Gimmick for NES is a cult classic physics based platformer that’s earned its reputation as a genuine high point in the legendary system’s library. But does its decades later sequel Gimmick 2 live up to the original’s lofty reputation? Here’s our review. 

If you had asked me what I thought my favorite games of 2024 would be a year ago, never in my wildest imagination would I have guessed an honest to goodness sequel to Gimmick for NES would be one of them. I seriously can’t even believe this game exists in the first place, and that it’s genuinely great brings me no small amount of joy. 

I remember when this was announced, the general consensus was apprehension. After all, how do you follow up a game like Gimmick after all these years? That game is basically NES royalty, and in the wrong hands could wind up tarnishing its sterling reputation. Then it came out that the game was developed without the express written consent of the original game’s creator and the internet, as it’s wont to do, lost its mind with righteous indignation. Gimmick 2 is just a cheap looking cash grab! How dare they?!?

Here’s the thing though. Gimmick 2 can’t be a cash grab. There’s no cash to grab. This is a property that's popularity only exists, at best, at the fringes of NES enthusiast circles. There’s no mainstream success to be had on name recognition alone. Gimmick 2 could only be a labor of love, which is exactly what this game is. That isn’t to say that if you love Gimmick you’re 100% guaranteed to love its sequel, as they are somewhat different games, but it is likely that if you like Gimmick, you like well-designed, creative platformers, and in that case, yeah. You’ll probably like Gimmick 2 on its own merits. 

The core experience is still basically the same as the original. You play as this adorable little devil thingy named Yumetaro. There’s a little girl who has been kidnapped in her sleep or something, and you set out to rescue her. The details of the plot aren’t all that important. It’s more about the vibes, for lack of a better term. The designers of Gimmick 2 very specifically avoided bogging the game down with any more lore than was absolutely necessary, and there's no dialogue to sift through either. Gimmick 2 gets right down to business, and it’s up to the player to use their imagination to fill in the gaps, just like the old days. 

Similar are the mechanics. Yumetaro still summons and tosses stars that can be ridden as they bounce around, or used as projectiles to defeat bad guys. The platforming is as deviously difficult as ever, and in fact even more so, which would be a problem if not for the fact that some of the original game’s more archaic elements have been sidestepped entirely. There are no lives anymore. The penalty for death is almost nonexistent. You’d think that would remove some of the stakes in terms of the game's overall difficulty, but in my experience, it did no such thing. It just freed me up to be more experimental in figuring out how to actually do things. 

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For example, in the original game, there were these special items you needed to collect in order to see the game’s real ending. These would be not terribly difficult to find, but extremely difficult to actually get your hands on thanks to some super tricky platforming. Failing at getting these items was flat out demoralizing, and the feeling of anxiety at finding one was pretty real because these segments were super hard, but so was the rest of the dang game. If you made a mistake and lost a life, or worse, got a Game Over, that's a lot of time down the tubes. 

Gimmick 2 also requires the collection of special stickers to see the true ending, but with the generous checkpoint system and lack of lives, the challenge just comes from figuring out what to do, and then executing it. Which let me tell you, at last for me, was no easy task. But it was so much less frustrating than it could have been thanks to the penalty for failure being so minimal. This game respects your time, and I appreciate that. 

But while the vast majority of the game is very much in line with its predecessor, it’s a bit less on the action and more on the puzzles. Gone are the original game’s potions, with life only being refilled at checkpoints and no real options for alternative attacks. But what Gimmick 2 has that the original doesn’t, besides borderline way too large stages, is star puzzles. Scattered throughout the game are these star slots that you can shoot your stars into. These activate doors, move platforms, and other environmental elements, but they only work while your star is in them. So if you summon a new star, the effects will reverse. This mechanic led to some fantastically tough puzzles where, for example, you’ll toss a star into a slot to make a platform appear, then jump off said platform and summon a new star in midair to make a different platform appear. It’s incredibly clever. 

As for the visuals, I think they’re spectacular. They don’t quite reach Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap levels of amazing, but anyone saying it looks like a cheap flash game from the mid-2000s is nuts. It’s well animated, and looks very attractive and colorful. The environments look cool, and the enemy designs are cute and creative. 

The music, though, is a true highlight. The original Gimmick’s soundtrack is some absolutely top notch stuff. I bought the dang thing on vinyl, that’s how much I love that game’s music. Gimmick 2’s tunes are very different. Where the first game relied a lot on strong melodies, Gimmick 2 is a bit more environmental, if that makes sense. These lovely new compositions are handled by the legendary David Wise, of Donkey Kong Country fame, and the resulting soundtrack is just brimming with fun and wonder. 

Gimmick 2 may not scratch the exact itch every longtime fan of the IP have ever wanted out of a sequel, but for me personally, it knocked it out of the park. It took everything I loved about the first game and expanded on it, and I couldn’t be happier. 

You don’t need to play the original to understand this game, and in fact, if you are interested in trying the series out, I’d say play this one first and work your way backwards. But however you want to play, both games are available now on just about every major platform under the sun. (Sorry Atari VCS fans). 

I absolutely recommend this game. 

Gimmick 2 is available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC. The original game is available as Gimmick: Special Edition on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. 

A review code for the game was supplied by BitWave, but I was going to buy it anyway because I'm a HUGE fan of the original. We also interviewed some of the fine people involved in this game's creation on our Podcast.