''Spy Fox'' is a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

gaming series from

Humongous Entertainment Humongous Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1992, the company is best known for developing multiple edutainment franchises, most prominently ''Putt-Putt (series), Putt-Putt'', ''Fred ...

starring a fictional

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

fox of the same name, intended for children 8 and up. There are also running gags in the games such as Professor Quack eating a certain blueprint which shows how a gadget works 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 The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

and '' Get Smart'' series.

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 An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based me ...

in the series: * '' Spy Fox in: Dry Cereal'' (October 17, 1997) * '' Spy Fox in: Some Assembly Required'' (September 21, 1999) * '' Spy Fox in: Operation Ozone'' (March 30, 2001) Two

arcade games An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

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 A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the games, Spy Fox, uses a variety of gadgets to complete his missions. The game allows for second chances on puzzles and tasks, and it is impossible to fail the overall mission. 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 Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine (ScummVM) is a set of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system, it also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies ...

, these games can be played on different operating systems, including

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, Mac and

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

. Nearly a decade after its initial release, the first installment of the ''Spy Fox'' trilogy was ported to the

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

in 2008, but its availability was significantly limited by legal problems concerning the port's development. In 2014, the ''Spy Fox'' series was released on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

, along with the entirety of the Humongous Entertainment game library. Back in the early 2000s, Humongous 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

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''. *

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 ''Backyard Baseball'' is a series of baseball video games for children which was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Atari. It was first released in October 1997 for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. Later games were featured on ...

''. * Encore Software released a compilation CD titled "Fun & Skills Pack 1st & 2nd Grade", which included ''

Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" ''Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal"'' is the first of three games in the Spy Fox series developed by Humongous Entertainment and marketed by Atari. The game was ported to the Wii in 2008, utilizing the Wii Remote for point-and-click controls, but it onl ...

'', '' 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 ''

'', ''

Schoolhouse Rock! ''Schoolhouse Rock!'' is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films (and later, videos) that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming block on the U.S. television network ABC. The theme ...

'', '' Carmen Sandiego: Junior Detective'' and ''Crayola Make a Masterpiece''.

References

External links

* SuperKids Software Review
''Spy Fox Operation Ozone''
Android release: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tommo.nggpesf1&hl=de {{Humongous Children's educational video games Point-and-click adventure games Spy video games Video game franchises Humongous Entertainment games Video games about foxes Fictional secret agents and spies Video games developed in the United States Video game franchises introduced in 1997 Fictional gentleman detectives