Tanuki: Pon's Summer Preview | A Raccoon's BMX Dream

I really love delivery games. The idea of being able to drive or ride across the countryside delivering mail to all kinds of people is so much fun. And if I can be an adorable Tanuki and do some epic BMX tricks along the way, what’s not to like about that?

Tanuki: Pon’s Summer from developer Denkiworks and publisher CRITICAL REFLEX takes place over one sweltering summer. You play as the adorable and dedicated Pon whose goal is to restore the great tanuki shrine and earn money to do so by completing deliveries for townsfolk. You’ll explore four major towns inspired by Kyoto, Aomori, Sapporo and Beppu each with their own quests and objectives.

I was so excited to jump into the demo of Tanuki: Pon’s Summer and it impressed me almost instantly. At the start, you show up at your job ready to make some deliveries and I was immediately laughing when my tall pile of boxes was balanced on my small BMX bike. And then, of course, as soon as you ride away the game’s epic hard rock-style soundtrack starts and you’re immediately immersed in this unique and fun world. 

All around the areas you explore in the demo are a variety of rails and ramps to take advantage of. Pon can perform a variety of tricks and the more impressive the trick, the more points you can gain. And while packages can be delivered directly to townsfolk, you can also deliver letters which require a small challenge in order to do successfully. Some of the challenges in the demo include: getting 6000+ points by performing one trick and collect the letters T.A.N.U.K and I scattered around town.

My favorite part of the demo was playing the little mini-games that you’re requested to help with by a couple of the folks who you deliver packages to. The first mini-game involves competing in a sumo match, another you’ll be taking photographs and in another you’ll help out with pouring drinks at a local restaurant. It’s the perfect way to take a break between deliveries. 

The Tanuki: Pon’s Summer demo took me about an hour to beat and I absolutely did not want it to end. Not only do you get to ride around the towns delivering packages but you get to interact with and learn more about the people and the community as you do. And, you can help them out with super fun mini-games all while impressing everyone with your amazing BMX tricks. 

Tanuki: Pon’s Summer doesn’t have a release date just yet, but you can wishlist the game on Steam and play the (highly recommended) demo as well!