Gimmick! is honestly pretty great. It's extremely daunting at first, with how slippery the player character, Yumetaro, is and the physics of his star attack (also a traversal method since Yumetaro can jump onto it with some good timing. I'm not very good at it, though) can take a bit to learn as well as the fact that only one star can be on screen at a time, so missing a shot can leave you extremely defenseless for a few seconds. Enemies can also be quite aggressive, and I'd say most stages have at least one pretty BS trial and error section to suffer through. Quite surprising considering how cute the game looks.
It gets even harder when going for the true ending (which I, of course, did, and that's why my playtime is almost 8 hours. My actual final playthrough was just 38 minutes long, and that was honestly pretty slow) where you have to get the secret treasure on every stage, and get through the first six stages without using a single continue, but through that challenge I got a real appreciation of all the systems at work, and the very smart level design that both gives you the feeling that this is an actual, breathing world that you're going through and not just something designed for a video game, with enemies very carefully placed and unique to their stages, and some not even being hostile to you.
The game also very clearly wants you to always move forward, either by spawning enemies behind you, having the ground collapse beneath your feet or just very clearly showing that standing in one spot for too long is extremely unwise. It reminds me a bit of something like the first Ninja Gaiden game, where you barely stay still for a second of the entire playthrough, and I really enjoy that kind of 2D platformer. It's very difficult when you start out, but with some practice, and a whole lot of frustration, it becomes sort of like a dance, and just supremely satisfying to get through what previously seemed impossible without much issue, and look cool while doing it.
Since it's a Sunsoft game made in the 90's, you can also expect Gimmick! to sound and look fantastic. I wouldn't say the levels themselves look all that impressive (not bad at all, but there are certainly NES games with better looking backdrops), but the fact that it has these really impressive physics (slopes!) at play at all times, the enemy AI actually seems sort of dynamic (they at least have very clear line of sight), the amount of things often on screen at the same time, and everything being extremely well animated, it's super impressive how rock solid the frame rate is. Especially when thinking of other technically impressive NES games like Kirby's Adventure where it feels like the game's about to explode at any moment. The fact that this game was made by, like, three people makes this an even more impressive feat, and it doesn't hurt that the soundtrack isn't just among the best on the entire NES, but also feels like wizardry and something that simply shouldn't be technically possible on an 8-bit console, and yet it is.
So yeah, I definitely recommend everyone with a love for NES platformers to play this. It's very difficult and not for the impatient type, but give it a little time and it will click eventually.
It gets even harder when going for the true ending (which I, of course, did, and that's why my playtime is almost 8 hours. My actual final playthrough was just 38 minutes long, and that was honestly pretty slow) where you have to get the secret treasure on every stage, and get through the first six stages without using a single continue, but through that challenge I got a real appreciation of all the systems at work, and the very smart level design that both gives you the feeling that this is an actual, breathing world that you're going through and not just something designed for a video game, with enemies very carefully placed and unique to their stages, and some not even being hostile to you.
The game also very clearly wants you to always move forward, either by spawning enemies behind you, having the ground collapse beneath your feet or just very clearly showing that standing in one spot for too long is extremely unwise. It reminds me a bit of something like the first Ninja Gaiden game, where you barely stay still for a second of the entire playthrough, and I really enjoy that kind of 2D platformer. It's very difficult when you start out, but with some practice, and a whole lot of frustration, it becomes sort of like a dance, and just supremely satisfying to get through what previously seemed impossible without much issue, and look cool while doing it.
Since it's a Sunsoft game made in the 90's, you can also expect Gimmick! to sound and look fantastic. I wouldn't say the levels themselves look all that impressive (not bad at all, but there are certainly NES games with better looking backdrops), but the fact that it has these really impressive physics (slopes!) at play at all times, the enemy AI actually seems sort of dynamic (they at least have very clear line of sight), the amount of things often on screen at the same time, and everything being extremely well animated, it's super impressive how rock solid the frame rate is. Especially when thinking of other technically impressive NES games like Kirby's Adventure where it feels like the game's about to explode at any moment. The fact that this game was made by, like, three people makes this an even more impressive feat, and it doesn't hurt that the soundtrack isn't just among the best on the entire NES, but also feels like wizardry and something that simply shouldn't be technically possible on an 8-bit console, and yet it is.
So yeah, I definitely recommend everyone with a love for NES platformers to play this. It's very difficult and not for the impatient type, but give it a little time and it will click eventually.