Tanooki brouhaha: Super Mario 3D Land attacked by PETA
(Read article summary)Tanooki suit in Super Mario 3D Land has PETA outraged. The animal rights groups says that Nintendo's Tanooki suit 'sends the message that it's OK to wear fur.'
This weekend, Nintendo released Super Mario 3D Land, the first side-scrolling Mario title designed exclusively for the 3DS device. Critics like the game, mostly. But the folks at PETA do not.
More specifically, the folks at PETA do not like the inclusion of the "Tanooki suit," the familiar raccoon-like cloak and tail donned by Mario in some levels of Super Mario 3D Land. (In fact, the Tanooki suit first appeared back in 1988 with Super Mario Bros. 3.)
IN PICTURES: Controversial video games
"Tanooki may be just a 'suit' in Mario games, but in real life, tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur," PETA reps wrote on its "Mario Kills Tanooki" site. The site includes a (relatively gruesome) desktop game, where a skinned tanuki chases Mario, who is dripping blood, across a familiar landscape of pipes, blocks, and gold coins.
Just to be clear, the PETA game was designed by the organization, not Nintendo. The actual Mario game does not include any blood nor skinning. Players receive the Tanooki suit after collecting special leaves.
