Play Japanese platformer Bakeru if you want to get better at pub quizzes

Full disclosure: I hadn't heard of Bakeru until Graham mentioned it to me. Graham always has his hands on the video game pulse, gliding them over Xwitter or Steam or wherever and waiting for that "ker kun, ker kun" of a new Cool Thing. And that cool thing is Bakeru, described by its Steam page as "Japan-esque", but is in actual fact, very Japanese. I mean, you travel around 47 Japanese prefectures as a metamorphing tanuki who bashes evilness with his taiko drum sticks. Come on.

What I hadn't suspected was Bakeru's chops not only as a platformer, but as a means to increase your chances at success in pub quizzes. The game is a certified trivia Tardis, where you'll learn all sorts about Japanese culture as well as just like, the colour sepia being a genus of cuttlefish.

"Otogi Katsugeki Mameda no Bakeru: Oracle Saitarou no Sainnan!!" first launched in Japan in 2023 and the recently launched Bakeru is a Western-localised version of the same game. It's developed by Good-Feel, a Japanese developer who've collaborated with Nintendo to create some fairly strong stuff: Kirby's Epic Yarn and Yoshi's Woolly World to name a couple. And in a final contextual flourish, Bakeru is thought to be a sort of spiritual successor to Ganbare Goemon, which was a Konami-developed N64 platformer of a similar, playful makeup (former Konami producer and lead Ganbare Goemon man Ebisu Etsunobu went on to found Good-Feel).

What this means, then, is that Bakeru isn't just any old 3D platformer (as I so ignorantly thought), but one with some pedigree behind it. And that's immediately obvious as you take on the role of young Bakeru, a plucky tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog) whose shape-shifting talents let him take on the role of a hero. A hero who must save Japan from some demonic emperor person who's holding a festival that's corrupted the whole country. A hero who does the saving by cracking stuff with his taiko drum sticks and doing it all with a surprising amount of tactility.

By this I mean that Bakeru moves and jumps and bashes with a lovely weight. I like how when you turn quickly, he slides a little to compensate for the sudden shift in direction. The trajectory and angle of his jump isn't too floaty, either. And most importantly, there's more depth (don't expect loads, mind) to his taiko drum swings. I thought he'd have a fairly typical one-use combo (you can if you want), but no, you can press alternating keys, or shoulder buttons if you're on controller, to swing the sticks independently. Press one after the other in rapid succession and you'll lock on to nearby enemies, warping to them in a flash and bash and flash and bash. Charge both at the same time for a big ground-pound, or hit with the left a few times, maybe mix in a right for added flair.

Later you'll unlock new moves, like big one-armed spins, and by defeating bosses you'll unlock Henge powers that let you shapeshift into stronger, weirder forms. One lets you turn into a tiny Bakeru to hop into tunnels or glide over gaps, while others turn you into a powerful mech or a long-range nipper who juts fishing lines at enemies from afar; think Robson Green going to war. While all of these are cool and useful in specific scenarios, I wouldn't say there's really much need for them otherwise. Sure, parrying (yes, there's parrying too!) is great against bosses, but the game is super easy and you can fully get away with just hammering one button to demolish most things in a couple of hits.

But I can sweep the difficulty aside because, eh, whatever, Bakeru is a fun time nonetheless. No, this doesn't have the depth of Super Mario: Odyssey, in the sense that Odyssey's worlds can either be cracked open by kids who've just developed motor skills or further unpicked by adults who've painstakingly mastered Mario's gymnastic talents. Bakeru is simpler, with linear levels home to occasional open spaces for brief perusal aaaaand that's it move on.

And again, that's fine! Bakeru may be easy and fairly simplistic, but this makes for a stress-free blast through Japanese prefectures, all rendered in wonderful, zany colour. While some of the humour is clearly directed at a Japanese audience, it's interesting to see how Good-Feel views Japan from its own perspective, as well as how they've selected each area's key characteristics for a wider audience.

Aichi is under construction, where enemies turn and teeter as they hold heavy beams, threatening to knock you to your doom. Kanagawa is an autumnal mountain climb, where you hop over logs and dodge boulders. Shizuoka is a forest full of funky pine trees and a shoreline filled with budding kendo masters. Travel to Okinawa and you'll hop into a robot dog, who'll transform into a boat for a race on the surf (this may or may not be authentic). In the best way, steering Bakeru through each prefecture is akin to leafing through a cartoonish tourist leaflet.

Or maybe it's more like I envision Japanese "marketing", if that's the right word for it. I mean those leaflets and announcements and adverts all containing lots of RGB kanji or cheerful jingles or those little portraits that permanently show reactions of the enthusiastic TV hosts. And if I were on a Japanese equivalent of The Chase or at a pub quiz, I guarantee Bakeru would net me some "WaaAAA suuugeee" reactions (equivalent of "woahhh, amazing" in English), as I nailed one (1) or two (2) incredibly niche questions about Japanese prefectures, or revealed the fact that sea grapes aren't a fruit, but a type of seaweed.

You see, Bakeru has two types of collectible: each level has three hidden gacha balls that you crack open for souvenirs that are fun but ultimately pointless… and Scoop's trivia. Scoop's Trivia also offers no value in-game, per say. He's just a poop-shaped guy in a yellow puffer jacket who tucks himself away in hard to find spots, often five times across each level. Find him lounging on a sundeck or standing behind some rocks and he'll drop some knowledge. And it's this knowledge that I covet above all else. Scoop may or may not be an anthropomorphised shit, but he certainly knows his shit.

Some things I've learned from Scoop:

• Scallops have 80 eyes.
• Nagoya Castle has two golden shachihoko fish statues that are coated in 18-karat gold.
• Add soy sauce, sake, and salt to a rice cooker. This'll make seasoned sakura rice that's a regular school lunch item in Shizuoka.
• The world's first underwater mailbox is located in Susami, in Wakayama, Japan.
• Dogs known as "okage-inu" visited shrines on behalf of people in the Edo period. They could even find their way back home.

No, finding Scoop and acquiring his knowledge doesn't necessarily do anything. But this might be one of the first times I've sought out collectibles for the sake of fun tidbits, where before I would've punted one of Mario's moons out of the Mushroom Kingdom's backyard if asked to track down another one of those crescents. This is to say that Bakeru's loveliness has brought out a better side of me, one that may or may not absorb Scoop's thoughts and one day contribute to a pub quiz with an aquatic life or Japanese Things section. Even if you don't need the help, I guarantee Bakeru will bring you joy.