A cult Namco arcade game which may have inspired Smash Bros has been given its first ever home release
The Outfoxies is a 2D arena fighter which was released in 1995
Another cult Namco arcade game has been given its first ever home release.
The Outfoxies was released in Japan in March 1995, and was directed by Masuya Ohishi, who went on to produce Soul Blade and SoulCalibur.
Players choose from one of the world’s top assassins, and have to eliminate all the others under the orders of a mysterious billionaire.
The game was notable for being a 2D arena fighting game, where players can freely run and jump around a platform-based stage while attacking the opponent with a wide variety of weapons that are lying around.
Although fights are only one-on-one, some have suggested that The Outfoxies – which was reportedly the fourth most popular arcade machine in Japan when it was released – may have served as inspiration for Super Smash Bros, which arrived on Nintendo 64 four years later.
Now the game has received its first ever home port, courtesy of the Arcade Archives and Arcade Archives 2 series by Hamster Corporation.
The Arcade Archives version of the game is available on Switch and PS4, and is single-player only. It features Original Mode (the standard game), Hi Score Mode (where you have to score as much as possible with a single credit) and Caravan Mode (where you have a 10-minute limit), with online rankings for each.
The Arcade Archives 2 versions, which are available on Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, add more features including split-screen multiplayer, Time Attack Mode (where you have to finish the game as quickly as possible, regardless of score) and VRR support to ensure the game runs as accurately as possible.
To date there have been 391 games released in the Arcade Archives series, with a further 108 released in a separate series called ACA Neo Geo, bringing the current total to 499.
