Spy Hunter

Last updated
Spy Hunter
Spy Hunter side art.png
Arcade cabinet side art
Developer(s) Bally Midway (arcade)
Sunsoft (NES)
Publisher(s)
Designer(s) George Gomez
Composer(s) Bob Libbe, Michael Bartlow, Neil Falconer (Arcade)
Naoki Kodaka (NES)
Platform(s) Arcade, Amstrad CPC, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, C64, Apple II, ColecoVision, IBM PC, NES
Release
NES
  • NA: September 1987
Genre(s) Vehicular combat
Mode(s)Single-player
Arcade system Bally Midway MCR-Scroll

Spy Hunter is a vehicular combat developed by Bally Midway and released for arcades in 1984. [1] [2] The game draws inspiration from the James Bond films and was originally supposed to carry the James Bond brand. The object of the game is to drive down roads in the technologically advanced "Interceptor" car and destroy various enemy vehicles with a variety of onboard weapons. Spy Hunter was produced in both sit-down and standard upright versions with the latter being more common. [4] The game's controls consist of a steering wheel in the form of a futuristic aircraft-style yoke with several special-purpose buttons, a two-position stick shift (offering 'low' and 'high' gears), and a pedal used for acceleration.

Contents

Spy Hunter was a commercial success in American arcades, where it was one of the top five highest-grossing arcade games of 1984 and 1985. It was ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit computers, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Apple II, ColecoVision, MS-DOS, Nintendo Entertainment System, and BBC Micro. Spy Hunter was followed by Spy Hunter II , which added a 3D view and two-player split-screen play, a pinball tie-in, and a successor series of games bearing the Spy Hunter name. In addition, the NES received a sequel titled Super Spy Hunter.

Gameplay

The player has shot an innocent civilian car and is penalized with no points for a short duration. Spy Hunter.png
The player has shot an innocent civilian car and is penalized with no points for a short duration.

Spy Hunter is a vertical scrolling driving game with the player in the role of a spy driving an armed sportscar. The object of the game is to travel the freeway destroying as many enemy vehicles as possible while protecting civilian vehicles. The game uses a top-down perspective. Controls consist of a two-position gearshift lever, a floor-mounted accelerator pedal, and a steering yoke with five buttons, and the cabinet also includes a dashboard with status lights.

The game begins with the player driving the fictitious G-6155 Interceptor, using the yoke, pedal, and gearshift to steer and control speed. The car is equipped with a machine gun that has unlimited ammunition and can be fired by pressing and holding the corresponding button on the yoke.

Various enemy vehicles try to destroy the player's car or force it off the road, including a helicopter that drops bombs from overhead. A counter increments the score while the car is moving and on the road. Additional points are earned by destroying enemy vehicles using weapons or forcing them off the road. After an initial lead-in time during which the player has an unlimited supply of cars, the player must earn extra cars by reaching score thresholds. Destroying non-enemy cars halts the score counter for a short while, and no points are scored whenever the player's car is off the road. The car can be destroyed by a hard collision with another vehicle, if it is hit by an enemy weapon (including the craters blasted into the road by the helicopter's bombs), or by running far enough off the roadway (or waterway).

Following periodic forks in the road, the player can enter new regions with different terrain or weather conditions. The player can also acquire special weapons by entering a weapons van, which appears in each new territory and can be periodically summoned by pressing its button on the yoke when its dashboard light is flashing. Available special weapons consist of oil slicks, smoke screens, and surface-to-air missiles; each is controlled by a different button, and the dashboard lights indicate which ones are available at any given time. Special weapons have a limited ammunition supply and are lost whenever the player's car is destroyed.

At certain points, the player will have the option to convert the car into a speedboat for a brief time by driving through a boathouse; at others, the player will be forced to make the transition. Enemy boats can attack from in front or behind, and the helicopter can drop bombs from above. While in speedboat mode, the oil slick becomes a flamethrower, while the smoke screen and missiles remain unchanged.

The game has no ending, and play continues until the player has lost all cars. [5]

Development

Game designer George Gomez drew inspiration for the game from listening to an audio cassette tape of music from James Bond films. He designed the game with Tom Leon, with whom he had worked on Tron . Gomez sketched out the in-game road map on a long scroll of drawing paper and also came up with the idea of the weapons van. Originally the game was to be based directly on James Bond and have the "James Bond Theme" as in-game music, but the license could not be acquired. Instead, an electronic arrangement of Henry Mancini's theme to Peter Gunn plays throughout. [5]

Reception

In the United States, it topped the RePlay upright arcade cabinet charts for four months during 1984, in April, [7] September, [8] October [9] and November. [10] It also topped the Play Meter dedicated cabinet charts for street locations in July 1984 [11] and November 1984. [12] It was listed by AMOA as one of America's top five highest-grossing arcade games of 1984, [13] with AMOA later giving it the award for "most played" arcade video game of 1985 in the United States. [14] In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the arcade version 29th on their Top 100 Video Games. They praised the game music, controls and gameplay. [15]

Computer and Video Games scored the ColecoVision version 80% in 1989. [16]

Legacy

ColecoVision port Coleco Spy Hunter.png
ColecoVision port
ZX Spectrum version Spy Hunter ZX Spectrum.png
ZX Spectrum version

A pinball table based on Spy Hunter was released in 1984 by Bally.

The arcade game was ported to the ColecoVision in January 1985. [17]

The original Spy Hunter was followed by an arcade sequel, Spy Hunter II in 1987. It retained the "Peter Gunn" music and incorporated a cooperative two-player mode, but the top-down view was replaced with a perspective from behind and above the car.

After Japanese video game developer Sunsoft ported Spy Hunter to the Nintendo Entertainment System, the company created Battle Formula with similar gameplay. Sunsoft America signed a deal with Bally Midway to release it outside Japan as Super Spy Hunter.

The series was reprised in 2001 with SpyHunter developed by Paradigm Entertainment and published by Midway Games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Microsoft Windows. A sequel developed by Angel Studios was released in 2003. Another reboot of the series was developed by TT Fusion for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita and released by Warner Bros. Interactive in October 2012. [18]

Spy Hunter was cloned as Major Motion , released by Microdeal for the Atari ST in 1986. [19] Agent Intercept (2019) for Apple Arcade is an homage to Spy Hunter. [20] [21]

In the 2015 toys-to-life video game Lego Dimensions , the Midway Arcade level pack includes a buildable Lego G-6155 Interceptor. A playable emulation of the arcade version is also included as part of the pack. The player character from Spy Hunter also appears as part of a sidequest where the player has to destroy 20 cars in the Super Sprint racetrack. [22]

Re-releases

Spy Hunter was included in Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits: Volume 1 for Nintendo 64; Midway Arcade Treasures , a 2003 compilation of arcade games available for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows; Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play for PlayStation Portable; and Midway Arcade Origins , a 2012 compilation available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. [23]

Film adaptation

In the summer of 2003, Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the arcade game Spy Hunter from Midway Games. The following September, Universal signed actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to star in the film adaptation based on the game. Screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas were hired to write the screenplay, though a director had not been decided at the time. Spy Hunter was slated to begin its budgeted $90 million production in spring 2004 in time for a summer 2005 release. [26] In January 2004, screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon replaced the original writing duo to rewrite the script, with production slated for June. [27] By May, Universal Pictures acquired director John Woo to helm the project. [28] In the same month, the previous screenwriters were replaced by screenwriter Zak Penn to rewrite the script once more. [29] By August, production had been delayed, pushing Spy Hunter back to be released in summer 2006. [30] In April 2005, Penn was replaced by screenwriter Stuart Beattie to rewrite the script. [31] By May, however, director John Woo left the project due to scheduling conflicts. [32] In August, Johnson said the film was still developing without a director. Pre-production work was underway with designs such as the morphing Interceptor vehicle driven by Alex Decker. [33] Production was eventually halted for the time being, and Dwayne Johnson was detached from the project. [34]

In May 2007, Paul W. S. Anderson was hired to replace Woo as the director with an all-new script unrelated to Nowhere to Run. [34] He left the project a year later due to his commitment to Death Race 2 as a producer. In February 2013, Warner Bros. – the current theatrical distribution rights holders – announced that Ruben Fleischer was brought on board to direct from a screenplay by Carter Blanchard. [35] In November 2015, Blanchard was replaced with the duo Neal Greaves and Sam Chalsen while Dan Lin and Roy Lee were set to produce the film. Whether Fleischer was still on board to direct remains to be seen. [36]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ColecoVision</span> Second-generation home video game console

ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision.

<i>Joust</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Joust is an action game developed by Williams Electronics and released in arcades in 1982. While not the first two-player cooperative video game, Joust's success and polished implementation popularized the concept. Players assume the role of knights armed with lances and mounted on large birds, who must fly around the screen and defeat enemy knights riding buzzards.

Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic racing simulations and more fantastical arcade-style racing games. Kart racing games emerged in the 1990s as a popular sub-genre of the latter. Racing games may also fall under the category of sports video games.

<i>Ms. Pac-Man</i> 1982 video game

Ms. Pac-Man is a 1982 maze arcade video game developed by General Computer Corporation and published by Midway. It is the first sequel to Pac-Man (1980) and the first entry in the series to not be made by Namco. Controlling the title character, Pac-Man's wife, the player is tasked with eating all of the pellets in an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. Eating the larger "power pellets" lets the player eat the ghosts, who turn blue and flee.

1983 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Mario Bros. and Pole Position II, along with new titles such as Astron Belt, Champion Baseball, Dragon's Lair, Elevator Action, Spy Hunter and Track & Field. Major events include the video game crash of 1983 in North America, and the third generation of video game consoles beginning with the launch of Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom) and Sega's SG-1000 in Japan. The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pole Position, while the year's best-selling home system was Nintendo's Game & Watch for the third time since 1980.

<i>Defender</i> (1981 video game) 1981 video game

Defender is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Williams Electronics in 1980 and released as an arcade video game in 1981. The game is set on either an unnamed planet or city where the player must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting astronauts. Development was led by Eugene Jarvis, a pinball programmer at Williams; Defender was Jarvis's first video game project and drew inspiration from Space Invaders and Asteroids. Defender was demonstrated in late 1980, before entering production in early 1981. It was distributed in Japan by Taito.

<i>Galaxian</i> 1979 video game

Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who dive down towards the player in an attempt to hit them.

<i>Gorf</i> 1981 video game

Gorf is an arcade video game released in 1981 by Midway Manufacturing, whose name was advertised as an acronym for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force". It is a fixed shooter with five distinct levels, the first of which is based on Space Invaders and another on Galaxian. The game makes heavy use of synthesized speech for the Gorfian robot which taunts the player, powered by the Votrax speech chip. Gorf allows the player to buy two additional lives per quarter before starting the game, for a maximum of seven lives.

<i>Jungle Hunt</i> 1982 video game

Jungle Hunt, originally released as Jungle King, is a side-scrolling action game developed by Taito and released for arcades in 1982. It was originally distributed as Jungle King, then quickly modified and re-released as Jungle Hunt due to a copyright dispute over the player character's likeness to Tarzan. Jungle King, along with Moon Patrol released a month earlier, is one of the first video games with parallax scrolling.

<i>Moon Patrol</i> 1982 video game

Moon Patrol is a 1982 arcade video game developed and released by Irem. It was licensed to Williams for distribution in North America. The player controls a Moon buggy which can jump over and shoot obstacles on a horizontally scrolling landscape as well as shoot aerial attackers. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama, Moon Patrol is often credited with the introduction of full parallax scrolling in side-scrolling games. Cabinet art for the Williams version was done by Larry Day. Most of the home ports were from Atari, Inc., sometimes under the Atarisoft label.

<i>Night Driver</i> (video game) 1976 video game

Night Driver is an arcade video game developed by Atari, Inc. and released in the United States in October 1976. It's one of the earliest first-person racing video games and is commonly believed to be one of the first published video games to feature real-time first-person graphics. Night Driver has a black and white display with the hood of the player's car painted on a plastic overlay. The road is rendered as scaled rectangles representing "pylons" that line the edges.

1985 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Super Mario Bros. and Kung Fu, along with new titles such as Commando, Duck Hunt, Gauntlet, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Gradius, Hang-On, Space Harrier, Tetris and The Way of the Exploding Fist. The year's highest-grossing arcade video games were Hang-On and Karate Champ in the United States, and Commando in the United Kingdom. The year's best‑selling home system was the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) for the second year in a row, while the year's best‑selling home video game was Super Mario Bros.

1982 was the peak year for the golden age of arcade video games as well as the second generation of video game consoles. Many games were released that would spawn franchises, or at least sequels, including Dig Dug, Pole Position, Mr. Do!, Zaxxon, Q*bert, Time Pilot and Pitfall! The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pac-Man, for the third year in a row, while the year's best-selling home system was the Atari 2600. Additional video game consoles added to a crowded market, notably the ColecoVision and Atari 5200. Troubles at Atari late in the year triggered the video game crash of 1983.

Sinistar is a 1983 multidirectional shooter arcade game developed and manufactured by Williams Electronics. It was created by Sam Dicker, Jack Haeger, Noah Falstein, RJ Mical, Python Anghelo, and Richard Witt. Players control a space pilot who battles the eponymous Sinistar, a giant, anthropomorphic spacecraft. The game is known for its use of digitized speech and high difficulty level.

<i>Bump n Jump</i> 1982 video game

Bump 'n' Jump is an overhead-view vehicular combat game developed by Data East and originally released in Japan as Burnin' Rubber. Distributed in North America by Bally Midway, the arcade version was available as both a dedicated board and as part of Data East's DECO Cassette System. The goal is to drive to the end of a course while knocking enemy vehicles into the sides of the track and jumping over large obstacles such as bodies of water.

<i>SpyHunter</i> 2001 video game

SpyHunter is a vehicular combat game. It is a remake and sequel of the 1983 arcade game of the same name first released for PlayStation 2 in 2001. It has since been ported to GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Tapwave Zodiac. In the game, the player drives the G-6155 Interceptor, an advanced, weaponized spy vehicle. Unlike the original's top-down view, the remake is played with a chase camera, similar to a racing game.

<i>Starship 1</i> 1977 video game

Starship 1 is a first-person shooter space combat game developed and manufactured for arcades in 1977 by Atari, Inc. The game, which takes great inspiration from the then very popular television series Star Trek, contains the first known Easter egg in any arcade game. The arcade game was distributed in Japan by Namco in 1978, and it was ported to the Atari 2600 as Star Ship.

<i>Tutankham</i> 1982 video game

Tutankham is a 1982 arcade video game developed and released by Konami and released by Stern in North America. Named after the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, the game combines a maze shoot 'em up with light puzzle-solving elements. It debuted at the European ATE and IMA amusement shows in January 1982, before releasing worldwide in Summer 1982. The game was a critical and commercial success and was ported to home systems by Parker Brothers.

<i>The Dukes of Hazzard</i> (video game) 1984 video game

The Dukes of Hazzard is a 1984 racing video game developed and published by Coleco for their ColecoVision game console and Coleco Adam computer. Elite Systems released a different game with the same title for the ZX Spectrum computer on February 23, 1985. Both versions are based on the television series of the same name.

<i>Turbo</i> (video game) 1981 video game

Turbo is a racing game released in arcades in 1981 by Sega. Designed and coded by Steve Hanawa, the game received positive reviews upon release, with praise for its challenging and realistic gameplay, 2.5D color graphics with changing scenery, and cockpit sit-down arcade cabinet. It topped the monthly Play Meter arcade charts in North America and ranking highly on the Game Machine arcade charts in Japan.

References

  1. 1 2 "Manufacturers Equipment" (PDF). Cash Box . February 2, 1985. p. 42.
  2. 1 2 3 Akagi, Masumi (October 13, 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971–2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971–2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. pp. 124–5. ISBN   978-4990251215.
  3. ↑ "SPY HUNTER". Media Arts Database. Agency for Cultural Affairs . Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  4. ↑ "Spy Hunter". The International Arcade Museum. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  5. 1 2 Dave Ellis (October 2, 2012). "Chat with Spy Hunter Game Designer". Like Totally 80s.
  6. ↑ Game review, Crash magazine issue 16, Newsfield Publications May 1985
  7. ↑ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. April 1984.
  8. ↑ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. September 1984.
  9. ↑ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. October 1984. p. 4.
  10. ↑ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. November 1984.
  11. ↑ "National Play Meter". Play Meter . August 15, 1984.
  12. ↑ "National Play Meter". Play Meter . Vol. 10, no. 21. 15 November 1984. pp. 28–9.
  13. ↑ "Nominees Announced For 1984 AMOA Awards" (PDF). Cash Box . September 8, 1984. p. 28.
  14. ↑ "AMOA Expo '85: Award Winners". RePlay. Vol. 11, no. 3. December 1985. p. 44.
  15. ↑ "Top 100 Video Games". Flux (4). Harris Publications: 28. April 1995.
  16. ↑ "Complete Games Guide" (PDF). Computer and Video Games (Complete Guide to Consoles): 46–77. 16 October 1989.
  17. ↑ "1985 Index" (PDF). Computer Entertainer . Vol. 4, no. 10. January 1986. p. 6.
  18. ↑ "Kotaku | Gaming Reviews, News, Tips and More". Kotaku.
  19. ↑ "Major Motion". Atari Mania.
  20. ↑ Chris Carter (2019-09-27). "Review: Agent Intercept". Destructoid. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  21. ↑ Christian Donlan (2019-10-03). "Apple Arcade: Agent Intercept is a driving game with drifting and rockets". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  22. ↑ Crecente, Brian (March 24, 2016). "Lego Dimensions delivers a playable video game museum with Midway Arcade". Polygon. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  23. ↑ "Midway Arcade Origins Review - IGN". 14 November 2012 – via www.ign.com.
  24. ↑ Excel Easter Egg - Excel 2000 Real Easter Egg? from eeggs.com
  25. ↑ Looking back at Microsoft Excel Easter Eggs from TechRepublic
  26. ↑ Gabriel Snyder; Michael Fleming (2003-09-23). "Rock rolls for U's 'Spy Hunter'". Variety . Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  27. ↑ Gabriel Snyder (2004-01-06). "U puts slasher scribes on 'Spy Hunter'". Variety . Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  28. ↑ Claude Brodesser (2004-05-19). "U Woos helmer to 'Spy' for vidgame adaptation". Variety . Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  29. ↑ Dana Harris (2004-05-24). "Penn to pen Rock vehicle". Variety . Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  30. ↑ Ben Fritz (2004-08-15). "'Spy' warriors psyched for a 'Psi-Ops' pic". Variety . Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  31. ↑ Gabriel Snyder; Dave McNary (2005-04-14). "U takes a new 'Hunter' shot". Variety . Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  32. ↑ Alison James (2005-05-10). "Woo view: Redo coup". Variety . Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  33. ↑ Paul Davidson (2005-08-23). "Update from the Rock on Spy-Hunter". IGN . Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  34. 1 2 Marc Graser; Diane Garrett (2007-06-01). "Universal restarts 'Spy Hunter'". Variety . Retrieved 2007-06-02.
  35. ↑ Silas Lesnick (2013-02-13). "Ruben Fleischer Officially Set for 'Spy Hunter'". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2015-06-08.
  36. ↑ Mike Cecchini (2015-11-08). "The Spy Hunter Movie is Alive and Has Writers". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.