Mr. Gimmick/Gameplay

Controls
The Jump and Star buttons can be reversed in the Special Edition's options.

Screen info
All information that you need can be found along the bottom of the screen when you're playing a level.
 * SCORE - It tells you how much points you have. Lives are awarded at intervals which differ between the Japanese and Scandinavian release.
 * REST - It tells you how many lives you have left. Starting lives are different between the Japanese and Scandinavian release.
 * Energy (エネルギー) - The dots that are colored in tell you how much health you have left. You start each life with two dots and you loose one each time you're hit.
 * Item (アイテム) - It tells you which items you've collected. You can keep three items and afterwards you won't be able to pick up certain items when you're full.

Items

 * Medicine (薬) - These potions comes in two flavors. An orange (オレンジ) one will simply add one dot to your health, but a pink (ピンク) one will be stored to the item slot to restore your health later.
 * Bomb (爆弾) - Explosives found in a vial will add a bomb weapon to your item slot. A bomb is thrown slightly higher than a star but does not bounce a lot, and it does damage to any enemy caught in the blast.
 * Fireball (貫通弾) - Red orbs found in a vial will add a fireball to your item slot. A fireball flies like a bullet straight ahead of the direction you're facing and does damage to any enemy it hits.

Tips

 * 1) Each of the six stages has a brief secret obstacle course called the Hidden Item Stage (隠しアイテムのステージ). It contains a special item that are worth so many points that the player will likely gain an extra life or two. These locations are fairly well hidden but equally frustrating since they involve quite a bit of finesse and quick reflexes to nab the special item. You'll know that you've collected the special item if the map screen shows an Ohagi (おはぎ) waving a pink flag rather than a white one for the finished level, but using a continue will revert all of them to white. Players completing and maintaining each stage with a pink flag will work towards a good ending.
 * 2) Your star attack has the added bonus that you can jump onto it and let it take you to areas of a level that are unreachable without it.
 * 3) The jumping for this game is rather slippery, meaning that you'll slide a bit before you come to a rest after you jump. You should plan ahead to make up for this mild deficient.
 * 4) If the player pushes two vials together, they will merge into the rare and valuable 1 UP! The opportunity for this is very rare, however.