Gimmick! 2

Gimmick! 2 is a 2D action-adventure platform game that follows the protagonist Yumetaro, who embarks on a magical journey to rescue the young daughter of his former companion, a girl who has since grown up and passed Yumetaro to her child. When the child is mysteriously taken away, Yumetaro leaps through a portal to save her.

The game retains much of the original game's mechanics, though the classic sprite-based visuals have been upgraded to high-resolution graphics and the removal of the score, item, and life systems. The core gameplay revolves around mastering star-conjuring techniques, allowing the player to take down enemies, turn switches, and also ride on it to reach hidden collectibles that require precise timing and aiming. Yumetaro can also jump, and run.

Gimmick! 2 was developed by Bitwave Games and published by Sunsoft and Clear River Games. 1992's Gimmick! originally gained limited recognition due to its restricted release in Japan and Scandinavia, but it became highly regarded by NES enthusiasts and industry figures like Shigeru Miyamoto and Masahiro Sakurai for its advanced mechanics, unique level design, and the technical feat of its physics-based star mechanic.

, Swedish developer and game director Niklas Istenes—a devoted fan of the original game—has been dedicated to reviving the classic by creating a sequel. Istenes founded Bitwave Games with the ambition of reintroducing Gimmick! to modern audiences. Initially, however, his efforts to acquire the rights from Sunsoft were met with resistance, largely due to Bitwave's lack of industry experience.

Much like its predecessor in retrospect, Gimmick! 2 was well received from critics, gaining "generally favorable" for the Nintendo Switch version, based on 7 reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received Strong approval, being recommended by 75% of critics.

The game's presentation, particularly its updated graphics and music, was generally praised by the reviewers. Nile Bowie of Nintendo Life considered its art style to be clean and highly polished, while acknowledging its resemblance to Cut the Rope Bowie also praised its soundtrack, adding to its ambience and immersion, without being "intrusive". Alex Kidman of Digitally Downloaded called its soundtrack "jaunty", while he described the updated visuals compared to its predecessor as a change from "the best-the-hardware-could-do approach of its Famicom forebear to a gentler but quite nice hand drawn animated style."