Monday, January 18, 2010

The best Famicom game you've never played?

Actually, I'm guessing most of you have never heard of Gimmick!, let alone played it. Hell, I didn't know about this rare Famicom game until a few days ago, when I read about it over at tinycartridge.com.

This Sunsoft-published platformer was released in Japan in early 1992 and in Sweden in early 1993. As you'll see in the video below, Gimmick! (or, Mr. Gimmick, as it was known in Sweden) looks and sounds and plays like a mashup of Mega Man and Kirby's Adventure.

For more information on this cult classic, check out its Wikipedia page or this write-up over at GayGamer.net. Or, if you're not opposed to using emulators, track down a Gimmick! ROM and the latest version of FCEUX and give it a try. Just don't expect an easy ride--despite its cute and cuddly exterior,
Gimmick! is hard as hell.


Alternately, check out Frank Cifaldi's four-part playthrough on YouTube. Here's the first part:



5 comments:

Frank Cifaldi said...

I totally have a Google Alert for my name. Good to see you're still writing about games Bryan, you need to stay in touch and tell me these things.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Hey there Frank! Thanks for, in a way, letting me know about this game. It's great!

As for me, yep, I'm still writing about games. I don't often get to write about them for $$$, so I started this blog. Plus it allows me to write about whatever I want to write about :)

Viewtiful_Justin said...

I never watch playthroughs, but the annotations on this one were so interesting and entertaining that I couldn't tear myself away. I watched all 4 parts! I'm super impressed by all he knew about the game, and now I want to find a copy.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Frank did a great job, didn't he? I've got to do some digging and see if he's done any other playthroughs like this one.

BTW, if you're interested in this kind of thing (unreleased games, etc.), you should check out Frank's site, Lost Levels (http://lostlevels.org/).

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Thanks!