Spy Hunter is a 1983 car racing and combat video game created and released by Bally Midway for arcade machines. The game was inspired by the James Bond movies and was originally planned to use the James Bond name. The goal of the game is to drive a high-tech "Interceptor" car along roads and destroy enemy vehicles using different weapons on board. The game was made in two versions: one where players sit down and one where players stand up, with the standing version being more common. Controls include a futuristic steering wheel shaped like an airplane's control, special buttons, a two-position gear shift (for "low" and "high" gears), and a pedal for speeding up.

Spy Hunter was very popular in American arcades, ranking among the top five highest-selling arcade games in 1984 and 1985. The game was later released on many other systems, including the Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit computers, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Apple II, ColecoVision, MS-DOS, Nintendo Entertainment System, and BBC Micro. A follow-up game, Spy Hunter II, added a 3D view, two-player split-screen play, a pinball game connection, and a series of later games with the Spy Hunter name. Additionally, the Nintendo Entertainment System received a sequel called Super Spy Hunter.

Gameplay

Spy Hunter is a side-to-side scrolling driving game where the player controls a spy driving an armed sports car. The goal is to travel along a highway, destroying enemy vehicles while avoiding civilian cars. The game is viewed from above. Controls include a gearshift with two positions, a pedal on the floor to control speed, and a steering wheel with five buttons. The game cabinet also has a dashboard with lights that show the player’s status.

The game starts with the player driving a fictional car called the G-6155 Interceptor. The player uses the steering wheel, pedal, and gearshift to move and control speed. The car has a machine gun with unlimited bullets, which can be fired by holding down a button on the steering wheel.

Enemy vehicles, including a helicopter that drops bombs, try to damage the player’s car or push it off the road. A score increases as the car moves on the road. Extra points are earned by destroying enemy vehicles or pushing them off the road. After an introductory period where the player has unlimited cars, new cars are earned by reaching specific score goals. Destroying civilian cars temporarily stops the score, and no points are added when the car is off the road. The car can be destroyed by crashing into another vehicle, being hit by enemy weapons (including bombs dropped by the helicopter), or driving too far off the road or waterway.

At certain points, the road splits, allowing the player to enter new areas with different terrain or weather. The player can also collect special weapons by entering a weapons van, which appears in each new area. The van can be summoned by pressing a button on the steering wheel when its dashboard light is flashing. Special weapons include oil slicks, smoke screens, and surface-to-air missiles. Each weapon is controlled by a different button, and the dashboard lights show which weapons are available. These weapons have limited use and are lost if the player’s car is destroyed.

At some points, the player can briefly switch the car into a speedboat by driving through a boathouse. At other times, the player must switch to a speedboat. Enemy boats may attack from the front or back, and the helicopter can still drop bombs. In speedboat mode, the oil slick becomes a flamethrower, while the smoke screen and missiles remain the same.

The game does not end. Play continues until the player loses all cars.

Development

Game designer George Gomez got ideas for the game by listening to a cassette tape of music from James Bond films. He worked with Tom Leon to create the game, and they had previously worked together on Tron. Gomez drew the in-game map on a long piece of paper and also thought of the idea for the weapons van. At first, the game was meant to be based directly on James Bond, with the "James Bond Theme" as the in-game music. However, the rights to use the theme could not be obtained. Instead, an electronic version of Henry Mancini's theme from Peter Gunn is used throughout the game.

Reception

In the United States, the game Spy Hunter was the highest-selling game on the RePlay upright arcade cabinet from April to November 1984. It also led the Play Meter dedicated cabinet charts for street locations in July and November 1984. The game was listed by AMOA as one of the top five highest-earning arcade games in the United States for 1984. Later, AMOA recognized Spy Hunter as the "most played" arcade video game in the United States for 1985. In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the arcade version of the game at number 29 on their list of the "Top 100 Video Games." They highlighted the game's music, controls, and gameplay. In 1989, Computer and Video Games gave the ColecoVision version of the game a score of 80%.

Legacy

A pinball machine inspired by the game Spy Hunter was created in 1984 by Bally.

The original arcade game was adapted for the ColecoVision system in January 1985.

Spy Hunter was followed by a sequel, Spy Hunter II, released in 1987. This version kept the "Peter Gunn" music from the first game and added a two-player mode. However, the view of the car changed from a top-down perspective to one showing the car from above and behind.

After Japanese company Sunsoft made Spy Hunter available on the Nintendo Entertainment System, they developed a new game called Battle Formula (Japanese: バトルフォーミュラ) in 1991. This game had similar gameplay. Sunsoft America later partnered with Bally Midway to release Battle Formula outside Japan as Super Spy Hunter.

The Spy Hunter series returned in 2001 with a new version called SpyHunter, created by Paradigm Entertainment and published by Midway Games. It was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Microsoft Windows. A sequel, developed by Angel Studios, came out in 2003. A later version of the series, made by TT Fusion, was released in 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita by Warner Bros. Interactive.

A copy of Spy Hunter called Major Motion was released by Microdeal for the Atari ST in 1986. In 2019, a game named Agent Intercept was released for Apple Arcade as a tribute to Spy Hunter.

In the 2015 video game Lego Dimensions, a level pack featuring Midway Arcade included a buildable Lego version of the G-6155 Interceptor. The pack also included a playable version of the original Spy Hunter arcade game. A character from Spy Hunter appears in a sidequest where players must destroy 20 cars on a racetrack.

The 2022 game Gotham Knights includes a playable version of Spy Hunter as an Easter egg.

Spy Hunter was included in several game compilations, such as Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits: Volume 1 for Nintendo 64, Midway Arcade Treasures for GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows, Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play for PlayStation Portable, and Midway Arcade Origins for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

• In the "Murder, She Wrote" episode titled "Hit, Run and Homicide," the character Jessica solves the mystery while playing Spy Hunter at a grocery store.
• A game called "Dev Hunter," inspired by Spy Hunter, was included as an Easter egg in the first version of Microsoft Excel 2000. It required DirectX to work. Microsoft later banned Easter eggs from its non-game software.
• In the "Robot Chicken" episode "Dragon Nuts," a parody of Spy Hunter appears in the sketch "Omaha's Number 1 News Team." The sketch shows a sports car from Spy Hunter evading police and causing chaos.
• Spy Hunter is parodied in the "Teen Titans Go!" episode "Video Game References," where a game called "Pie Hunter" is shown as a reference to Spy Hunter.

Film adaptation

In the summer of 2003, Universal Pictures bought the rights to the arcade game Spy Hunter from Midway Games. In September of that year, Universal signed actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to star in the movie version of the game. Screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas were hired to write the screenplay, but no director had been chosen yet. Spy Hunter was planned to begin its $90 million production in spring 2004, with a summer 2005 release. In January 2004, screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon replaced Brandt and Haas to rewrite the script, with production set for June. By May 2004, Universal hired director John Woo to lead the project. That same month, Mark Swift and Damian Shannon were replaced by screenwriter Zak Penn to rewrite the script again. By August 2004, production was delayed, pushing the movie’s release to summer 2006. In April 2005, Penn was replaced by screenwriter Stuart Beattie to rewrite the script. However, by May 2005, director John Woo left the project due to scheduling conflicts. In August 2005, Johnson said the film was still being developed but had no director. Pre-production work continued, including designs for the changing shape of the Interceptor vehicle driven by Alex Decker. Production was eventually paused, and Dwayne Johnson was no longer involved in the project.

In May 2007, Paul W. S. Anderson was hired to replace Woo as director, with a new script unrelated to Nowhere to Run. Anderson left the project a year later because of his work on Death Race 2 as a producer. In February 2013, Warner Bros. (which had taken over Midway’s assets, including the Spy Hunter game franchise) and its motion picture department announced that Ruben Fleischer would direct the film from a screenplay by Carter Blanchard. In November 2015, Blanchard was replaced by screenwriters Neal Greaves and Sam Chalsen, with Dan Lin and Roy Lee set to produce the film. It is unclear whether Fleischer remained as director. No updates have been reported since, and the project is believed to have been canceled.