Spy Hunter

Basically an all-around great game with superior play, music, and sounds. A unique driving game that was one of the first to combine driving and shooting at the same time during play. There are a variety of weapons that become available during gameplay -- 4 in all: Machine-Guns, Oil Slick, Smoke Screen, and Missiles.

The game also features the ability to take a side road during game play and turn the car into a boat, taking the battle onto the water.

There are five different enemies in the road sequence: tire slashers called "Switchblade" or "Never To Be Trusted" armored cars called "The Road Lord" or "Bulletproof Bully" limousines called "The Enforcer" or "Double Barrel Action" and helicopters called "The Mad Bomber" or "Master Of The Sky".

This driving game has a gas pedal, steering wheel, gear shifter, and four buttons on the wheel. The driver is a secret agent driving along a vertically scrolling highway to the tune of Peter Gunn.

The bad spies drive blue cars that resemble '57 Chevies. They can disable the player with wheel-mounted spikes. These make the player spin out and explode. The player can shoot these enemies from behind with grill-mounted machine guns or ram them off the road assuming their spikes are not deployed. Other enemies, called 'Bullies', drive armored cars that try to ram you off the road. The machine guns are ineffective, but they can be rammed. The boss bad guy drives a limo and attempts to pull up beside you and shoot you with a shotgun. This limo can be gunned down or rammed.

Periodically, you pass an ally, the weapons van. The van will catch up to you and extend ramps. You can drive into the van and obtain special weapons: oil slick, smoke screen, or missiles. The oil slick and smoke screen can be used to wreck or slow down all three of the ground-based enemies.

Occasionally, a chopper flies overhead and tries to kill you with bombs. These bombs do not have to hit you to kill you. If you drive through the pothole that they leave, you are just as dead. They also kill the bad guys. You can use the missiles to blow the chopper away.

As you progress, you can voluntarily swerve into the boat house and proceed on water. Your boat also has machine guns and the special weapons. Enemy boats try to kill you by throwing floating charges in your path. The big boat fires torpedoes at you from behind or in front. The chopper also harasses you in the water. You can be forced into the water when a bridge is out.

Sometimes you must also drive on snow. This makes it very tricky to swerve enemies that you have just shot.

The whole time, civilian traffic is on the road. If you shoot or ram them, you lose points.

If the road is drawn to the extreme right side of the screen when the car is dropped off by the weapons van, one can drive across the grass and Water to pass any difficult areas that might be ahead.

The Accelerator can be dislodged to increase the default speed of the car if there is no access to the test switch i.e., if one finds the game at a bowling alley and want to drive faster than it allows.

After being let out of the semi, due to crash or weapons upgrade, one can use the truck itself as a buffer to smash other cars off the road.

If you can get to 18,000 points before the time runs out, you are awarded 2 cars.

It is possible to knock switchblades with their blades extended off the road, by bumping the front or back corners of their car with your car.

If you manage to be sideswiped from the right by a switchblade just as the exit for the boathouse has come up, your vehicle spins off the road but actually traverses down the exit ramp and through the boathouse. Your vehicle is renewed and play continues, but the game is now fixed in a never ending ride. Your vehicle is now actually on the left side of the entire screen as a car, not a boat, and cannot be steered. Additionally, the accelerator and machine guns work, but there's nothing to shoot. The score continues to increase and you can drive indefinitely, but there is no way to end the game and enter a high score without turning the power switch off. Disabling the power is the only way known to reset the game back to normal play. This bug technique is extremely difficult to accomplish.

On the levels where the bridge is out - if you call up the van so you enter it just after the last bend before the bridge out section, when you are dropped off on the extreme right hand side you can drive over the broken bridge. The first time you do this go slowly on the approach to the missing bridge and the enforcer will pull alongside you on the opposite side of the road. When he hits the broken section, keep edging slowly across and - if done correctly - the enforcer-boat equivalent will no longer appear for the rest of the game.

Contrary to legend shared on the East Coast, this game actually has no end whatsoever. The graveyard level does not exist nor at any time does the driver of the vehicle get out of the car.

The sequel to this is Spy Hunter II, perhaps the worst sequel in the history of gaming.

The prototype for Spy Hunter originally played with the James Bond theme, which was the theme originally sought after for use in the game. The Peter Gunn theme was used when Midway could not obtain the rights to use the James Bond theme in the game.

The name of the car, the G6155, is a clever tribute to designer George Gomez - the numbers stand for his birthdate. The Mercedes C311 is the basis for the white car on the cabinet. This car has a 4-rotor wankel engine and gull wing doors. It was featured on the cover of Road and Track magazine around 1981.

A helicopter sequence was originally planned, but was deleted due to lack of time and memory.

The game was manufactured in both upright and sitdown models.

This - and other MCR type - game has been reported as having sync issues when using newer monitors - especially those with sync-sensing circuits. Older-style monitors work fine.

Play the game online requires Shockwave at www.shockwave.comswcontentspyhunter

One channel is dedicated to the Peter Gunn theme which comes exclusively from the Cheap Squeak Deluxe sound board. The other channel is dedicated to the other game sounds, such as the machine guns and the chopper rotors. This is produced on the sound IO board ONLY.