Clamoring for the nostalgic rush of one of the most popular video games of all time? Published by MidBoss, Kitsune Tails is essentially a reworked version of Super Mario Bros 3, with a unique kick to it. Kitsune Tails explores worlds based on Japanese mythology and the relationship between kitsunes, humans, and other anthropomorphic animals, giving this title a more solid storyline and stronger character-building.
Kitsune Tails was released August 1st, 2024 and can be played on PC, Steam, the Xbox 1, the Xbox Series X/S, the Nintendo Switch, and the PlayStation 4 and 5.
Don’t shoot the messenger
Begin the game as Yuzu, a purple-haired Kitsune girl, one of Inari’s messengers. She is sent out on her first messenger mission–with her positive albeit naive attitude–awaiting a series of drama and dangers.
Yuzu comes across Akko, a sorceress and healer of the human realm. Yuzu and Akko’s relationship slowly begins to blossom. Akko eventually asks the protagonist to the spring dance as a romantic gesture, however, Yuzu’s childhood fox friend Kiri becomes encumbered by jealousy and bitterness. At the spring dance, chaos erupts and it is assumed that Kiri swooped in to kidnap Akko, locking her in an elemental prison in a fit of jealous rage. Yuzu must set out to rescue the town’s healer and learn as to why Kiri would do such a thing. If you thought Super Mario Bros 3 is goofy enough, get ready for Kitsune Tail‘s lesbian love triangle and series of mystical encounters.
Players will go through interesting and challenging levels in the human realm, as well as five other elemental worlds in total. There is a bonus world featuring seriously difficult kaizo levels after completing the game. They are not for the faint of heart! As players progress, you will learn that Kiri herself already blasted through the levels and took the keys needed to free Akko from her prison, so each boss instead will give Yuzu “elemental attunement,” which is also necessary to free Akko. Throughout the journey, Yuzu will begin to self-question her legitimate feelings for either of her friends, and fear that her lack of honestly might ruin their relationships all together. Meanwhile, Kiri is spending an awful amount of time with the imprisoned sorceress. . .
Two shakes of a tail
Overall, Kitsune Tails is rather difficult and requires some experience with platforming. The game also has several issues with glitches and occasionally unreasonable level design, but nothing overly sinister. Players are able to select their difficulty level ranging from easy to hard. Easy mode allows players to power-up at any point in a level and revive instantly at the moment of death. This makes gameplay a lot more suitable for all ages and types of gamers. Medium difficulty will make you restart the level, or the checkpoint, among death. Hard mode will do this as well, but also prevents players from powering-up during levels. Instead, you have to use items in the overworld.
There are certainly difficulty spikes, and levels are scarce with checkpoints even when they are needlessly long. Sometimes I would play a level and think to myself . . . “Is this the same level I have been playing? It keeps going?“
Players are also free to mod the game and there is even an option to build custom levels with open source tools.
Jump up super high, high up in the sky!
Fans of SMB3 may be fancied by Kitsune Tails‘ close resemblance to the former: enemies include squishable beetles instead of goombas, armadillo-creatures instead of koopas, and humanoid skeletons rather than dry bones. Mechanics and sound effects are similar as well. Yuzu can jump, sprint, grip items, power-up, and gather coins. However, there are no “lives” nor time limit. While the game can be tedious and challenging, players will never “die” and have to restart fully.
Power-up with various items, like a samurai helmet that lets you spearhead enemies, or a cute shark outfit that lets Yuzu swim much more efficiently. Kitsune Tails’ version of a Mario mushroom makes Yuzu look more human-like, and if you get hit by an enemy, Yuzu transforms into a tiny purple fox.
Act 1 of Kitsune Tails features Yuzu on a quest to save Akko and foster elemental attunement after every boss. Act 2 is pretty much the same exact thing, except players witness Kiri’s side of the story. As Kiri, players go through the exact same levels in the exact same worlds, but of course Kiri has her own unique abilities and upgrades, the dialogue is different, and there are other minute differences here and there. Overall, playing the same levels makes the game somewhat redundant . . . why not add at least some alternative level designs for Kiri?
Crafty like a fox
The art style of the game is cute, colorful, and chibi-like. To my surprise, Kitsune Tails features full-fledged voice acting. Unfortunately, the voices sound . . . unnatural. Character speech does not acoustically bounce off of one another, kind of like old-school dubbed anime. It is by no means bad, but it could be better.
The soundtrack for Kitsune Tails is not very memorable either. It mostly consist of simple upbeat hōgaku, feeling rather low-key and unimportant. Kitsune Tails‘ strong point is definitely the visuals.
Aforementioned, some of the levels are really challenging and fun and are indeed reminiscent of SMB3: haunted mansions with ghosts, dreaded underwater levels, and a lava-filled world. The boss fights in Kitsune Tails are spectacularly unique and engaging. Yuzu (and Kiri) will fight a sword fighting macaw, this pink-colored rabbit woman who strikes with bamboo shoots spewing from the ground, among others. I enjoyed these boss battles a lot and it felt more varied than the traditional Mario bosses with the repeated use of Bowser and his Koopalings.
Final thoughts
Kitsune Tails is a cute and challenging game that encapsulates the old charm of Super Mario Bros 3 very well. It is unique enough to be its own title, and comes with adorable character design, a charming LGBTQ+ storyline, and very precise, difficult platforming. Depending upon your comfort and familiarity with platformers, Kitsune Tails could take between 10-15 hours to complete.
There are definite hiccups with this title. The levels run a bit janky at times and can become unfairly hard, due to glitching and especially poor enemy placements. There are times where Kitsune Tails feels banal, in that many aspects are not too distinguishable from SMB3, or the fact that Act 2 requires players to go through the exact same levels once again. At the very least, the cute, little, dramatic story shines through the entire time, creating a familiarity and love with the game’s mythological cast of characters. I really enjoyed the emphasis of Yuzu and her parents’ relationships, with whom she communicated via magical post cards. Yuzu’s mother . . . man . . . has quite the history of being a willing victim of love squares and triangles in her youth!
If you are a fan of challenging platformers, and are in desire for a queer-friendly plot, Kitsune Tails is an excellent option to enjoy.
