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| Spy Hunter | |
| Developer: | Bally Midway |
| Publisher: | Bally Midway |
| Release date: | 1983 |
| Genre: | Retro/Racing |
| Game modes: | Single player |
| Cabinet: | Standard and sitdown |
| Controls: | wheel; shifter; pedal |
| Monitor | |
| Orientation: | Vertical |
| Type: | Raster, standard resolution |
| Size: | 19 inch Wells-Gardner monitor |
| Notes | |
| None | |
Spy Hunter is a 1983 arcade game developed and released by Bally Midway. Initially incredibly successful, it remained popular for many years and is still popular with collectors today. The game's novel gameplay and addictive Peter Gunn theme music are largely responsible for its success. It was also ported to various home computers and video game systems.
Spy Hunter was produced in a sit-down version and as a standard upright. The upright version is much more numerous. The game's controls consist of a steering wheel with several special-purpose buttons, a two-position stick shift ("low" and "high" gears) and a pedal used for acceleration. This game is single player and has no two player mode.
Spy Hunter is an action/driving game. It places the player as the driver of a "spy" vehicle. The object of the game is to travel the freeways and hunt down and destroy as many enemy vehicles as possible, all the while protecting and not harming innocent civilian vehicles.
The view is top-down, much like a helicopter vantage point. The screen scrolls vertically underneath the player's car. An addictive arrangement of the Peter Gunn theme music plays throughout.
The game begins with the player driving a vehicle, a generic white sports car. Since the view is top-down, it may be more appropriate to say "controlling" the car via remote control since the view is not from the driver's seat. Soon, the player starts to encounter enemy vehicles which try to force the player's car off the road and crash. Each enemy vehicle has its own special feature, such as tire slashers or bulletproof armor.
Points are scored for staying alive (a counter increments the score while the player is driving) and destroying enemy vehicles. There is a lead-in time where the player does not score points for time, but has an initial endless supply of cars. After the lead-in time expires, the player must earn extra cars with high scores. The first extra cars is earned at a default value of 10,000 points, but this value can vary depending on settings.
The player must be careful to avoid harming innocent civilian vehicles on the road. There are only two types—a pink automobile and a motorcycle. Destroying these vehicles causes the score meter to halt briefly, in effect subtracting points from the player's score.
Initially, the only weapon the player's car has available are two front-mounted machine guns (with an endless supply of ammunition). Early on, these guns and the player's driving skill (the player can attempt to force or ram enemy cars off the road) are his only means of defense from the "bad guy" hordes. Eventually, however, the player encounters and ally, the "weapons van." The player drives past the weapons van parked on the side of the road. The van accelerates past the player's car and positions itself in front of it and drops a ramp. The player can then drive up the ramp and enter the back of the van. The van then pulls to the side of the road and the spy car is equipped with a new weapon. A symbol atop the weapons van indicated which type of special weapon it carries. The player is in no way obligated to use the weapon supplied by the van. If uninterested, the player can simply ignore the van and drive past it.
There are three special weapons in all and they can all be equipped simultaneously (though this is rare). The special weapons consist of an oil slick, a smoke screen and missiles. Each special weapon has a limited number of uses. For example, the smoke screen can be used four times. The special weapons are activated via dedicated buttons on the steering wheel. Once the weapons ammo is depleted, the car can be refitted with a new supply from the weapons van (actually, the ammo can be refilled in this manner before it is totally depleted).
There are four enemy vehicles in all, each with their own special characteristic:
It's possible for the player to convert his car into a boat by driving through a special boathouse located infrequently alongside the road. The boat driving sequence is almost identical to the normal driving sequence, but provides a nice break from the regular action. The enemies in this sequence are different but similar to the normal ones. At the end of this sequence, the player drives through another boathouse and his vehicle is instantly changed back into a car.
Though it was rumored to have a graveyard sequence, an actual end and a sequence where the player exited the car for on-foot action, the game has no end and at no time does the player ever leave the car. The game does have some sequences where the player is required to drive over snow and ice, making ramming more difficult.
Originally the James Bond theme was planned as the background music for the game and, in fact, that is the music early prototype machines played. The inability to obtain the rights to use the music, however, forced Midway to change the theme on shipping models. In the end, the Peter Gunn theme music was a large part of the game's appeal.
Like the boat driving sequence, a helicopter sequence was also planned for. Shortage of memory, however, did not allow for this feature.
Because of Spy Hunter's success, it was followed by a sequel, Spy Hunter II in 1987. It retained the Peter Gunn music and incorporated a cooperative two-player mode, but replaced the top-down view with a more 3D perspective from behind and above the car. Though seemingly more realistic, the different perspective was unpopular. The game achieved little success and remained largely unknown as it never went into large scale production. Spy Hunter II is widely regarded as the worst sequel in the history of gaming.
Spy Hunter itself is regarded as one of the "Top 100 Videogames" of all time by the Killer List of Videogames (KLOV).
Being so successful and popular, Spy Hunter was ported to several home video game systems and home computers of the early 1980s era. Versions were developed for DOS, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Atari 2600, Commodore 64 and the ColecoVision.
In 2001, Midway resurrected the game, this time using full 3D graphics. Midway published this consumer version for most major systems: Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance and GameCube.
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