It’s hard to believe that about three weeks have passed since BAKERU was announced for a Western release. This supremely-Japanese game is rooted in the prefectures of Japan and offers up a 3D platforming adventure with a healthy amount of variety. Helmed by Good-Feel and the producer of several Ganbare Goemon/Mystical Ninja games across the generations, BAKERU brings together a lot of what has made Good-Feel’s newer releases fun – like Princess Peach: Showtime’s sense of whimsy alongside the 3D action-platforming.
The original Japanese release stood out because BAKERU aimed to be a gameplay successor of sorts to the 3D Ganbare Goemon games – something that we haven’t seen a new entry of since the PS2 days. BAKERU received a lot of acclaim when it released Japan and it was the first import title I picked up since the PS3 days, but the lack of an English translation hurt it a bit. Trying to use Google Translation for menus sort of worked, but was clunky while the core gameplay was a lot of fun with snappy controls for Bakeru’s stick movements and attacks.
Side-Scrolling Surprises
The English releases, based on the demo, improved the framerate compared to the Japanese version, which chugged a bit at times. The ability to go through 47 Japanese prefectures makes this adventure even more rooted in Japan than many games set there or import releases in general. BAKERU getting a PC release came out of left field since Good-Feel doesn’t create a lot of stuff for the platform and while Spike Chunsoft is publishing, they don’t put all of their stuff out on PC either.
BAKERU getting a PC release came out of left field
BAKERU has a demo available on the Switch, but strangely not one on the PC. It’s odd becuase there are so many games that get released on both platforms that get a demo on PC but not on console, and yet with this, the Switch demo has been available for a while. The demo was a fantastic idea for the game, though, because it’s an odd game in some ways and having a demo makes it tempting for those that haven’t played the game before or are just curious to try it out in a risk-free way.
BAKERU can be purchased now fromSteamand the Nintendo SwitcheShopfor $39.99. There was a 20% discount on the eShop for a pre-order, which is now active for the PC version until September 10 and then you’re able to get the game and soundtrack for $40.48.
Bright Worlds
BAKERU Coming to the West in September
Originally released in Japan as Otogi Katsugeki Mameda no Bakeru last year, BAKERU is now slated for release across the world.
