Drumming up some Fun - Bakeru Review
Developer: Good Feel | Platform: Nintendo Switch | Playtime: 11:16
Bakeru is a 3D platformer that’s been on my radar for a little while now. Released originally in Japan in 2023, it saw a western release date in September 2024 - the same week as Astro Bot… so naturally my attention was elsewhere. With Astro Bot content in the rear view and Bakeru pencilled in for the Summer of Platformers, I finally got around to it. It’s a good time and has the potential to be more but it’s never great and that is a shame.
The game takes place in a fairy tale Japan, you play as Bakeru – a young Tanuki from the Hidden Tanuki village (who disguises himself as the ugly human boy for whatever reason). When he and his Grandpa are approached by a young fairy girl by the name of Sun, Bakeru is thrust on an adventure to stop the evil Oracle Saito from taking over Japan with his dark Festival.
The game is level based, unlocked linearly to start but unlocked in batches later (more on that later), all accessed via a cute overworld map of Japan. Levels are what I would describe as ‘Wide Linear’ – you’ve got a start and end point and you’re generally being funnelled through but there’s a bit of wiggle room to explore – more Kirby and the Forgotten Land than Crash Bandicoot. The main objective of each level is to destroy 3 Festival lanterns which unlocks the end of level tower. There’s always more than 3 in a level, some are hidden, some appear after defeating specific enemies and some are just out in the open. Apart from a small handful of stages that require a certain number of enemies defeated, the objective is always the same. I’m fine with the 3 lanterns but a sub objective within each stage would have been nice.
The theming of each level is really good, you’ll climb mountains, explore cruise ships and plunder castles. Much like how something like Super Mario Sunshine keeps its level theme of Beach + (Specific theme), Bakeru does this well but with Japan + (Specific theme). That being said, level design is sometimes lacking, being flat or having very little platforming elements. A fair few levels also feel like they’re a checkpoint or two too long. A strange complaint perhaps but there are too many levels for how little different they play. There are the occasional vehicle level where you drive on a race track or do a starfox esque shooting mission but these are pretty dull affairs that only serve to break up whatever pacing the game might have been building.
Something I didn’t expect from the game going in is the combat. It’s not DMC or anything but there’s a decent variety of well-designed enemies (visually and mechanically) here. Bakeru has a range of moves and attacks at his disposal including parrying, blocking and dodging but a lot of the combat boils down to spamming basic attacks on anything that moves. There’s a lot that moves though, each level is full to the brim with enemies but there’s not really any point in fighting them. Enemies drop coins that can be spent at the shops but the shop only offers items related to combat – you see the issue. Boss fights are alright, when you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. There’s two main types, playing as Bakeru and playing as the giant Kettle mech, which I suppose brings us to the way the game is paced.
The game begins linearly with the objective being to recruit legendary heroes for the cause. These are the Bakeru boss fights, beating each gives Bakeru a new power to use. There are only four in total: The ability to shrink is given to the player at the start of the game by Sun (and is criminally underused in the game), the remaining three are from these Heroes. The problem is they’re all combat based, and I only ever used them when I was getting sick of mashing basic attacks. Even then I only used the first. After these three bosses are beaten, roughly 15 of the 60 odd levels in, this is where the game expands into giving the player multiple levels per zone. I just think that pacing is off a little. This new exploration is done in the aforementioned Kettle, in its flying form rather than the mech form.
There’s very little happening inside the Kettle which is a shame, I feel like it’s a missed opportunity. Primarily you’ll use it to see the collectibles you’ve found in each stage – Each stage has 3 souvenirs to find which are displayed on the Kettle as well as 5 bits of… Trivia? Yeah one of the collectible types is Trivia, delivered by a funny little yellow guy. Primarily Japan based but not exclusively, these little tidbits actually proved to be surprisingly interesting and I found myself learning some new things. The third collectible type is only unlocked after the Kettle is unlocked and one that I only found 1 of 18 in my playthrough – Hidden Tanukis. In various stages, a little Tanuki emblem can be found in the environment, finding them brings Tanuki’s onto the Kettle and unlock new upgrades for the mech. I only discovered this near the end and I managed regardless.
Unfortunately dissatisfaction with the excess of combat meant I didn’t finish the game, stopping on the third to last level. Bakeru is a game I can see people enjoying and online many people are singing its praises. I just think when it comes to Platformers on the switch for similar price ranges, you can find a lot better.
