PETA Once Made A Game Where Mario Skins A Tanuki

PETA has a noble goal: to stop animal abuse. Some think they often go too far, especially when puffed up celebrities get involved. Whatever your opinion on the matter, we can all agree that making Mario a monstrous murderer covered in the blood of the innocent is objectively funny. Especially when real ones know that Luigi is the actual villain of the Mario universe.

Well known in Japan folklore is a real life creature called the tanuki, sometimes whimsically spelled ‘tanooki’. Also known as raccoon dog. It’s a species of canid that looks like a trash panda and a terrier had a baby and they’re cute as hell. They’re also pretty soft, which is why they’re hunted and sold for their fur. Which PETA doesn’t like at all. It gets them so mad that even referencing wearing tanuki fur sparked them to make a whole ass platformer about it. 

In Mario Kills Tanooki, you play as a skinless, pixelated tanuki, chasing after Mario who is wearing your flesh as it drips blood onto the Mario-esque landscape below. It’s gruesome and honestly pretty unforgiving when it comes to timing your jumps right, so if you’re looking for a challenge and you have an idle hour, give it a whirl. It’s free to play. 

Mario donning a tanuki suit has been around a long time in the Mario games. It goes all the way back to Super Mario Bros. 3; I’d always thought of it as more a footy pajama situation instead of a twisted Cruella deVille thing. But according to PETA, “Tanooki may be just a "suit" in Mario games, but in real life, tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur. By wearing Tanooki, Mario is sending the message that it's OK to wear fur. Play Super Tanooki Skin 2D and help Tanooki reclaim his fur!” You got it PETA. I can't afford real fur anyways.