I'm supposed to think of a clever intro for the "Super Mario Bros. 3 with lesbian fox-girls" game, and unfortunately, it's not coming together. The braincells must not be coagulating today. Let's just skip ahead to the ramen and pretzels* of the review. Kitsune Tails is a 2024 indie platformer designed to evoke strong feelings about the things that we love to see. Speaking solely for myself, I'm happy to have a jump & stomp game that evokes the classic era. Anyone foolish enough to repeatedly visit this blog has been subjected to my decrepit whinge-fests about modern platformers and their tendency to include a few more spikes and pits than normal. I can't help myself. I like player-expression, finding multiple ways from point A to point B, and so on and whatever.
What we have here is a platformer distinctly built for comfort vibes. It's got inviting colors, a soundtrack that soothes, and a generous supply of checkpoints. Other features that help keep frustration between minimal and nonexistent include constant access to the inventory. Heading into danger and need a power-up? Just pop into the menu and crack one open. Power-ups are bought at the shop, completing certain tasks, or succeeding at minigames. If you prefer to sweat, then every stage can be finished without ever touching the inventory. Of course, it's all relative. Someone who cuts their teeth on Kaizo Bros. is going to fly through no problem, and they'll still have a good time because the game is damn good. Me? I'm more of a "won the first-place-in-his-age-group trophy at a McDonalds championship." level of SMB3 gamer. I had a few struggles, but only because I kept trying to show off to an audience of none.
On a scale that measures how close Kitsune Tails plays like its inspiration, I'd probably give it a +1. When compared to the raccoon-tailed hero, the fox-tailed heroine has the slightest additional hint of momentum. I've had to correct a few jumps while in mid-air, but this could also just be a very me thing. I've spent less than 10 hours - across two playthroughs - on this game. Super Mario Bros. 3 might as well have been the only game I played for years. Comparing a weekend adventure with imprinted muscle memory is an insane ask, but I am insane... so... yeah. Seriously though, this is one fine-controlling game. Smooth as buttered silk. The crisp movement adds enough weight to each action that I was well-aware of what I did wrong whenever the consequences caught up to me.
Over the course of her adventure, Yuzu comes across various costumes, all with special abilities to master. The game tends to be pretty hands-off, only requiring specific costumes for unique circumstances. For example, the samurai armor allows Yuzu to spear nearby foes. That jumonji(?) yari can also be plunged into the wall to make a stepping-spear. It's one of those abilities that gets used once or twice, then perhaps never again. I feel like there was a little bit of a missed opportunity for some of the costumes. They're utilized more as proof-of-concept than an integral part of the game. Then again, SMB3 did the same thing. The biggest difference is that Yuzu can effortlessly run & jump when she's a fish out of water. Frog Mario? Not so much. Oh, speaking of. The swimming levels here are actually kind-of lit. I was shocked that I enjoyed all of them.
Let me just go ahead and state that I liked pretty much all of the levels in Kitsune Tails. Some of the most interesting from a pure mechanical standpoint were the verts. I liked using the heroine's various talents to clamber up platforms and through the myriad dangers. There's one in the ice-world that relies on skillful Snow Fox usage that's outright exceptional. The only nitpick I have is offscreen umbrellas. They lurk in a few vertically scrolling levels, eager for a sneak-attack. Again however, this is partly on me for rushing ahead as if I had the mad skillz to back it up.
Now, I know the game is less than two years old, but I have to use open spoilers to finish the review. There's a second playable character, her name is Kiri, and she has a sword. What makes her much more than a melee attack are all of the special moves she'll learn. First is the blade dash, which opens up an entirely new dimension in traversal combat. Slicing through ground or air with ease adds so much to her role in the game. Not long afterwards, she obtains an upward slash, a dive-kick, and a supercharged dash for flying in any cardinal direction.
What really makes Kiri awesome is that touching the ground or striking an enemy will cause all of her moves to "reset". Basically, it means chaining moves together while in midair. The utility of this is really something special and even reminds me a bit of Shinobi for the Playstation 2. Linking blade attacks to cross chasms or climb verts is supremely cool. Shame that there aren't more levels that utilize the other fox-tailed heroine's entire move-set, but it's alright.
The deal with Kitsune Tails is that while the bulk of it is a wonderful platformer with solid mechanics and fun ideas, there's also plenty of minigames to check out. This being the 2026 special, I uh... admittedly didn't spend much time with any of them. Kappa racing or searching a haunted house for treasure isn't exactly what I'm looking for in these women with women games. Still, their inclusion is welcome, as it showcases the skill of the developer at tackling a multitude of genres. Built-in features for designing your own levels or minigames are included. I probably should've designed a few of my own levels, if merely to silence earlier complaints about there not being enough costume/blade-dash-specific content. Thing is, the most level-designing I ever did was for a single-screen puzzle platformer, so meh... You know how it is; always easier just to complain.
Actually, there is in fact a bonus world that contains a handful of levels intended for maniacs. Let's just say these levels showed me that although I like Kitsune Tails a whole lot, I don't love it. You'll need a fair amount of love and all the things that come with (patience & commitment) to deal with these brutal challenges. One level is devoted entirely to ghosts and disappearing blocks. Another has Yuzu trying to master an expert technique. It requires tossing a shelled creature and jumping off of it as it rebounds off a wall. After many failed attempts, I started to wonder if something wasn't adding up, and if the hitboxes weren't just a tad too hurtful. Rather than having my otherwise enjoyable time get blown up by a completely optional mechanic that neither adds to nor takes away from the adventure, I chose to step away and start writing the review.
So yeah, I figure liking a game a whole lot is enough reason for me to recommend it to everyone, and I mean that. This isn't just me liking me some weird-ass shit because it's got level-ups or a hundred secret characters to obtain. Kitsune Tails is a very charming platformer that expertly grasps the essentials and tops it off with plenty of bonuses. Buy it, treat yourself to a playthrough ever year, and maybe life will get a little bit better.
No guarantees though.
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