Spy Hunter

For other uses, see Spy Hunter (disambiguation).
Spy Hunter

Arcade cabinet side art
Developer(s) Bally Midway
Publisher(s) Bally Midway
Designer(s) George Gomez
Platform(s) Arcade (original)
MS-DOS, NES, Amstrad CPC, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit family, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Apple II family, ColecoVision, Mobile Phone, Palm PDA
Release date(s) 1983
Genre(s) Vehicular combat
Mode(s) Single player
Cabinet Upright, cockpit
Arcade system Bally Midway MCR-Scroll
Display Raster, 480 x 480 pixels (Vertical), 68 colors, 19 inch Wells-Gardner monitor

Spy Hunter is a 1983 arcade game developed and released by Bally Midway.[1]

The game draws inspiration from the James Bond films and was originally supposed to carry the James Bond license. 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.[1] 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 was also ported to various home computers and video game systems. The game was followed by a pinball spin-off, a sequel that added two-player split-screen play and a successor series of games bearing the Spy Hunter name.

Gameplay

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

Spy Hunter is a vertical scrolling action/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 top-down perspective.

The game begins with the player driving the fictitious G-6155 Interceptor, which was based on the Isdera Imperator 108i. Various enemy vehicles try to destroy the player's car or to 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 destroying enemy vehicles using weapons or by 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 obtaining sufficient points. 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, players can enter new regions with different terrain or weather conditions. Players can also augment car's standard machine guns with other weapons by entering the weapons van, which appears in each new territory and can be periodically summoned by pressing the blinking "Weapons Van" button. Three special weapons are available: oil slicks, smoke screens, and surface-to-air missiles. Each has limited ammo and are lost if the player's car is destroyed. The game's dashboard shows which weapons are available, when lit.

It is possible for the player to convert the car into a go-fast boat for brief periods by driving through a special boathouse which appears infrequently at the side of the road after which the player is attacked by two different enemy boats.

Despite rumors to the contrary, the in-game road is endless and the game itself has no ending.[2]

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.[2]

Legacy

Following the success of the arcade version of Spy Hunter, a pinball version of the game was released in 1984 by Bally. 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 more 3D perspective from behind and above the car. Though seemingly more realistic, the different perspective was unpopular and clumsy. The game achieved little success and remained largely unknown as it never went into large scale production. After Japanese video game developer Sunsoft reprogrammed the original arcade game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Sunsoft later created Battle Formula, featuring very similar gameplay, but to avoid copyright infringement outside Japan and to understand the point of the game only by its front cover, Sunsoft America signed a deal with Bally Midway in adding it to the Spy Hunter series by releasing it outside Japan as Super Spy Hunter.

Spy Hunter itself is regarded as one of the "Top 100 Videogames" of all time by the Killer List of Videogames (KLOV).

The series was reprised with the 2001 game SpyHunter which was developed by Paradigm Entertainment and released by Midway Games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, Game Boy Advance and Microsoft Windows platforms. The game marked a shift towards mission-based gameplay, and featured vehicles that switched seamlessly between land and sea. A sequel developed by Angel Studios was released in 2003.

Supposedly a tie-in to a then-potential film adaptation that entered development hell, a video game was released in 2006 as a standalone title, using the same screenplay as the one written for the motion picture that didn't go in production, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Alex Decker, replacing the regular series protagonist, Alec Sects, in Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run, developed by Terminal Reality and published by Midway Games, again. The game itself bears addition to the flavor, allowing the player to control an on-foot character in Third-Person Shooter elements, as well as driving numerous variations of vehicles. It is often hailed as a spin-off.

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.[3]

The G-6155 interceptor was featured as a vehicle in Lego Dimensions. It came along with the Gamer Kid and the Arcade Machine in the Midway level pack. The game itself could also be played.

Ports

Screenshot of the ColecoVision port

Because of its success, 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, Atari 8-bit family, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Apple II, ColecoVision, and the BBC Micro. A clone named Major Motion was also released by Microdeal on Atari ST and Amiga.[4]

The NES version has extremely buggy collision detection. If the road turns, the car will not crash if it remains pointed straight. It is possible to drive for hours over dirt, rocks, river banks, etc. If the car's tires are slashed while near the top of the screen, the car will often spin off the top of the screen and reappear at the bottom. The car becomes indestructible and can drive anywhere on the screen without being damaged, but the car's weapons no longer function.

The Commodore 64 (C64) and Atari 8-bit versions had a similar bug. Immediately after starting (being dropped off by the Van), one could continue driving on the side of the road without any enemy cars being able to damage the spy car. In the C64 and Atari 8-bit ports one could even drive further out on the black border on the side of the screen. However, in the arcade version, after exploiting this effect for a few tens of seconds, the Enforcer would appear on the opposite side of the road, forcing the player to take evasive action and resume normal play, or be destroyed.

Screenshot of the ZX Spectrum port

In addition to these consoles, 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 and Xbox consoles; Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play for PlayStation Portable; and Midway Arcade Origins, a 2012 compilation available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[5]

Spy Hunter was also one of the 23 games in the Midway Arcade Pack for the game LEGO Dimensions and is the first game you are required to play in the "Retro Wreckage" Level.

Film adaptation

In the summer of 2003, Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the 1983 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.[8] In January 2004, screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon replaced the original writing duo to rewrite the script, with production slated for June.[9] By May, Universal Pictures acquired director John Woo to helm the project.[10] In the same month, the previous screenwriters were replaced by screenwriter Zak Penn to rewrite the script once more.[11] By August 2004, production had been delayed, pushing Spy Hunter back to be released in summer 2006.[12] In April 2005, Penn was replaced by screenwriter Stuart Beattie to rewrite the script.[13] By May 2005, however, director John Woo left the project due to scheduling conflicts.[14] In August 2005, Dwayne 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.[15] Production was eventually halted for the time being, and Dwayne Johnson was detached from the project.[16]

In May 2007, Paul W. S. Anderson was hired to replace Woo as the director. He was going to be writing a new script with another screenwriter.[16] He left the project a year later due to his commitment to Death Race 2 as a producer. In February 2013, however, Warner Bros., who owns the rights to the film adaptation distribution, announced that Ruben Fleischer was officially brought on board to direct, after several rumors were given to the public ears, with Carter Blanchard providing the script, bearing an entirely rewritten storyline.[17] In November 2015, news were made that Blanchard was replaced with new pair of writers, Neal Greaves and Sam Chalsen, with Dan Lin and Roy Lee producing the film, while the report also made it unclear whether Fleischer was still on board as the director.[18]

References

  1. 1 2 "Spy Hunter". The International Arcade Museum. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  2. 1 2 Dave Ellis (October 2, 2012). "Chat with Spy Hunter Game Designer". Like Totally 80s.
  3. ↑ Spy Hunter Reboot Bringing Super Spy Racing to Handhelds This Fall
  4. ↑ Tucker, Troy (1989). Major Motion Review. 1 (Spring 1989 ed.). Compute!. pp. 66–67. Retrieved 2010-03-17. (Page 67)
  5. ↑ http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/14/midway-arcade-origins-review
  6. ↑ Excel Easter Egg - Excel 2000 Real Easter Egg? from eeggs.com
  7. ↑ Looking back at Microsoft Excel Easter Eggs from TechRepublic
  8. ↑ Gabriel Snyder; Michael Fleming (2003-09-23). "Rock rolls for U's 'Spy Hunter'". Variety. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  9. ↑ Gabriel Snyder (2004-01-06). "U puts slasher scribes on 'Spy Hunter'". Variety. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  10. ↑ Claude Brodesser (2004-05-19). "U Woos helmer to 'Spy' for vidgame adaptation". Variety. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  11. ↑ Dana Harris (2004-05-24). "Penn to pen Rock vehicle". Variety. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  12. ↑ Ben Fritz (2004-08-15). "'Spy' warriors psyched for a 'Psi-Ops' pic". Variety. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  13. ↑ Gabriel Snyder; Dave McNary (2005-04-14). "U takes a new 'Hunter' shot". Variety. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  14. ↑ Alison James (2005-05-10). "Woo view: Redo coup". Variety. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  15. ↑ Paul Davidson (2005-08-23). "Update from the Rock on Spy-Hunter". IGN. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
  16. 1 2 Marc Graser; Diane Garrett (2007-06-01). "Universal restarts 'Spy Hunter'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-06-02.
  17. ↑ Silas Lesnick (2013-02-13). "Ruben Fleischer Officially Set for 'Spy Hunter'". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2015-06-08.
  18. ↑ Mike Cecchini (2015-11-08). "The Spy Hunter Movie is Alive and Has Writers". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
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