Tail of the Sun

The player's ultimate objective is to build a tower of mammoth tusks that reaches the sun. To this end, a large map full of various creatures and oddities must be traversed in an effort to locate and gather sufficient food for the tribe to thrive and multiply. The game was re-released in Japan on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable as a PSone Classic in 2006, and on the PlayStation Network the same year. On December 15, 2025, the game was re-released globally on Steam in Japanese and the Nintendo Switch exclusively for the region of Japan under the title ARTDINK GAME LOG: Tail of the Sun.

• Developer — Artdink • Genre — Action role-playing • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — PlayStation • Director — Kazutoshi Iida

When the game begins, the player is situated at the home village with no goals, objectives, or guidance. The protagonist is free, from the outset, to go nearly anywhere and do basically anything. The landscape the player character inhabits is not only shared by a variety of polygonal fauna, but by flora rendered in the form of Mochi of various shapes and colors, which have varying effects on one's health and various stats. While exploring the landscape, the player's character will need to sleep, and will often choose to do so while in the middle of hunting or swimming. The North American release allows the player to wake the caveman up when this occurs.

Tail of the Sun was developed by Artdink and directed by Kazutoshi Iida. When developing this game, Iida wanted to make the "anti-Mario game," explaining that the enjoyment of Super Mario Bros. derives from the action rather than the premise of saving Princess Peach. Iida was wowed by Super Mario 64, as the exploration of a 3D space was what they were aiming for with this, and using the same methods. However, he felt that a character like Mario, it's "impossible to imagine a game without a happy end," wanting to make a game without a happy ending. Iida designed the game with a "counter-intuitive approach" at times, citing how the player-character would intermittently fall asleep during the action. Iida believed that this made the parts where the character was awake more entertaining as a result. Iida discussed how he feels "suspicious" about claims that a game must be fun to be a game, arguing that games like Crazy Climber and Frogger were not really fun, and exaggeratedly expressing a desire to create an "un-fun game."