It seems the Tanooki power-up will be busy this winter, as it is to be included in Mario Kart 7 as well as Super Mario 3D Land. The bushy tail will be used to swat away incoming shells, as well as knock rival racers out of the way.
Source: Press Release
KeRaSh
Raccoon Mario is the best of all Marios. Every game gets better if you add a Raccoon costume to it! Think Halo, UC, GoW (Gears and God), UT just to put a few pictures in your heads! :D
3shirts
That’s only the racoon tail. The tanooki is the full suit.
Dan Lee
PR labels it as the “Tanooki Tail”.
3shirts
Fair enough but in Mario 3 the tanooki suit was a full suit while the racoon suit was just ears and the tail.
In reality, a tanuki’s tail doesn’t look much like a racoon’s anyway but that’s largely irrelevant in the world of Mario
Rabid-Coot
Is Mario Kart 7 a prequel to Mario Kart 64?
3shirts
Personally I’m looking forward to Mario Kart 35. I hear that’s the one where the story tells of Luigi winning a race