Gimmick 2! review

I looked at the remastered Gimmick last year, a charming long-lost platformer that was faithfully restored into the modern consciousness from Famicom obscurity. Featuring Bub & Bob-esque character Yumetaro, it was a cute physics based affair that benefited from a cracking soundtrack courtesy of legendary Sunsoft composer Mashashi Kageyama, and had many people wondering why it didn’t get a wider release back in the day.

Developer Bitwave Games, which ported the original for us last year, decided that it was so fond of the Gimmick-verse that the team has programmed their own sequel themselves, which features a smoother, more modern art style, (although a pixel art filter can be unlocked down the line) and some subtle changes to gameplay to set it apart from Tomoi Sakai’s 1992 original title.

Once again you take control of living doll Yumetaro and his ubiquitous magic star, which can be thrown at enemies, or used to bounce upon and solve puzzles. Fiendish puzzles are, in fact, the main “gimmick” of this sequel, with much longer levels that will have you really using your brain to work out how to progress. Aiming the star to hit switches with expertly timed bounces can be a lesson in trial and error, but the physics engine is on-point and never feels unfair.

There is a real palpable sense of momentum at play as our hero gathers speed when sliding down hills and can use inertia to make tricky jumps or sling a precision star. There are often multiple pathways through the six stages, with all manner of warp points and pipes and hidden secrets to uncover, and some really fun and surprising set-pieces that really set this apart from its predecessor. There are some excellently designed and implemented bosses that force you to learn patterns and work out how to best defeat them. It is often very difficult, and like with the original game, you have to fulfil certain conditions (such as finding all of the hidden items in each level) to snare the true ending.

You will die and die again and again and again, but the way it just rewinds you back to the last checkpoint and encourages you to have another crack means that it retains a compulsive “just one more go” feel and never becomes frustrating. Even in the most difficult circumstances, eventually you will make that crazy series of jumps, hit that switch, or solve that puzzle with good old-fashioned trial and error and button dexterity. If you are finding things too hard, however, then Bitwave has helpfully included a gentler assisted mode which makes things a bit more palatable to novice platformers.

Like the Sunsoft prequel, Gimmick 2 is visually reminiscent of classic arcade titles of yesteryear, in particular Taito’s Bubble Bobble universe and Jaleco’s magical Rod-Land. The hand-drawn artwork is colourful, bright and crisp, and the animation is just wonderful. Just when you think you have seen the cutest anthropomorphic blob creature you have ever seen in your life, it throws another one at you to “squee” over, before pummelling it with a star volley.

Super-cool jazz-funk saxophonist Kageyama and his aural expertise is a tough act to live up to, so beloved was the Gimmick! soundtrack. But Bitwave has made a great decision by recruiting another legend of both the saxophone and videogame OST world. David Wise was the main man at Rare for many years and has a CV as long as your arm. Perhaps most famous for his work on the Donkey Kong Country franchise, Wise serves up a quality musical accompaniment here, a mixture of remixed tunes and new compositions that fit perfectly with the retro-modern aesthetic of the game.

Gimmick 2 is a sequel that improves on its original and inspiration, put together by a studio that clearly have reverence for their source material but also for the conventions of the genre and what makes platformers work and appeal to both modern audiences and fans of punishing retro fare. It may be quite short by latter day standards, and won’t be for everyone due to its high level of challenge and old-school play, but this is an almost perfect ode to a bygone era and a fitting tribute to Yumetaro and his forgotten classic.