Bakeru review: Mystical raccoon dog, starring Not-Goemon

When I was a kid, one of my favorite Nintendo 64 games was Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon. In hindsight, that probably explains a lot. It was one of the weirdest games I’d ever played, with a mixture of super-traditional Japanese imagery, over the top anime antics, and pop music. It was kind of clunky and difficult, but I was so mesmerized by its wacky vibes I kept at it until I saw the end. There hasn’t been much like it since, and that’s partially because Konami gave up on Ganbare Goemon-slash-Mystical Ninja a while ago, and stopped localizing the series even earlier than that. Konami has plucked Goemon from obscurity for things like Bomberman and Smash Bros. guest spots or Nintendo’s Virtual Console… but that’s about it.

Bakeru in the saddle

Bakeru is an attempt to revive the series’ quirky vibes while keeping a safe distance from the IP, in similar fashion to a growing list of Japanese retro spiritual successors (Bloodstained, Eiyuden Chronicle). It’s developed by Good-Feel, a company founded by Etsunobu Ebisu (who directed several Goemon titles) after he left Konami. While Good-Feel made a name for itself developing kid-friendly games for Nintendo (Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Princess Peach: Showtime! to name a few), it’s an independent studio.

The titular character Bakeru is about as Not-Goemon as you can get. He’s wearing red and yellow clothing, has big, bright blue hair, and fights with a Japanese cultural antique (in this case a drum instead of an old pipe). The twist here is Bakeru is actually a feisty little tanuki, a mythological creature that’s a cross between a raccoon and a dog. He has shapeshifting powers, which he uses to get in and out of trouble. A big, evil guy starts causing trouble in Japan, and Bakeru goes on a cross-country adventure to take him down. Along the way he learns new transformations, meets weird characters, and eventually pilots a flying tea kettle that doubles as a giant, fighting mech.

Yeah, okay, we can see the vision.

The colors, energy, and sense of humor anyone familiar with the Goemon series would expect to see is fully in place here. It’s not quite as weird and irreverent as some of the classic Goemon games were, but there’s a very on-brand (for Good-Feel) kid-friendly vibe here, so the jokes are sillier and more lighthearted. For example, you collect random trivia from a literal poop character in each level, whose copy-pasted introduction every time you find him is full of puns. There are plenty of puns and wacky jokes elsewhere, which do ask that you have some kind of basic understanding or interest in Japanese culture to comprehend. For an extra layer of fun, imagine playing Bakeru in the 90s, and how ridiculous the localization might’ve been!

Gameplay in Bakeru is just as light and friendly as its style. Combat is a simple matter of mashing the bumpers to swing each drumstick, and doing so back and forth gives you a sort of extra flow. But you can choose to only mash one button and still be okay. Same deal with a dodging and blocking/parrying mechanic: Bakeru gives you some respectful fanfare if you do cool things, but they are far from necessary to get through. Even the transformations you unlock really don't impact the core of what you're doing throughout the game. Coins are everywhere as well, which are mostly useful to buy healing items if you need them. Being challenged is not the point here, and any engagement with the full depth of combat is for your own satisfaction rather than intense prompting from the game itself.

A different kind of old school, 3D platformer

Predictably, Bakeru introduces special gimmick sections to break up the inevitable monotony of its simple combat. There are race levels in which you ride on a shapeshifting dog-like creature, aforementioned mech battles, and other things like destructive foot races across Mario Kart-style boost pads or auto-scrollers in true 90s platformer fashion. It’s like playing a reasonably polished Nintendo 64 game in 2024, without all the obvious signs of technological age. That said, Goemon oldheads would do well to get their expectations in check before hopping into Bakeru. These moments will never replace the Impact sequences in Mystical Ninja, but nothing ever will. 

I don’t love Bakeru like I love Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, and that’s okay. This is very much a vibes game, and Good-Feel in 2024 isn’t Konami in 1998. There’s a lot of nostalgic evocation happening for sure, but it’s more like a collection of smiles and nods in service to a project that very much has its own identity. I appreciate it, even as I understand Bakeru isn’t entirely for me. A kid at the age I was back then, with a budding interest in anime and other Japanese cultural affectations would probably have a blast. And since the barriers for that space are so much smaller these days, Bakeru can be its whole self in a way that would’ve barred it from international travel (or a decent localization) back then. That’s what it feels like Bakeru is aiming for, and I think it hits that target cleanly.

Bakeru is available on September 3, 2024 for the Nintendo Switch and PC. A Nintendo Switch code was provided by the publisher for this review.

Lucas White

Contributing Editor

Lucas plays a lot of videogames. Sometimes he enjoys one. His favorites include Dragon Quest, SaGa, and Mystery Dungeon. He's far too rattled with ADHD to care about world-building lore but will get lost for days in essays about themes and characters. Holds a journalism degree, which makes conversations about Oxford Commas awkward to say the least. Not a trophy hunter but platinumed Sifu out of sheer spite and got 100 percent in Rondo of Blood because it rules. You can find him on Twitter @HokutoNoLucas being curmudgeonly about Square Enix discourse and occasionally saying positive things about Konami.