BAKERU Game Review – Game Review

Late last year, BAKERU‘s initial Japanese release seemed to spark what could only be described as “pure, nostalgic joy” among those who played the 3D platformer. Particularly, a nostalgia for the Ganbare Goemon series and its Nintendo 64 installment, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon. Which makes a lot of sense when one considers that BAKERU‘s developer, Good-Feel (Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Princess Peach: Showtime!) was founded by Mystical Ninja director Etsunobu Ebisu (who serves as producer here).

While I was never a N64 kid, I understood what had struck a chord with those players right away. BAKERU is the exact kind of game I would’ve spent hours playing as a grade-schooler, right up there with the likes of Ape Escape 2 and Rayman 3. It brought back memories of a much simpler time in my life. In fact, I couldn’t help but cry a little reminiscing on those days. So, aside from a wistful trip down memory lane, why exactly did I like BAKERU so much? Why the strong reaction?

Well, I’d say it starts with the game’s bright and colorful visuals—aesthetics that are proud of the heritage they were born from. However, they’re not afraid to go off the rails from time to time. The visuals are nicely polished, but don’t feel polished to the occasionally clinical sheen of Nintendo‘s games. Which I admit, is funny to say considering the developer’s storied history with the house Mario made, but the game has just enough visual grit that gives it a heartfelt, handmade feel…a “Good-Feel” if you will.

I’d confidently say that the “Good-Feel” seeps into the gameplay as well. Stepping in the shoes of the titular tanuki himself, the player is tasked with a single goal: destroy three Evil Lanterns before drumming away the evil spirits that surround the Festival Tower at the end of each level. It’s a simple objective that takes so many different permutations over the course of Bakeru’s adventure—one that takes him through stages based on each of Japan’s forty-seven prefectures.

Players start off with a series of standard platforming stages, in which they use the tanuki’s Haradaiko drumsticks to clobber colorful bad guys while hunting for the lanterns. My favorite thing about the drumsticks is how they are individually mapped to the L and R buttons, allowing players to get a good drumroll going during combat. But in situations where the sticks aren’t cutting it, Bakeru can transform into one of four unlockable forms for a little extra firepower. In fact, some of these transformations expand Bakeru’s traversal options as well. There is some additional depth to the combat with perfect dodges and perfect guards, but I don’t foresee younger players using those skills too often.

These standard stages do become a little repetitive at times, but the wide variety of aforementioned “permutations” go a long way to shake things up. From kart racing, to rail-shooting, and giant robot battles, the game knows when it’s about time to flip the script. I especially love how the robot battles start with Bakeru shouting “TOKUSATSU MODE!” as the flying battleship, Bunbuku, transforms into its robot mode. Regardless, I do recommend taking a break when the repetition really starts to set in. At the end of the day, BAKERU is seemingly designed with the intention that a kid will play a stage or two, then come back to it later.

Aside from beating up the bad guys, players are also on the hunt for a trio of souvenirs hidden in each stage. These souvenirs are often a pennant or cultural item from each prefecture visited by the player. On the topic of collectibles, players should be on the lookout for Scoop, a little guy who always has a new nugget of information up his sleeve. He appears five times throughout each stage to exposit a wide range of facts. These are mainly factoids specific to the prefecture he’s found in, or general wisdom from around the country. Especially with Scoop’s inclusion, I think the game actually has a great educational quality to it. Without being overbearing, the game introduces players (young players especially) to another culture while they’re having fun in a world inspired by that culture.

Speaking of younger players, I found myself curious to see how kids might feel about the game. With that in mind, I handed the controller over to my young nephews, and they had a great time with it. They haven’t played many 3D platformers before, so it was fascinating to watch the gears move as they wrapped their heads around operating a camera and moving in a 3D space. Surprisingly, they picked it up rather quickly. BAKERU might have a lot of buttons to keep track of, but it might not be bad as an introduction to 3D platformers. However, my oldest nephew did get a little motion sick as he wasn’t exactly used to moving a camera around, so that’s something to keep in mind.

While I do appreciate the addition of new moves for Bakeru and extra lanterns in this new version of the game, I do have a few quibbles. I occasionally found myself frustrated with projectile enemies like the ninja octopi and the boomerang throwers. At times it felt like they’d sucker punch me while I was trying to figure out a platforming puzzle or navigate the stages. On the technical side of things, the game has a tendency to heavily stutter in enemy dense moments and ambitious set pieces. The controls would also become occasionally unresponsive in those situations. However, I’d say these are more a problem with the aging nature of Switch hardware over the game itself. With that said, hopefully those issues aren’t present in the Steam release.

Overall, BAKERU is a fantastic game for kids and kids at heart. It reminds me of the games of my childhood, but is solid enough to break through any rose tinted glasses I might be wearing. For $40 on the Nintendo eShop and Steam, I’d say players (and parents too) will be getting more than their money’s worth. Fingers crossed that the young players of today might look back at BAKERU fondly in the years to come.