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The worst day of my life? It was that day I was trying to make croissants for a client and I was mauled by raccoons…"

Comic Bakery is one of Konami's lesser known games, probably because it was only on the MSX and Commodore 64. It's a fun arcade style game, but it is also very hard to clear even one level. If you're up for a nice challenge, then go ahead and play this thing, but for everyone else, the cracks will start to show and you'll see just how repetitive and frustrating this game really is.

Story- You play as a fat baker who has to make and deliver fancy croissants to a party. The problem is that a bunch of raccoons have invaded your bakery and are working together to steal your croissants. They'll mess with your machinery, hit you with their tails, and even just grab croissants right off of the packing machines. The only thing Mr. Baker can do is yell at the raccoons and try to kick them.

The concept for the story, to be fair, is pretty good. This has got to be the worst day of Mr. Baker's life, getting attacked by a group of raccoons while having to stress out about being late to deliver goods to a part. The game's called Comic Bakery and the concept of a playable “worst day of this person's life” is pretty funny.

Presentation- The first thing you'll probably notice about Comic Bakery is its odd choice in music. It's Yankee Doodle. That's the only song in this game. I guess how much you like Comic Bakery's music depends entirely on whether you think Yankee Doodle is annoying or not. The graphics are nice, though. Despite the solid black background and very limited animation, the sprites in Comic Bakery are large and look very good for a game that on the MSX.

Gameplay- Comic Bakery is a game all about managing an conveyer belt. Croissants would go into the truck to be shipped off on their own, except raccoons turn your machines off. You have to turn the machines back on to move the belt. Raccoons will also try to attack your or grab croissants off of the belt. The only way to get them to stop is to scream at them to stun them. You can kick them while they're down for points too.

You only get a limited number of times you can yell at the raccoons and only a limited number of lives as well. The main problem with Comic Bakery is that it is easy to get overwhelmed. Your fat baker that you play as moves slowly and jumping over enemies is difficult. It is also is hard to keep turning your machines back on while conserving your screams so that you can yell at raccoons that are trying to snatch your croissants off of the belt.

Comic Bakery is a difficult game and it gets really overwhelming. A complete game is only one round and if you're lucky, you can get two, maybe three croissants onto the truck for that party. After that, the next round begins and the game loops on a higher difficulty. The game is already difficult as it is. It's certainly not Konami's most enjoyable work, but it is fun for a while before it gets too frustrating.

Cool Fact- Yankee Doodle also appears in one of the Parodius games. Does Konami like that song or do they just think it's funny so they put it in their funny games?

Also Try-How about Burgertime? It has a bit in common with Comic Bakery besides the food theme. You have to manage completing a task while enemies try to get you while you can only stun them for a few seconds. It also has you managing a line of objects that “fall” instead of move on an automated assembly line. Tapper is a drink related game that has you constantly managing lines too. It's a little bit of stretch to see how these games are related other than the food themes, but the actual gameplay has some similarities and they're both fun games too.

Reviewer's Rating: 3.0 - Fair

Originally Posted: 02/05/14

Game Release: Comic Bakery (EU, 12/31/84)