I recently bought Impossible Mission from Gamestop because it was only $8 (used) and I think this game absolutely qualifies as a hidden gem. In fact it is so hidden that unless you are willing to put some effort into learning how to play the game, the hidden gem aspect of it will remain quite hidden from you! It's easy to see that for most people this game is just going to leave them puzzled.
For me the game didn't click at first because I found the part of the game involving solving puzzles to be virtually incomprehensible. The manual doesn't help much. There's space to lay out four pieces and I was thinking that it was suppose to be kind of like a jigsaw puzzle - that you were suppose to lay out four pieces in a square and some picture was suppose to appear. If you're thinking that it will make absolutely no sense and so, needless to say, that isn't what you are suppose to do. What you want to do is find 4 pieces that when laid one on top of the other, mesh together and what you end up with is what looks like an old computer punch card. To do that you have to change the color of the pieces to match, and possibly (usually) flip horizontally and/or vertically one or more of the pieces so that they line up properly, and drag them one on top of the other. It's more difficult then it sounds. Anyway, once you understand how you are suppose to solve the puzzles, then I found the game really addicting.
The game involves moving around via corridors and elevators to go to rooms that themselves are kind of puzzles. You have to search all the furniture in the rooms to find cards that are the puzzle pieces, while avoiding robots of different kinds. Each game has you trying to find and solve 36 pieces, forming 9 puzzles, and you're on a clock. You don't have lives, instead each time you die you lose time on the clock. There's more to it than this. Anyway, so far I've only been able to solve one puzzle within the time limit, so I've a long way to go - it isn't an easy game. I've only had it a few days, but I really think it is worth checking out, especially for only $8 used from Gamestop. I would highly recommend getting a copy with the manual, though, as, though it doesn't explain the puzzles well, it does explain other parts of the interface. This is a pretty straight forward port of a Commodore 64 game, so there's no in-game explanations. You are just dumped right into the game.
