Some Foxy Characters Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tails

Miles 'Tails' Prower first appeared in 1992 as an unplayable character in 'Sonic the Hedgehog 2' for the Sega Master System and Game Gear consoles (both 8-bit systems). He became a playable character when the same game was released later that year for the more powerful 16-bit Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis) system. Over the years the character has appeared in a whole host of games featuring Sonic as well as in his own spin-off games such as 'Tails Adventures' and the educational game 'Tails and the Music Maker' for younger children.

Tails is an unusual sort of fox as he has two tails (hence his nickname) which give him the ability to fly because he can use them like a helicopter rotor. The name 'Miles Prower' is a pun based on 'miles per hour' - a nod to the fact that, like Sonic himself, he is quite speedy.

Shadow and Amy Rose are hedgehogs (Sonic's arch-rival and girlfriend respectively) and Knuckles is an echidna.

Answer: Inspector Carmelita Fox

Inspector Carmelita Fox, an anthropomorphic vixen with long blue hair and an impressive red tail, is an employee of Interpol in the 'Sly Cooper' games - which began with the release of 'Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus' (also known as 'Sly Raccoon') for the Playstation 2 console in 2002. It is her job to apprehend the notorious title character Sly Cooper (a raccoon, unsurprisingly) and his gang of fellow thieves - a technologically minded turtle named Bentley and a powerful pink hippo called Murray.

Unfortunately, Carmelita doesn't have a lot of luck with her mission to capture Sly - primarily because she develops a crush on him along the way!

Answer: Animal Crossing

Nintendo's 'Animal Crossing' was first released in Japan for the Nintendo 64 console in 2001 and later appeared worldwide for the GameCube. It was the first in a series that later included 'Animal Crossing: Wild World' for the Nintendo DS, 'Animal Crossing: City Folk' for the Wii, and 'Animal Crossing: New Leaf' for the 3DS.

Like other social simulation games, the gameplay in 'Animal Crossing' is open-ended, with the player's human character living out their lives in the village and interacting with their anthropomorphic neighbours. One of these characters is the fox Crazy Redd (or just Redd), who lives up to the fox's reputation as a sly and cunning creature by running a shop where he openly cheats his customers by making them pay to enter, charging outrageous prices and selling forged goods. Players are also required to obtain a password or invitation to enter the shop (it varies in different editions of the game), a fact that leaves you wondering why anyone would bother!

Answer: Psycho Fox

'Psycho Fox' was first released in 1989 and featured an early version of the type of gameplay that was later popularised in other Sega titles such as 'Sonic the Hedgehog'. Players took control of the eponymous Psycho Fox with the aim being to get the character from the starting point of each level on the left-hand side of the screen to the end point at the far right. If all the levels were completed successfully then Madfox Daimyojin was duly vanquished. Obviously, it wasn't as simple as that sounds and plenty of difficult obstacles tended to appear as the screen scrolled across.

Helpfully, Psycho Fox had a handy trick of being able to use a 'Shinto Stick' (or 'Transformation Stick') to turn himself into another animal - either a hippo, monkey or tiger.

Answer: Five Nights at Freddy's

'Five Nights at Freddy's' was developed by American video game designer and animator Scott Cawthorn and first released in 2014 via the Steam and Desura online video game streaming platforms. A number of sequels, spin-offs and other media such as novels have also subsequently appeared.

In the original game, players take on the role of Mike Schmidt, the night security guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza restaurant. Freddy Fazbear's has four main animatronic characters - Foxy the Pirate Fox, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken and Freddy Fazbear - that are used to entertain the children who eat there. However, after dark, when the restaurant is shut, the animatronics come to life and roam the restaurant with the intention of killing anyone they come across. The player has to work out how best to use the tools at their disposal in the security office to save Mike from the characters. If they fail to survive the whole night, then one of the characters will "jumpscare" Mike and the game will end. As the title suggests, there are five nights - each with a higher level of difficulty - for the player (and Mike) to survive.

Answer: Stories: The Path of Destinies

'Stories: The Path of Destinies' is an action game where players control Reynardo the fox as he fights against the forces of the Evil Emperor and overcomes challenges such as being betrayed by his best friend Lapino (a rabbit) and Zenobia (a cat) being corrupted by an evil artefact. The game is played in levels, some of which have alternative endpoints that move the player to a different point in the game. Players need to build combat experience to unlock more sophisticated fighting techniques, collect treasure chests that contain useful items and watch out for Reynardo's health levels. The game is successfully completed if Reynardo and Zenobia are able to sail away together to a new, more peaceful, home.

The game was initially released as both a Windows game and for the Playstation 4 console. The incorrect options were all award-winning video games that were released in 2016 for the Playstation 4 (amongst other consoles).

Answer: Arctic fox

'Never Alone' was first released in 2014 for Windows, Playstation 4 and Xbox One and was unusual in that it was jointly developed by a video game company and the Cook Inlet Tribal Council who work with indigenous Alaskan peoples - the Inupiaq being native Alaskans. Players control both Nuna - the Inupiaq girl who is the main protagonist - and her Arctic fox and need to use the skills of both in order to conquer each level of the game. However, the emphasis is not on fighting or killing enemies, but on solving puzzles, discovering new areas of the game and unlocking videos and stories that provide information about Alaska's native culture.

Arctic foxes are native to Arctic regions all around the world, including Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Siberia. They have a beautiful thick white coat in winter (hence often being known as white foxes or snow foxes) but a thinner brownish-grey one in summer.

Answer: Fox McCloud

The original 'Star Fox' game was released for Nintendo's SNES console in 1993 but became the first in a lengthy franchise of games that included follow-ups for the Nintendo 64 ('Star Fox 64' or 'Lylat Wars'), GameCube ('Star Fox Adventures' and 'Star Fox: Assault'), Nintendo DS ('Star Fox Command') and the Wii U ('Star Fox Zero').

The main character, Fox McCloud, is an anthropomorphic fox who leads the crack Star Fox team who have been hired to protect the planet Corneria from an attack organised by an evil scientist named Andross. The other members of Fox's team (who are controlled by the computer but occasionally both offer advice and request help) are Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad.

Fox Mulder was one of the main characters of TV's 'The X-Files', William "Fox" Stanton was a noted US college football coach, and Fox Conner was a US Army Major-General and mentor to Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Answer: Spy Fox

The eponymous Spy Fox first appeared as a daring secret agent in the 1997 game 'Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal"', which was originally released as Windows and Mac software. In that original game, Spy Fox had to save a milk magnate, Mr Howard Hugh Heifer Udderly III, and the rest of the world's dairy cow population from an evil plot hatched by William the Kid to destroy all the milk. Luckily Spy Fox had some help from an assistant named Monkey Penny and a bunch of gadgets supplied by a Professor Quack. At this point you might be able to spot the puns based on 'James Bond' and other famous people!

Two other adventure games in the 'Spy Fox' series included 'Spy Fox 2: Some Assembly Required' (the one where Spy Fox had to save the World's Fair) and 'Spy Fox 3: Operation Ozone' (where he has to stop the evil Poodles Galore from destroying the ozone layer with a giant space aerosol).

The Foxy Whiskered Gentleman is a character in Beatrix Potter's 'The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck' and Basil Brush was a fox puppet that first appeared on British children's television in the 1960s. Reynard is a literary term for a fox.

Answer: Vulpix

Vulpix's name provides a large clue to the fact that it is based on a fox - as 'vulpine' is a term used to describe something as fox-like and is derived from 'vulpes', the Latin word for fox. However, it isn't that much like a real fox as it grows up to have six curly tails, can fly, and is a fire-based creature that can breathe out hot flames. It first appeared in the 1990s in the 'Red' and 'Blue' versions of the game.

Vulpix is one of several Pokémon that are based on foxes. When brought into contact with a Fire Stone, Vulpix will evolve into Ninetales - a beautiful golden-white Pokémon with, unsurprisingly, nine tails. Other fox-based Pokémon include Fennekin, Braixen and Delphos.

Pikachu - probably the most famous Pokémon of all - is based on a mouse, Lycanroc is wolf-based Pokémon that evolves from Rockruff, and Bibarel is a beaver.