uniquely fun feature because it's also acts as a platform which can be used for drifting through a certain part of an area if done right. There's also a couple of additional items you can obtain along the way, including bombs, potions that increase or replenish your health and a purple fireball that can hit all the enemies in a straight line. However, as you can only hold up to three items at a time and finding these items, while not too rare, aren't too easy to find either, mastering the use of the star is essential, as there are certain areas that require bouncing it and landing on it at the right time to be able to get into areas that have secret items you'll need to collect in order to reach the final seventh level and beat the game. Since the star bounces forward and the enemies are programmed to actually track where the star is flying towards (something that was uncommon for a title released on the NES), it'll take some practice for you to be able to figure out the pyschics of this object and how the enemies react so you can use it to defeat other cute-looking but very harmful creatures such as various forms of round black circles, racoons, ostriches etc. Because these enemies can track where you're shooting, you'll also want to know how they'll respond to the weapon you're using to find specific tactics, or gimmicks (guess that's why this game is called Gimmick!) to kill them, and this especially come into play in the boss battles. What makes the gameplay even more of a treat is that every new and fresh obstacle is put into place as you get into each level, ranging from bombs shot out of a pirate ship that you'll have to avoid, to complicated tredmill platforms and so on. It's quite a real example of 2D platforming challenge at its best.

The music and sound design is also a very hugh hightlight of Mr. Gimmick. Sunsoft had managed to go above and beyond using the limited amount of channels the NES and Famicom were capable of with their previous titles, and it's no different here. Every single PCM bass, drum sample and square wave tone is put together into an excellently-programmed, eargasmic and very catchy series of compositons by Masashi Kageyama, especially with the three added channels that Sunsoft put into the Famicom version. Compositions like "Good Morning" played in the intro, the overmap theme and the sixth stage music could pretty much top my favorite BGM ever in video gaming history. As an aspring sixteen-year-old 8-bit music composer and programmer and game developer in training, it certainly shows to me that the people of Sunsoft were really ahead of their time in coming close to music heard on a 16-bit console. Add this up with equally amazing visuals and a very challenging but also exciting-as-heck playing experience that young kids and adults alike should give a shot at, and it becomes no wonder why the adorable green blob is now begging his game to have a North American eShop re-release.

A+?Z- rating: A-