Home » TANUKI: Pon’s Summer (Preview)

We had the opportunity to do a short demo run of TANUKI: Pon’s Summer, during our time at PAX West. It’s a very colorful ride as you run errands, explore the area, and do a few bike tricks.

Jumping into the demo, we were tasked to deliver packages to the local townsfolk. Before beginning our delivery, you’ll need to make sure you have enough room to hold your packages. You’ll enter a new screen where you’ll drop your packages in the empty basket. Organize the items like a mini-puzzle game to save space. Otherwise you’ll have to make multiple trips back to the post office. Expect more different genre mini-games to expand the game’s fun factor.

Show Me Your Moves

You can deliver by foot or your trusty bicycle. Of course, for faster delivery, the bike was the best bet. Using an Xbox controller to play a PC demo while controlling Pon, the protagonist of the game, presented some challenges. One of the issues we encountered was that the controller was experiencing drifting. Another challenge was understanding bicycle mechanics well enough to perform BMX-styled tricks.

There’s a set of commands to utilize the bicycle. Using the left stick in a dedicated direction along with a button pressed at the same time will have Pon doing backflips, frontflips, and other tricks. Holding down the trigger buttons also performs additional bike tricks. If you’ve played games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, then you shouldn’t have issues learning these commands like I have. Initiate these tricks while jumping over ledges, hills, and rails, and pay attention to Pon as he grinds them.

New to the freestyle bicycle genre, it’s advised to learn the controls and make adjustments. While I should have done homework to understand the mechanics before going too far into the demo, the inputs felt a little off. As this is a demo, you can expect tweaks and updates to improve the mechanics.

Exploring the Rural Life

Outside the mechanics, the world you’ll explore is enormous and colorful, as if you’re exploring a rural area of Japan as you come across shrines and other landmarks. The overall design uses simplified shapes and textures. Characters are outlined in a thicker black outline to stand out and give them that cartoon-like feature. There aren’t many citizens to encounter during the demo, but players can expect to see more unique personalities as they make deliveries.

The user interface is clean and simple with subtle patterns that make it pop but not too much. It works well with the game’s overall design.

A Ride to Look Forward To

TANUKI: Pon’s Summer is an upcoming indie game to look forward to for those who want a colorful adventure while hitting the rails for those killer bike moves. Get around the mechanics and you’ll find yourself enjoying Pon’s errand run.

TANUKI: Pon’s Summer is set to launch in the near future for PC (Steam). Fans can visit the game’s official Steam page for additional information and purchasing options. We appreciate the Ukiyo Studios team for giving us the opportunity to test out their game at PAX West.