Tanuki Sunset

Tanuki Sunset is a third-person longboarding game where you play as a raccoon racing downhill on a synthwave-soaked seaside road. There is no timer pressuring you and no finish line in sight, just an endless golden-hour highway, sharp corners, traffic, and a dream: landing on the cover of FISH, the number one longboarding magazine in the world.

You control Tanuki, a raccoon from Sunset Island with serious skating talent and an even more serious appetite. Ramps, near misses, and long clean drifts all feed your score, while little collectibles called Tanuki Bits keep your bonus meter growing. The result feels like a playable retro music video, part endless runner, part downhill racer, and entirely chill.

A Raccoon, a Longboard, and One Endless Sunset

The setup is simple. The road drops away in front of you and keeps dropping, winding past beaches, neon city streets, and mountain passes bathed in pink and orange light. Because the road is procedurally generated, no two runs play the same, so you cannot memorize the course. You read the road as it comes.

Tanuki is not some mute arcade character either. The whole game has personality, from the laid-back soundtrack to the hungry little “trash panda” energy. Your job is to stay in the flow: drift through corners, grab air off ramps, dodge cars and trucks, and squeeze past walls close enough to earn near-miss bonuses without actually eating pavement.

How to Play

You steer down the hill automatically moving forward, so your real job is positioning and timing. Leaning into turns keeps you on the road, and drifting is how you survive the tightest corners and rack up the biggest points.

Steering and Drifting

Use the left and right keys to carve. Hold the drift button before a corner and Tanuki slides sideways, tires smoking, which lets you take sharp turns at speed instead of braking. Release cleanly and you keep your momentum. Drifting often is the single most important habit, because it fills your Bonus Roulette Meter faster than anything else.

Bits, the Roulette Meter, and Near Misses

Scattered along the road are Tanuki Bits, the glowing pickups that feed both Tanuki’s appetite and your bonus meter. Fill the Bonus Roulette Meter and you spin for bonus points. The riskier plays pay more: grazing a wall without touching it scores a tight squeeze, and threading between cars at speed scores a near miss. Push your luck near the edges and you will score big, but one actual touch of traffic or a barrier ends the run.

Controls

The default layout keeps things simple on purpose:

• A/D or Left/Right arrows — steer and carve
• Space or mouse buttons — drift
• W/S or Up/Down arrows — adjust position forward and back (used for lining up ramps and pickups)
• Tab — pause and open options

That is the entire control scheme. The game deliberately avoids a complicated trick system, because the skill is all in reading the road and committing to lines.

Tips That Actually Move Your Score

Drift early, not late

Start your drift before you enter the corner, not in the middle of it. A drift started late means you slide wide into a wall or traffic. Read the road ahead, pick your line, and begin the slide early enough that you exit the corner already pointed straight.

Chase near misses, but pick your moments

Near misses and tight squeezes are the fastest way to grow your score, but chasing them everywhere will end your run. Use the wide, open stretches to experiment with risky lines, and play it safer in the dense traffic sections. One clean long run with a few big moments beats ten flashy crashes.

Hit ramps straight

Ramps give you air time, which scores points and sometimes lands you past a messy corner entirely. Line yourself up straight before the ramp though. Hitting a ramp sideways sends you flying off your line and usually into the nearest obstacle.

Learn the traffic rhythm

Cars and trucks follow predictable paths. Watch their lanes for a few seconds on each new stretch and you will spot the gaps. The game wants you to thread through, not dodge blindly, so a little patience reads better than constant swerving.

Keep the meter in mind

Everything good you do feeds the Bonus Roulette Meter, and spinning it is free points. That makes aggressive play worth it in the long run: the player who drifts every corner and grabs every bit of air will outscore the cautious cruiser even after a few crashes.

The Look and Sound of the Golden Hour

What pulls people in is the atmosphere. The whole game sits inside a retro synthwave sunset with neon skies, glowing roads, and a soundtrack of chill, nostalgic beats that match the cruising vibe. It is a game you play to relax as much as to compete with yourself, and that combination is rare in downhill racers.

The retro art style is not just decoration either. The bright colors and clean shapes make hazards easy to read at speed, which matters when everything is moving fast. Pretty and readable is a hard trick to pull off, and this one nails it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Tanuki Sunset free to play?

Yes. The browser version is free, with the full game also available on other platforms like Steam and Nintendo Switch for players who want the complete experience.

What are Tanuki Bits?

Tanuki Bits are the glowing collectibles scattered along the road. Grabbing them feeds the raccoon and fills up your Bonus Roulette Meter, which is what unlocks bonus point spins, so collecting them is always worth a slight detour.

How do you drift in Tanuki Sunset?

Hold Space or your mouse buttons while steering into a turn. Tanuki slides sideways and keeps speed through the corner instead of braking. Release the drift button to straighten out and keep your momentum.

Can you play Tanuki Sunset on mobile?

The game is built around keyboard and mouse controls, so it plays best on a desktop browser. The console releases on Switch and other platforms are the better option for players who want to play away from a computer.

What happens when you crash into a car?

Your run ends. Crashing into cars, trucks, or barriers stops the run immediately, and your score is finalized. There is no health meter, so every risky line is a real gamble.

Does the road ever end?

No. The road is procedurally generated and endless, so runs end only when you crash. Your goal is simply to survive as long as possible and pile up the highest score you can.

If you have been chasing high scores in Tanuki Sunset, we would love to hear how you play. Drop a comment with your best score and the one trick you always use to beat it, and tell us which stretch of road keeps ending your runs.