Spy Hunter
Spy Hunter is a vehicular combat action game developed by Bally Midway and released for arcades in 1984. 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. 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.
| Spy Hunter | |
|---|---|
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 (original) Amstrad CPC, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, C64, Apple II, ColecoVision, IBM PC, NES |
| Release | NES
|
| Genre(s) | Vehicular combat |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Arcade system | Bally Midway MCR-Scroll |
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 family, 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.