Back when Super Mario 64 was released it ushered in a significant change to the platformer genre, defining the basis for how it would be handled in three dimensions. Weirdly enough, though there have been a whole lot of titles made in that same very general mold, none have really pulled away from the base DNA of that masterpiece. We’ve absolutely seen improvements in technology and control schemes over the years, and the Switch has a good number of indie games in that vein that have done a fantastic job of delivering a mix of accessibility and fun. Unfortunately for Dracamar, though its heart is clearly in the right place, it doesn’t reach the same heights as some of its better competitors.

There is a story trying to drive the experience, but for the most part it gets shoved to the side. An evil dragon, peaceful creatures being possessed in some form to be evil, and you needing to restore the natural order of things. It’s fine, but in some ways what effort there is feels wasted. Unsurprisingly, in order to save the day you’ll be doing plenty of exploring, jumping, twirling to attack, and performing a few other pretty stock moves to get around and take care of what are generally pretty easygoing enemies. I don’t mind that the combat aspects are a bit overshadowed by the compulsion to look for alternative routes and places to go, and the fact that most spots off the beaten path will reward the completionists out there is appreciated.

The thing is, there are also some fundamental issues that are tough to ignore, especially when so many games out there in this category stumble far less with them. There’s just something cumbersome about the feeling of the controls. Whether the issue is just a little bit of input lag, your character just feeling sluggish, or something else is hard to put a finger on, but there just isn’t much crispness in the controls, and especially for this genre that’s a bummer. Continuing in that vein, the decision to map your jumping to A is a bit perplexing since typically you’d use the B button for that. Perhaps if it could be remapped that wouldn’t be so painful, but with no such option it feels like an unforced error. Finally, there’s the fact that we’ve been spoiled with great 3D platformers knowing how to break the action up into more bite-sized segments one way or another. Though there are regular checkpoints, getting through a stage simply takes far too long and that makes for what often feels like a meandering design instead of a deliberate and carefully-conceived one. While it may still be fine for younger or less seasoned gamers, given that it’s quite friendly and approachable, putting it up against the likes of New Super Lucky’s Tale clearly demonstrates a pretty substantial gap in both ambition and execution.