Publisher Clear River Games and developer Bitwave Games have revealed the first gameplay trailer for Gimmick! 2, the long-awaited (and somewhat surprise) sequel to Sunsoft's 8-bit platformer.
Originally revealed with a teaser trailer at this year's Limited Run Games showcase, this is our first look at what the Gimmick! 2 has in store. Aside from the clear visual facelift, this sequel seems to still be full to the brim with platforming puzzles. There are star-chucking challenges, moving platforms, perilous pits of lava — all of the stuff you'd expect to see a cute little guy have to go through.

There is also an extremely upbeat soundtrack from legendary composer David Wise that had us tapping our toes right from the jump. Clear River Games has also shared a brief little video introduction to the legendary composer, which you can watch at the bottom of this article.
There's no Kirby coming our way this year (as far as we know), but this looks like it could scratch that itch while we wait for Nintendo to announce the pink puffball's next inevitable remake.
Here's a rundown of the game's features and a look at some screenshots from its Steam page.
A Classic Challenge Modernised
In Gimmick! 2, you once again meet the green little yokai Yumetaro. Decades after his first adventure he now sets out on a new quest in a world packed with interesting challenges, dangerous enemies, and hidden treasures. The game can be played in either a friendlier assisted mode, or if you’re up for a challenge play in the true-to-the-original “Gimmick!” mode!
Star Physics
As a yokai, Yumetaro has the ability to summon and throw a powerful star that not only bounces, but also keeps the momentum of his movement. The Star can be used to activate switches, defend against enemies and even be ridden to get to those hard-to-reach places while exploring the secrets of the world. You can discover treasure, find shortcuts or set speed records by mastering the star's bouncing physics. Experiment with it to unlock its full potential. This is a game with true star power!
A Legendary Soundtrack
The composer David Wise hardly needs any introduction. In his work on the Gimmick! 2 soundtrack, he has both written completely new melodies and remade old classics. The soundtrack was creatively directed by Pelle Cahndlerby and recorded live in Sweden together with Joel Bille.
Blast from the Past
The original Gimmick! game was released for the Famicom™ in 1992. It was localized and released in the West - but only in Scandinavia. This, combined with the fact that the game's physics and gameplay mechanics were far ahead of its time, made the game both fabled and beloved. With Gimmick! 2, however, there is no longer any doubt: this is a game that the whole world should have the chance to experience.
It all looks like it has the potential to be really rather good, even if we were hoping to see the pixel art visuals make a comeback. There's still no precise release date on this one just yet outside of "2024", but we'll be keeping an eye out over the coming months for more information.
Following its announcement last month, the NES original's creator, director, and designer Tomomi Saka confessed that he had no knowledge a sequel was in the works and wasn't consulted on the process. Bitwave Games later issued a formal apology, stating, "We deeply respect Tomomi Sakai's work—Gimmick! 2 would not exist without him. In hindsight, we should've done better".
We last heard from the Gimmick series last year when little Yumetaro returned to our screens in Gimmick! Special Edition. We loved this slice of nostalgia, giving it an 8/10 in our review, calling it "a salient example of what made the 8-bit era so wonderful". Here's hoping that the sequel can capture some of that magic.
Will you be picking up this sequel later this year? Hop down to the comments and let us know.
Comments 20
I prefer the look of the original.
It looks like a cheap mobile game. What did they do to you, little Gimmick...
Okay they actually did a great job with this! It looks great, and more importantly, it runs great! It looks buttery smooth, which is exactly how you do a game like this. So many retro revivals suffer from frame rate issues or Unity camera stutter, and this has none of those in that footage.
@aegis_autumn I think that's a little harsh. Looks good to me. Looks a bit like Kirby, but without the floating, inhaling or transforming, so I am wondering what the... trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity or trade is here.
But it definitely looks nice.
Not consulting Sakai-san at all is a dirty move. That aside, I wonder if this game will be a bit more forgiving; the first game is extremely difficult.
I'm excited by this. We need more green Kirby 😆 The original Gimmick game they already brought to Switch is fun.
@gcunit
The "trick" is the star-throw, of course! If you played Gimmick, you'll know how unique a mechanic it is, as it incorporates movement, attacking, and puzzle-solving all with the simple throw of a star. It's very nuanced with how it responds to slopes and physics and things too.
And it looks like the star-throw has been incorporated into the second game accurately, with some interesting twists thrown in too.
Gimmick is my favouite Famicom game of all. And this one looks really cool too! Definitely gonna get it.
If Hebereke can get a sequel then why not I guess
@gcunit The enemy designs and animations look good, and that checkpoint flag creature looks adorable. But the overall look of the game screams “average” and is not up to par for a sequel of a cult classic. The walking cicle animation alone will make some 2D animators’ eyes roll. Not consulting or having Tomomi Sakai on board is going to hurt this game’s reputation. Meanwhile, this absolute gem of a remake is still exclusive to an arcade platform. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmUyoFvgprw
It looks just fine. About what you’d expect gimmick in a more modern artstyle to look like, at least from my perspective. No idea what else one should expect, besides pixel art, but making it pixelated wouldn’t have made it visually superior somehow.
Just can!t bring myself to buy the first one even on sale, just looks too bland, but I’ll bite at some point.
It looks nice but I think it could look nicer. The style is really fun and the animations are smooth and the colours bright, but there's something about leaving those harsh edges everywhere and the dark outlines that make it feel like a nicely polished Flash game.
I needs something to soften them more, some more set decoration and foreground elements, and some more dynamic lighting would be cool.
But that's just me being very picky on the visuals, overall it looks pretty well made and fun!
I tried with Gimmick!. I just can't play this game the proper way it's supposed to be played, so I'll probably pass on part 2.
I HATE the visual look for this. So bland and generic.
man, imagine being the og creator and seeing what they did to ur boy. that's harsh.
Finally, some unambiguously good news out of Freemode
Looks cute! I'll check this out!
I think this looks pretty good. The level design and such does seem reminiscent of the first game.
I just worry that if they didn’t bother to even contact the original developer, do they really love and understand why the first game was great? I guess we’ll see.
This trailer leaves me extremely sceptical. The magic of the first game was in the challenge and the fact that the game just kept surprising you with new things constantly. The graphics and music also pushed the limits of the NES in various ways. This "sequel" seems to be completely oblivious to that in not only recycling the level 1 song, but recycling enemies from the first game and even showing a new obstacle reused multiple times throughout the trailer (from which I assume it will be repeated far more times throughout the game.) The art looks to be copying the original as well rather than trying to impress us in any way. That's just not at all in the spirit of the original.
Looks like a cute little puzzle platformer. For some reason, it makes me think of Eversion.
Looks overall great to me, looking forward to playing it and also the original Gimmick when I can!
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