10 DUMBEST Video Game Controversies That Went Too Far

4. PETA Calls Mario Out For Wearing Animal Fur

Mario Tanooki
Nintendo

Literally one week after #Rattlefield3 rocked the web, PETA was at it again, and this time, its hammer of justice was brought down on an absolute gaming legend.

Shortly after Super Mario 3D Land hit shelves in November 2011, the animal rights group took aim at the Tanooki suit featured in the game, which Mario can wear to give him special abilities. In a statement, PETA said that this was telling kids it's okay to wear fur, pointing out that "raccoon dogs" called tanuki are hunting targets in real life:

"When on a mission to rescue the princess, Mario has been known to use any means necessary to defeat his enemy - even wearing the skin of a raccoon dog to give him special powers. 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."

While those with common sense understood that the Tanooki suit was in no way promoting animal cruelty (it had already appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3, with zero controversy) PETA took things one step further by releasing a browser game called Super Tanooki Skin 2D, in which a tanooki chases Mario to retrieve its skin.

This was another PETA moment that gamers just groaned at, but if you're somehow interested in playing Super Tanooki Skin, then knock yourself out: it's still live today.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!