Tonight was the night that I set out to achieve closure on the whole Taco Bell Tek Kids Flash-Ops series. To pump me up for the occasion, I purchased a representative selection of fine Taco Bell cuisine, including nachos, burrito, taco (chalupa, to be technical), and that curious Mexican/Italian crossover fare, the Mexican pizza. All are pictured here next to the 4 Tek Kids games destined to become merchandising classics:

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Fortified with the foregoing food powerup items (as in the game), I was ready to load up the Aqua Zone and Sky Fortress episodes again, ironically attacking them with the pacifist strategy I had worked out. Don’t shoot anything, just maintain power levels by picking up fuel tanks, plus the occasional Taco Bell powerup if I accidentally bump any bad guys. It takes a little while and some practice but I finally make it to the end of the Aqua Zone where the Tek Kid takes out this aquatic structure:

This is strange because I thought the target was an underwater sub. Then again, the sub shown in the intro might have just been your ride to the scene. Similarly, the X-perimental aerial aircraft carrier Albatross is not seen at the start of Sky Fortress, only a large, civilian-style jet presumably to launch you into your mission. Here is the assault on the airborne aircraft carrier:

This is even stranger since I distinctly recall from the intro of Sky Fortress that they were supposed to recover the XAA Albatross on behalf of the U.S. Air Force. Someone up the chain of command is going to give these Tek Kids a time out. But I now have all the codes:

• Aqua Zone: 4GH7
• Polar Challenge: PXM6
• Data Island: AR93
• Sky Fortress: 8E3H

Selecting a specific letter from each code yields the final secret code of AGMH. This triggers the final sequence where the 4 Tek Kids take their spaceship up to Havok’s orbiting satellite, where he probably, and foolishly, believes that he would be safe from spying minors.

The preceding screenshot captures the Tek Kids’ abject astonishment when they find Dr. Havok and realize that he has totally ripped off Doctor Octopus.

Our young heroes defeat the madman by moving around so quickly that the tentacles become tangled and then they maneuver behind to press some auto-destruct button on the suit, which destroys the suit but not the human. A suit from the bureau comes up to the spaceship to apprehend Dr. Havok and congratulate you, thus ending the south of the border odyssey.

It was another late work-related night. You know what that means: Another Taco Bell Tek-Kids game! Actually, this is the last one that I have in reserve: Mission: Sky Fortress.

Wouldn’t you know it, that wily Dr. Havok is up to his old dirty deeds again when he steals a technological device capable of great destruction. The game acknowledges the passé nature of the good doctor’s exploits by stating that the device will be used for his usual evil purposes, implying that even the game engine is getting tired of this schtick. Conspicuously absent is any overriding environmental theme. Get this, though: the device in question is eXperimental Aerial Aircraft Carrier, the XAA Carrier “Albatross”. I wonder if our brilliant mastermind is aware that that’s not exactly a revered bird of prey?

The gameplay features the same dual-maneuvering gameplay mechanic as seen is Mission: Aqua Zone. Using the cursor keys maneuvers your craft in the same direction as the key pressed while aiming the target zone in roughly the opposite direction, making it extremely difficult to collect items and line up shots at the same time. Oh, and the primary enemy in this episode is the flying monkey drone; that’s worth mention.

I plan to replay both Aqua Zone and Sky Fortress soon so I can complete both missions and unlock the secret mission using codes from all 4 regular games. The strategy will be a pacifist approach: just concentrate on collecting fuel tanks and dodging enemies until the end of the mission.