Spy Fox facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Spy Fox |
|
|---|---|
Spy Fox
|
|
| Genres | Adventure, Edutainment |
| Developers | Humongous Entertainment |
| Publishers | Humongous Entertainment Atari GT Interactive Software Infogrames |
| Creators | Bret Barrett Brad Carlton |
| Platforms | Windows, Macintosh, iOS, Linux, Android |
| First release | Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" September 2, 1997 |
| Latest release | Spy Fox 3: "Operation Ozone" March 30, 2001 |
Spy Fox is a series of software from Humongous Entertainment starring a fictional anthropomorphic fox of the same name. The characters live in a world of anthropomorphic animals who live like humans. There are also running gags in the games such as Professor Quack eating a certain blueprint which shows how a gadget works (see below) and Monkey Penny's karate belt, which appears on the packaging boxes but is not shown in actual gameplay (although the belt appears in the bonus ending from Operation Ozone and is sometimes shown in animations that play during credits). Many of the game's names and plot elements are spoofs of the James Bond and Get Smart series. Many random puns are thrown in throughout the games to create a whimsical and humorous environment.
Summary
Spy Fox (voiced by Bob Zenk in Dry Cereal and Cheese Chase and Mike Madeoy in the other three games) works for a spy agency called SPY Corps. His cohorts include Monkey Penny (his secretarial assistant), Professor Quack (creator of the SPY Corps gadgets), the SPY Corps Chief, and the four-armed, four-sleeved 'tracking bug', Walter Wireless.
There are three adventure games in the series:
- Spy Fox in: Dry Cereal (1997)
- Spy Fox in: Some Assembly Required (1999)
- Spy Fox in: Operation Ozone (2001)
Two arcade games also exist starring Spy Fox:
- Spy Fox in: Cheese Chase (March 31, 1998)
- Spy Fox in: Hold the Mustard (September 21, 1999)
The Spy Fox games each contain several different game paths randomly determined when the player starts a new game. Each path has its own challenges, which some players find more challenging than others. The main protagonist of the games, Spy Fox, uses a variety of gadgets to complete his missions. Each game has a bonus ending wherein the player can catch the villain. The bonus ending is accessible only if the player clicks an option at the right moment.
When running with ScummVM, these games can be played on different operating systems, including Windows, Mac and Linux. Nearly a decade after its initial release, the first installment of the Spy Fox trilogy was ported to the Nintendo Wii in 2008, but its availability was significantly limited by legal problems concerning the port's development.
In 2014, the whole Spy Fox series was released on Steam, along with the entirety of the Humongous Entertainment game library.
Back in the early 2000s, Humongous also published a number of promo materials for the games. These materials include stories featuring new villains that have never appeared in the game series, including Dr. Morrie Arty, Dr. Fu Manch Hugh, and Baron Von Bluefield.
Availability
- For Steam the games were released individually, bundled together in the "Spy Fox Complete Pack" and packaged with all Humongous Entertainment games in the "Humongous Entertainment Complete Pack".
- Spy Fox in: Cheese Chase was released for Windows and Macintosh on a compilation CD titled "Super Duper Arcade 1", along with Pajama Sam's Sock Works, Freddi Fish and Luther's Water Worries and Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-O-Rama.
- Spy Fox in: Hold the Mustard was released for Windows and Macintosh on a compilation CD titled "Super Duper Arcade 2", along with Pajama Sam's Lost & Found, Freddi Fish and Luther's Maze Madness and Putt-Putt and Pep's Dog on a Stick
- Humongous Entertainment released a CD titled "Humongous Entertainment Triple Treat 3", which included Spy Fox in: Cheese Chase, Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse and Backyard Baseball.
- Encore Software released a compilation CD titled "Fun & Skills Pack 1st & 2nd Grade", which included Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal", Carmen Sandiego: Junior Detective and Crayola Magic 3D Coloring.
- Encore Software released a compilation CD titled "Fun & Skills Pack 1st & 2nd Grade 3.0", which included Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal", Schoolhouse Rock!, Carmen Sandiego: Junior Detective and Crayola Make a Masterpiece.
Characters
Series
- Spy Fox - Spy Fox is suave, sophisticated, ever-cool and on top of things, even when the going gets a little tough. He relies on his wits and various spy gadgets, supplied to him by Quack, found at the Mobile Command Center.
- Monkey Penny - Spy Fox's simian partner who is stationed at the Spy Corps Mobile Command Center. She sometimes contacts Spy Fox via his Spy Watch. She can also be called using the Spy Watch (although she gets irritated if Spy Fox uses the watch while he's inside the Mobile Command Center). Her name is a parody of Miss Moneypenny from the James Bond franchise.
- Professor Quack - A duck at the Mobile Command Center working on spy gadgets. He'll explain to Spy Fox how each gadget works when the player clicks on them in the Spy Gadget vending machine. He has a habit of eating the gadget's blueprints after explaining the gadget's functions to the player. Quack is a parody of Q from the James Bond franchise.
Dry Cereal
- Howard Hugh Heifer Udderly III - The cow president and CEO of Amalgamated Moo Juice Incorporated has been cownapped and left dangling under a pool of piranhas until Spy Fox saves him by freezing the pool. Mr. Udderly is the only one who knows the extent of William the Kid's deranged plan. His name is based on those of Howard Hughes and Hugh Hefner, and the word "heifer".
- William the Kid - The villain of the first game, he is the CEO of the Nectar of the Goats (N.O.G.) Corporation, and plans on ridding the world of cow's milk and replacing it with goat's milk using his Milky Weapon of Destruction. His name pays homage to notorious outlaw Billy the Kid.
- Russian Blue - She's William the Kid's right hand woman. Her life's passion is the tango, and she can't resist one. She owns and operates the swank ocean liner, the SS Deadweight. She later appears as the main villainess in Spy Fox in Cheese Chase.
Some Assembly Required
- Napoleon LeRoach - Villain of the second game and leader of the Society of Meaningless Evil, Larceny, Lying and Yelling, (S.M.E.L.L.Y.). LeRoach’s evil plot is to use his Giant Evil Dogbot to take over the world. His agenda stems from the fact that he has been laughed at and scorned for his size (and the fact was not tall enough to ride a certain ride at the fair). He is a parody of Napoleon Bonaparte.
- Giant Evil Dogbot - Created by the S.M.E.L.L.Y. Toy Division and maximized to a ratio of 1,000 to 1. This villainous weapon posed as a centerpiece at the World’s Fair. The Chateau LeRoach restaurant is located in its collar. Seen in a short cameo as trash in an unnamed evil organization's lair in Spy Fox 3: "Operation Ozone".
- Chief - The chief of Spy Corps who meets Spy Fox after he escapes from the ski shack and again when he presents Spy Fox with the Grand Golden Family Approved Fortified Supreme Certificate of Excellence for landing Napoleon LeRoach in Spy Jail. He also appears in Spy Fox 3: "Operation Ozone".
Operation Ozone
- Poodles Galore - The Queen of Cosmetics and Spy Fox’s evil nemesis of the third game. Poodles is not satisfied with being the cosmetics queen of the whole town, she wants to control the entire sunscreen market using her aerosol spraying hairspray space station to deplete the ozone layer in order to sell her new product SPF: 2001.
- Plato Pushpin - The scientist that Galore has forced to build the hairspray satellite of destruction using illegal chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). He is the only one with the knowledge to stop the hairspray satellite with his best invention, the Congeal Pill. Galore caught him in the act of trying to finish the Congeal Pill, and took him hostage, turning him into a bowling pin in an intent to bowl him to death, only to have Spy Fox save him by using the special SPY Bowling Ball.
