Spy Hunter
This is the first game in the Spy Hunter series. For other games in the series see the Spy Hunter category.
| Spy Hunter | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Midway Games |
| Publisher(s) | Midway Games |
| Year released | 1983 |
| System(s) | Arcade, Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Atari 8-bit, NES, BBC Micro, Commodore 64/128, Atari 8-bit, DOS, Apple II, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga |
| Followed by | Spy Hunter II |
| Series | Spy Hunter |
| Genre(s) | Racing, Shooter |
|---|---|
| Players | 1 |
| Modes | Single player |
- This guide is for the original 1983 arcade game. For the 2001 Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Mac OS and Tapwave Zodiac game, see Spy Hunter (2001). For the 2009 Windows Mobile and BlackBerry game, see Spy Hunter (2009). For the 2012 Nintendo 3DS and Sony PlayStation Vita game, see Spy Hunter (2012).
Spy Hunter is a racing/shooter arcade game that was released by Bally Midway in 1983; it runs upon their MCR-3 hardware (only with a DAC as opposed to a TMS-5220 for speech). The player must use a yoke to take control of a "G-6155 CIA Prototype Interceptor" sports car, with a single pedal to make it accelerate and five buttons to make it leave oil slicks behind it, activate its smoke screen, fire out its machine guns, fire out its missiles, and call up a weapons truck - and it also has a "lo-hi" gear shifter. At the start of the game, there's a timer at the top of the screen counting down from 60 or 90 seconds depending on how the cabinet is set, during which time a player will have infinite lives; however, once it has run out, he will lose a life every time the car is forced off the road and crashes. If you can reach 18000 points, before that timer runs out, you will receive two extra lives - and during the course of the game, you shall encounter enemy cars which will try to force you off the road and crash. You will also encounter civilian cars and motorcycles during the course of the game, and it's not really advisable to shoot them, as doing so will temporarily break the score display (indicated by the text "NO POINTS"); in the early part of this game, the machine guns are the only weapon you shall have at your disposal, but when you pass the weapons truck at the side of the road, it shall start moving, pass your car, and extend a ramp towards it. You can then drive up the ramp into the truck - and it shall then pull over to the side of the road, and set down your car with its new weapon (either oil slicks, a smoke screen, or missiles). They may each only be used thrice, but can get renewed with new supplies from the truck.
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Title screen.
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Upright arcade cabinet.
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Screenshot of the game.
