Psycho Fox is a side scrolling game released for the Sega Master System in the late eighties. It’s an interesting release because, although platformers were all too common back then, this one was published by Sega. This was a few years before the invent of Sonic the Hedgehog when Alex Kidd was the poster child for each of their systems. It’s surprising to me that Psycho Fox wasn’t a bigger hit; as an animal mascot he would have been easy to market, and the single game he was in is significantly better than anything even vaguely related to Alex Kidd. I didn’t know about this game until decades after its release, but after looking screenshots I was immediately interested. The game has since been added to my collection, and is one of my favorite Master System titles.
The story here is virtually non-existent so I won’t bother going into the details. Psycho Fox is a traditional 2D side scrolling platformer game. You have basic abilities such as the jump and punch as you fight your way while crossing chasms and gaps to the end of each stage. Enemies can be destroyed in three basic ways; you can punch them, jump on their heads, and throw another character (which functions like a power-up of sorts) at them. This item, called Birdfly, also allows you to survive a single hit from an enemy but upon doing so you lose this little guy. There are a few other interesting abilities in this game such as flexible items in the environment that will fling you left or right when you jump into them, and you can skim across the water if you approach it while running fast enough. These basic abilities are fairly solid and would be enough to differentiate this one from the pack, but the developers went a step further here.
You see, while the ‘Psycho Fox’ might be the titular character in this game what really defines this title is the player’s ability to change characters. Using a shinto stick you can change into three different animals via the pause menu screen. Each of these has their own strengths and weaknesses with the fox being the average well rounded character. The second option you have is the tiger which is the fastest and most agile of the bunch, a monkey which can jump higher than the rest, and a slow hippo that can destroy specific blocks with its punch. The fact that this feature is limited by the limited number of shinto sticks at your disposal (you can find them by destroying eggs or blocks) makes this feature more significant and each change you make a heavier decision.
The stages can be completed as any of the characters for the most part, but there are several advantages to using each one. Unfortunately the pause button is on the Master System itself, and you can only change characters by pressing it. This means you need to either sit next to the console while playing or have someone else do it or else you will be constantly getting up. One problem I do have is that all four of the characters control very floaty while jumping, and their momentum is extremely unrealistic and doesn’t make sense. It makes some of the platforming a little trickier than it should be, and this aspect of the game takes some serious getting used to.
The level design is pretty good by eight bit standards. The stages are generally multi-tiered (like in Sonic the Hedgehog) with multiple paths. These different vertical tiers are usually easier the higher up you are (you don’t have to worry about chasms, for one thing) but this leads to some rather tricky platforming. Gathering small little bag shaped items allows you to participate in a mini-game at the end of each stage wherein you can win extra 1-ups. The boss fights are one of my favorite aspects of this game even though there isn’t a lot of variety here. They only come in a few different varieties; first we have a bird toy with moving disc pieces that you can defeat by jumping on an object to fire projectiles at it. The second is a giant bug that is damaged only by jumping atop a can of bug spray and hosing it down when it gets close. Next up is the most simple one in the form of a giant cat that simply walks back and forth on the screen and can be defeated by three well placed jumps atop his head. These are pretty well thought out by system standards.
Graphically the game is quite solid. The backgrounds and objects are very simple looking (I’ve heard cases of people mistaking the shinto stick item for a ladder of all things) but the characters themselves look very nice. They each look distinct from one another and feature individual frames of animation instead of simply swapping out heads and colors. The frame rate stays steady and I never noticed any significant drops. The only issue I had was the fact that characters and items tend to flicker too often, and it can make some sections of the game more difficult than they should be thanks to mis-represented platforms and enemies. The soundtrack is also pretty good. There are only a few different tracks, but they’re memorable and well composed. I especially like the ice stage music, but it seems to me that it’s re-used in some cases that don’t particularly fit which is a little weird. Overall the music is quite good though, and the sound effects are decent.
Psycho Fox is a great classic platformer, and this one really stands out as far as the system’s library is concerned. The mechanics are really interesting, but the floaty controls as well as the necessary use of the system’s pause button hold this back a bit. Despite this it’s still well worth playing for anyone who is a fan of the genre especially if you have an old Master System lying around. Psycho Fox can be had for cheap even in modern times. Get it if you can.
