The Outfoxies
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Outfoxies is a 1994 arcade game by Namco that depicted a competition between professional hitmen to see who is the best. The gameplay is like a cross between Contra and a typical fighting game. It featured stages that zoom in and out depending on how close the two combatants are much like Samurai Showdown, but on a much larger scale given the immense size of some of the levels. The characters are eclectic and often hilarious. A chimp in a tuxedo, a paralyzed scientist in a wheel chair, male and female twins, a punk acrobat, a man with a metal arm as well as far more normal entries like a woman in a suit dress and a man with a leather jacket make up the cast.
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 as time goes on start to destroy themselves. This means that if you don't kill your competition in a set amount of time the level will literally start crumbling around you. The levels take place anywhere from inside a plane, a moving train, an office building or even at the circus.
The game would likely have been a huge hit if released earlier than it was, but unfortunately for its creators 2D games and arcades in general were decreasing in popularity when it was released and it was not a commercial success. Despite this, given the introduction of arcade emulators the game has grown to become an underground cult hit.
