I think what surprises me the most about Gimmick is just how fair it mostly is. There are a handful of cheap moments that will initially catch you off guard. However, not only are these parts few and far between, but the game is meant to be replayed. It's relatively short for an NES game, and there are many secrets and techniques that can only be discovered through repeat playthroughs. The few cheap shots become speed bumps. Moments that seem like pure chance turn out to have technique. At first, I felt the star mechanic was cumbersome and the bosses unfair, but replaying the game helped me appreciate its design a lot more.

The mileage the developers got out of the star mechanic is truly impressive. There's a unique strategy to each enemy and boss, and discovering them was gratifying. In general, the game is gratifying to play, as it rewards your problem-solving and experimentation. If you want to try to appreciate this game, please do not watch videos or quit after a few game overs. Set aside a couple of hours, go in blind, and anticipate that your curiosity will be rewarded.

That last point about curiosity pertains specifically to hidden collectibles you need to locate for the good ending (there's one in each level). The location of most of these, unfortunately, is something I was spoiled on. It's hard for me to say how many of them I could've discovered on my own, but I feel pretty much all of them can be found through intuition and thinking a little outside the box.

I have to commend the levels' sense of progression and novelty. Each of them contain multiple sections with unique enemies and artwork. The presentation is, in general, fantastic. Gimmick feels more like a homebrew or indie game than it does an officially licensed NES game. It's amazing just how close Gimmick is to modern indie game sensibilities. The animations can be very smooth, the characters are expressive in both their animations and behavior, the artwork and soundtrack are consistently great, and the sound design's variety deserves particular praise. The game is expressive, detailed, reactive, and has a "surprise factor" that I haven't seen elsewhere in the NES' library. Admittedly, I haven't experienced many NES games myself, but I believe my point generally stands. You just have to see it for yourself.

However, I have a few criticisms that keep me from giving the game absolute praise. At the beginning, I referred to Gimmick as "mostly" fair, and that is because of one particular boss towards the end. It is more difficult than any boss both before and after it. I've only been able to defeat the first phase of this boss without taking any damage once, and I've only been able to stand a chance against the second phase with items stocked up. It's strange because the bosses of the next level are comparatively fair. Additionally, one prerequisite of the good ending is beating the game without using continues (I only discovered this information through the internet, I haven't gotten the good ending). I could somewhat overlook this if it weren't for the aforementioned boss. I'm going to be a bit charitable here, and assume that there are some techniques I haven't discovered, but it is a massive difficulty spike at the very least. Finally, I feel like the game's pacing is better when you ignore the hidden collectibles. I wish the rooms containing them served as shortcuts or something like that. The levels are already somewhat short, though, so maybe the rooms could instead lead you to an alternate path through the level. While ignoring the hidden collectibles improves the pacing, it also makes the game a bit less challenging.

With all that being said, I would absolutely recommend Gimmick. The problematic boss is a bit too much of a sore point, unfortunately, but otherwise it's a pretty great game. Just make sure to give it some time before passing judgement.

EDIT: So hours after posting this review, I got the good ending. I don't think it changes what I said but it was worth it.