Good-Feel puts out a Nintendo-esque game that isn’t actually published by Nintendo.
The video game developer Good-Feel has been around for nearly 20 years and for most of that time, they’ve worked closely with Nintendo on games such as Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Yoshi’s Woolly World. That’s continued to this day with the release of Princess Peach Showtime earlier in 2024. But before Good-Feel was formed, the founders of the company worked at Konami, specifically the Ganbare Goemon series (for more on this, check out our history of Good-Feel). They somewhat revisited those Goemon roots with their self-funded game Bakeru, which first came out in Japan a year ago but is now coming out worldwide courtesy of publisher Spike-Chunsoft. Bakeru is not a Goemon game, even if the main character and overall setting is very evocative of the same Japanese mythology that fueled Goemon’s world. What Bakeru is is an enjoyable if simplistic adventure that might be closest in play style to Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It’s an overly cute game that I wish was a little more ambitious but it’s still a fun and varied ride that shows off how skilled Good-Feel is at making Nintendo-esque games.
Set in what’s dubbed “Fairy Tale Japan,” the whimsical story sets the heroic Bakeru fighting against the evil Oracle Saitaro as he tries to take over Japan with his weird festival. You travel around Japanese prefectures in a linear order, going through more than 50 stages. Most of the stages are set in 3D landscapes where you follow a relatively straightforward path to fight enemies, find collectables, and most importantly, destroy at least three festival lanterns so you can get the vile partiers out of the area.
Most of the gameplay feels like a beat-’em-up, as you make use of Bakeru’s drum to beat the tar out of groups of enemies. This is done by hitting the left and right triggers to chain drum combos and execute a handful of chargeable special attacks. You can also dodge roll and block, but outside of a few specific scenarios, you can find a lot of success by just bouncing around with the triggers. The combat does slowly evolve over time, helped out by the new additions to the Western release of the Hurricane and Spinning Top attacks (though I didn’t play the Japanese release so I can’t totally compare the before/after). Special transformations are also unlocked as you progress, typically from defeating bosses. These either tie into level puzzles or just make you super powerful. It’s all very cute, and I definitely cackled as some of them were unleashed for the first time, but they mostly make an easy game even easier and no matter what, at a certain point though, you’re just mashing buttons through relatively pleasant environments.
Every few levels you go through some type of special stage, whether it’s a race or even a 3D shooter. It’s in those moments that I kept wishing for Bakeru to be more like the old Goemon games, because that’s where I was reminded of the chaotic energy of Mystical Ninja’s novel diversions. Bakeru is not totally a Goemon game like they were in the ‘90s, and that’s fine. I’m just trying to level-set for all of you. That chaotic energy came out to me in full strength in the collectables. You can find three hidden items in each level that are cute and sometimes funny, but the best bit in all of Bakeru is the five collectable bits of trivia found in each level. You essentially need to find five pieces of golden poop that then spit out a random fact at you. It serves no greater purpose, but you can revisit all the trivia in a menu if you wish. Hestu and the Koroks would be proud.
Bakeru is an enjoyable romp that consistently delivers lighthearted action with a lot of charm even if it gets a little repetitive the deeper you get into it. Good-Feel clearly learned a lot from working with Nintendo because this game deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Nintendo’s lighter fare. This isn’t quite the Goemon spiritual successor I felt I was promised, but Bakeru is still a good time (especially for younger players) and I hope that Good-Feel both continues working with Nintendo and continues to work on projects like this.
