The Outfoxies is a 1994 arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 by Namco

Namco

is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...

 that depicted several professional hitmen secretly set against each other by a held-in-common client "Mr. Acme". Acme and his wife had hired each of them to assassinate a wealthy art collector, then arranged for them to kill each other to ultimately avoid having to pay their fee.

Overview

The game is like a cross between shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...

 and a typical fighting game

Fighting game

Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...

. It featured stages that zoom in and out depending on how close the two combatants are much like Samurai Shodown

Samurai Shodown

Samurai Shodown, known as in Japan, is a competitive fighting game produced by SNK for their Neo Geo arcade and home platform. In contrast to other fighting games at the time which were set in modern times and focused primarily on hand-to-hand combat, Samurai Shodown is set in feudal-era Japan ...

, but on a much larger scale given the immense size of some of the levels.

Characters

• John Smith: An average man who is willing to do anything for money, no matter how simple (such as babysitting), or how risky (as instigating a revolution).
• Betty Doe: An entrepeneur who desperately needs a source of financial capital for her business ventures which includes contract killing.
• Bernard White: a bio-engineer who had lost his hand during an experiment gone wrong. As a result, he had it replaced with a prosthetic steel hand.
• Eve: A former movie actress who has turned to thievery in order to support her extravagant lifestyle. She also has a pet iguana which aids her in her thefts.
• Professor Ching: A genius scientist, who despite being paraplegic, he fights with a wheelchair which he designed himself along with his talents in martial arts.
• Dweeb: A chimpanzee who is the only assassin who works for bananas. He is also the son of a famous chimp known as "Mr. Happy".
• Danny and Demi: Former conjoined twins who were separated following a near fatal accident. Despite being separated, the two have a lethal mentality.

Gameplay

The gameplay has you thrown into a particular hitman's home turf and you must use every weapon imaginable as well as anything you can find in the environment (including the environment itself) to try to kill your competitor. Weapons can be typical like a rocket launcher or machine gun or absurd like a clown cannon or a bowl of hot soup. Despite dealing with a competition about murder, the game has a levity to it in all aspects.

The levels are also a star part of this game as they are varied and, in many cases, will begin to collapse as time goes on. This means that if the player doesn't kill his competition in a set amount of time the level will literally start crumbling around you. The levels take place in various interactive locations, involving inside a plane, a moving train, an office building or even at the circus.

It is widely believed that the gameplay was the inspiration for the Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros., known in Japan as , is a fighting game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on January 21, 1999, in North America on April 26, 1999, and in Europe on November 19, 1999. Super Smash Bros. is the first game in the Super...

 series due to the similar gameplay. The gameplay was an inspiration for the offline multiplayer for the Wii

Wii

The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

 version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is LucasArts' sequel to 2008's Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game. A trailer announcing the game was shown December 12, 2009, at the Spike Video Game Awards. The game was released across multiple platforms in October 2010, along with a collectors edition of...

, according to developer Red Fly Studio.