Continuing this trend of finally being able to play games I previously couldn't this year, GoodFeel's Japan-exclusive Goemon-inspired 3D platformer, Mameda No Bakeru, has gotten a surprise release in the west as Bakeru. I like GoodFeel, I like Goemon, and I like 3D platformers, so I knew this was definitely a game that I wanted to get my hands on once it came. And while I think it has some issues, overall, it's a really fun time.
When Bakeru was first announced, pretty much everyone clocked it as a spiritual successor to the Goemon series, especially considering that a lot of the developers at GoodFeel are ex-Konami, some having even worked on Goemon before. While GoodFeel themselves claimed they weren't directly inspired by it, the similarities are very much there. The main character, Bakeru, has a similar color scheme and design to Goemon. The music has that same energetic Japanese-influenced pop feel to it, the levels are set in real life locations in Japan, and of course, there are mech battles. However, upon really playing Bakeru myself, I will say that a lot of the comparisons are pretty surface level. Goemon always had a bit of adventure game DNA, with some entries even being obviously based on the Zelda series, but Bakeru is a pretty straight-forward linear platformer. Goemon kept the combat simple and breezy, but Bakeru aims to flesh the combat out more. And even on a story level, the cast isn't made of ninjas. Rather, Bakeru is a tanuki and his partner Sun is an inchling. So I wouldn't really say that Bakeru scratched that Goemon itch exactly, though that's not really a bad thing either.
As far as purely gameplay goes, Bakeru is a fairly standard 3D action-platformer, though it executes the tropes of the genre quite well. Bakeru's movement is very polished and reliable, and you get a good amount of optional moves you can pull off like a vault or a side flip. I do wish the game let me map buttons myself since neither layout really felt ideal, but I did eventually become pretty comfortable with the control setup after a few stages. The combat feels like it took a lot of influence from beat-em-ups, you can beat down foes with your drumsticks and have a number of charged moves and even a few temporary moveset transformations to speed up the process. To say that the combat is the weakest part of Bakeru would be a bit harsh since it's not even bad platformer combat. Similarly to the movement, it feels really responsive and polished, and the strong sound design makes whacking enemies feel incredibly satisfying. And those mech battles I mentioned are really, really fun. Dare I say, even better than the ones in Goemon since they let you move around the battlefield in third person rather than stick you in the cockpit. However, I do think that my biggest issue with Bakeru is that there is too much combat with little variation. Enemies are peppered all throughout pretty much every stage and most of them go down in multiple hits, so getting involved in combat often feels like it drags the pace to a halt and makes the game as a whole feel more repetitive. It got to the point that I was running past enemies because I just did not want to waste time engaging with them.
And that's a real shame because Bakeru's greatest strength is definitely the level design. This is one massive platformer clocking in at over 60 stages, but it also manages to keep tossing fun new mechanics and ideas at you until the end, from a level that takes place entirely on a cruise ship, to an autoscroll stage on a parade, to a memorably surreal stage with rotating houses, to an enemy gauntlet atop a rollercoaster, to a Fall Guys-esque obstacle course built into a town. These stages rarely ever challenge you, but they're fun and creative enough that the low difficulty never really became an issue for me. And that's not even getting into the pretty fun vehicle stages, which amp up the variety even further. Despite Bakeru being a generally linear game overall, the main stages are also quite lengthy and sprawling, filled with hidden nooks and crannies, side paths, and eight tucked-away collectibles each. I ended up sinking upwards of a half hour into fully exploring some of these stages, and as a whole, fully completing Bakeru took me a solid 15-20 hours which is really impressive considering the asking price of $40. That being said, I will say I think it went on a bit long by the end. Between the slow combat pace, the long level length, and just how many there were, I did great pretty worn at by the last batch of levels.
Bakeru also has a pretty stellar presentation, which is to be expected from GoodFeel. The 3D visuals are super clean, the characters animate quite expressively, and the colors are bright and eyecatching. But most of all, I love the character designs, they're super cartoony and cute. Even when the game isn't being made out of arts and crafts, GoodFeel remains the masters of games that are just aggressively adorable. My one issue with the visuals in Bakeru is definitely the performance, which dips at a pretty frequent rate. From what I can tell, it seems Bakeru runs at an uncapped 60fps which I generally think is a bad idea. Unless you can ensure that your game mostly runs smoothly, I always prefer a stable 30 over an unstable 60. Thankfully, the dips are never aggressive enough that it ruins the experience, especially with how easy the game is. A pivotal aspect of the Goemon series has always been the soundtracks, which usually blend traditional Japanese music with upbeat pop to incredible effect, and I'm glad to say Bakeru definitely lives up to the legacy in this aspect. I was surprised to find the lead composers this time were actually ND Cube's go-to Mario Party composers for the last few games, and they did a pretty great job here at emulating the Goemon feel with tracks like Tokushima, Kanagawa, and Nara.
Overall, Bakeru is a fun, polished, and surprisingly content-rich platformer that does boast a lot of similarities to the Goemon series, but doesn't quite recapture the same exact feel. While I wish the combat was given a bit less emphasis and the pacing was a bit brisker, the polished controls, consistently inventive and original level design, engaging exploration, and charming presentation still made for a really enjoyable 3D platformer. I wouldn't say this is one of my favorite GoodFeel games, but it's another strong showing from a studio that's never really steered me wrong yet. And between this and the incredibly slept-on Princess Peach Showtime, I've never been more excited to see what they have in store next.
4/5 Stars
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