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JETT TAILFIN
review | WII U
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Publisher: Funbox Media.
Developer: Hoplite Research. Released: October 2014 (Europe). Genre: Racing. Posted 12th April 2026. By Shane Battams © 2026 |
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Despite its relative obscurity, Jett Tailfin has something of a curious history. It was announced originally for the 3DS and Wii U in May 2012 by Maximum Games, months before the latter launched. Yet it would next resurface in 2014, under a different publisher: FunBox Media. The Wii U version, at least: the 3DS iteration would never materialise. Information is otherwise hard to come by, and aside from the fact it started life as a mobile game, context is scarce. It’s the kind of thing the Wii U eShop would see plenty of, but this underwater racing game sees the idea sinking to new depths.
Starring the titular fish and several other speedy swimmers, Jett Tailfin looked to capture some of the magic of other racers on the same console. Unfortunately, things fall apart almost immediately once you begin your first race. The controls are mapped so cumbersomely that it’s uncomfortable to play for long sessions, as moving your chosen fish requires you to hold down the R button as opposed to the normal ZR placement, and resting on a bumper to accelerate is far from optimal. You can deploy power-ups and use speed boosts earned from bubbles using the triggers or touching the GamePad screen, but the latter only causes more awkwardness. Even the way the buttons are displayed feels like they’ve been copied from a mobile game, showing the laziness of the port.
Jett Tailfin is a terrible racing game, a mobile port that fails to generate any sense of fun
Even had the controls been better thought-out, the racing would still have been abysmal. The track design is weak, with nothing in the way of shortcuts and very few splitting paths. Some of the circular courses last less than two minutes. The narrow tracks often see you catching on walls or objects, especially as movement is slow, but you very rarely need to make inputs anyway. Power-ups are very poor, as they are limited to a handful of types, such as octopus sprays or eel stings, but almost all of them can be avoided with an input of the D-Pad, rendering all but mines useless. Easily the worst aspect is the completely erratic AI. They repeatedly dominate you over the first two laps, before almost falling asleep on the last lap. Races become a complete bore due to all of these issues, and are sleep-inducing as a result. Sometimes, races break completely, seeing you become stuck in the ground and forced to respawn, unable to make inputs and quit the race, or the game crashing completely.
So, whether you’re playing solo in quick races or challenge, or getting three others to join in with Wiimotes for split-screen multiplayer, it’s a bad experience. Challenge adds a handful of cut-scenes to proceedings, and they are decent looking but also incredibly dull with tedious humour that isn’t helped by sleepy voice acting. Completing Challenge on each difficulty unlocks new racers to use, but in spite of differing stats and various identifying profiles, they all play the same because of how limited the racing is. You can complete the mode in around 90 minutes, and it’s required to unlock each track in Quick Race and multiplayer which is tedious for those wanting to jump into social sessions. But let’s face it, when you have the likes of Mario Kart 8 and Fast Racing NEO on the same system, all this is moot.
So, whether you’re playing solo in quick races or challenge, or getting three others to join in with Wiimotes for split-screen multiplayer, it’s a bad experience. Challenge adds a handful of cut-scenes to proceedings, and they are decent looking but also incredibly dull with tedious humour that isn’t helped by sleepy voice acting. Completing Challenge on each difficulty unlocks new racers to use, but in spite of differing stats and various identifying profiles, they all play the same because of how limited the racing is. You can complete the mode in around 90 minutes, and it’s required to unlock each track in Quick Race and multiplayer which is tedious for those wanting to jump into social sessions. But let’s face it, when you have the likes of Mario Kart 8 and Fast Racing NEO on the same system, all this is moot.
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It doesn’t help that Jett Tailfin’s presentation is shoddy. Visually, the game is very basic, its mobile roots all too plain to see. Textures appear flat, the animations are jittery, and there’s even some pop-in during certain tracks. Worse still is the performance, which is completely unlocked and borderline nauseating. Rising to 60fps but dropping to choppy slideshow figures on many occasions, it makes the whole thing feel very staccato, even causing the starting countdown to deploy more slowly. The sound is grating, due mostly to racers having three canned lines for hitting boosts, landing hits with power-ups, or being hit by power-ups. It becomes very irritating, very fast. The music is entirely bland and overshadowed by poor sound mixing, which sees lines of dialogue repeat over each other.
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Jett Tailfin represents a terrible time all-round, with almost no redeeming features to speak of. Tedious to play, borderline broken and grating to experience, this racer ends up a complete bore. Most races devolve into the same painful loop: you spend most of the time on autopilot as steering isn’t needed, while the AI lurches between infuriating and idiotic. Most races barely break the two-minute mark: a small mercy considering the awkward control mapping causes genuine discomfort, though it shows how little effort went into this game. The concept of a fish-racing game isn’t terrible, but Jett Tailfin most definitely is. With a slew of better racers on the console, there’s no need to go fishing for this.
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VERDICT
"Tedious to play, borderline broken and grating to experience, Jett Tailfin ends up a complete bore and makes for a terrible time all-round." OVERALL: 1/10 |
OTHER WII U RACING GAMES REVIEWED
Mario Kart 8 (2014, Wii U)
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Hello Kitty Kruisers (2014, Wii U)
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