The Ignition Factor
The Ignition Factor is a 1994 (North America) action game developed by Jaleco for SNES, released in Japan as "Fire Fighting" in 1995. The player controls a firefighter navigating environments to rescue victims and extinguish fires in realistic situations — burning buildings, mining incidents, and industrial accidents.
Availability: Nintendo Switch Online — Super Nintendo Entertainment System app (Nintendo Classics)
This is a systems/mechanics guide rather than a linear walkthrough — a fixed step-by-step route isn't the useful format for a action / rescue simulation title.
Controls
The direction pad moves the character; double-tapping a direction triggers sprinting (sprinting does not work diagonally). The B button jumps. The X button kicks open jammed doors. The Y button activates the equipped primary equipment. The A button activates the equipped secondary equipment. Start pauses and opens the inventory; Select pauses and displays the map. Contemporary reviewers described the jump and sprint controls as somewhat awkward — sprinting is hard to quickly stop, and running jumps can fail to execute properly.
Equipment
Primary equipment options: an oxygen mask and tank, plus three types of fire extinguisher corresponding to fire type — regular (red-orange), chemical (green), and electrical (blue). Secondary equipment options: a firefighter's axe, a rope for crossing gaps, a metal pole for detecting weak floor sections, plastic explosives (max 5 carried) for blowing through debris/walls, and CO2 bombs (max 5 carried) for extinguishing large fire areas. Before each level, the player chooses which primary and secondary equipment to bring.
Mission Structure / Progression
The player is given a small set of missions that can be tackled in any order; completing all available missions in a set unlocks the next set. Each level contains multiple rooms, areas, or building floors to explore. Missions specify a required number of civilians to rescue within a time limit; conditions vary by level (some have fires that have barely started, others rage out of control, and some involve toxic air instead of fire). The game has eight standard stages plus one bonus level. The player has three continues (chances) before a game over.
Bosses
No boss encounters were found described in any source consulted for this pass; this genre (a rescue/simulation action game) may simply not use traditional bosses, but that could not be positively confirmed either way.
Trouble Spots
The awkward sprint-stop and running-jump mechanics were specifically called out by reviewers as points of frustration when navigating time-pressured rescues. Given the strict civilian-rescue quotas and time limits, misjudging which secondary equipment (rope vs. explosives vs. metal pole) to bring into a level is likely to make a mission unwinnable partway through, since equipment is chosen before the level starts and cannot be swapped mid-mission — though this specific "point of no return" framing was not independently confirmed by a dedicated walkthrough source in this pass.
Still confirming
- Whether the game has any boss-style encounters at all.
- Names/settings of all eight stages plus the bonus level.
- Exact scoring formula and what determines a "successful" rescue mission beyond meeting the civilian quota.