Thunder Fox
System: Genesis
Release Date: September 1991
Developer: Aisystem Tokyo
Publisher: Taito
Genre: Beat ‘em Up
Kick, shoot, and knife your way to stop the bad guys in Thunder Fox! During the late 90s, terrorists blanketed the Earth making life a living hell. Two brave men would take it upon themselves to put an end to their reign. You control either Thunder or Fox through 5 missions. Can you save Earth from terror?
It doesn’t make a difference which guy you choose, they play the same. You begin equipped with your trusty combat knife and attack with Button A. This is good enough and gives a little bit of range. Through the levels, you’ll find enemies that carry assault rifles, flamethrowers, and grenades. These are limited use weapons that you shoot with Button C, but they’re plentiful enough that you don’t need to save them. These weapons replace your knife with an inferior gun bash attack. If you really want to keep the rocket launcher for a specific spot, you can switch weapons back and forth.
You don’t have to rely on your knife or other weapons. In fact, if you’re playing right, you are going to be using jumping kicks. By pressing up and jumping with Button B, you use the back flip kick. This is an extra high jump that attacks anyone in your way and keeps you invincible. If you’re up on a platform and need to get down, pressing down while you jump does a spinning attack that hurts anyone you land on. I quickly learned to combo these attacks with the back flip getting me into the air and then landing with the spinning attack. As long as your timing doesn’t suck, you should be able to take out most enemies this way. For taking out enemies as you run, try the Jump Kick by pressing Buttons A and B simultaneously.
Levels are straightforward. Walk so the screen scrolls and kill all the enemies that stand in your way. They usually swarm you, but don’t have any really advanced tactics to worry about. Only the guys carrying weapons take more than one hit. There are occasional traps that you need to be careful of and watch out for. Be careful not to get sucked out the doors in stage 2. Even if you play it really safe, you’ll take some damage, but this can be healed by attacking boxes to unearth the life replenishment and other goodies.
Bosses are difficult, because they are resistant to your weapons and your jumping attacks. You need to utilize the back flip for invincibility to open up a chance at striking their weak spot. I used the jump kick here more than anywhere else. You’re going to be fighting tanks, helicopters, and mechs. If you can’t damage them with your attacks, there will be a grenade guy that respawns, giving you access to the weapon you need. The final boss is a three battle gauntlet that will test your abilities, so good luck!
Graphics: 2.0
Nothing outside of the bosses really stands out as good, just average.
Sound: 2.0
Music is low key and subdued, but bullets sound shrill and unpleasant.
Gameplay: 3.0
Controls are simple and there’s nothing too complicated that makes fighting a pain.
Difficulty: 3.0
If you know what you’re doing, you’re mostly invincible. When you do take damage, you get three lives and five continues, so plenty to finish.
Fun Factor: 3.0
This is a quick play that might scratch your itch of beating up a lot of bad guys.
Overall Rating: 2.6
Thunder Fox earns a B-. I didn’t expect much heading in and was pleasantly surprised with what I got, so you may as well.