Spy Hunter was an arcade driving game by Bally-Midway. It is unique in that it was one of the first to combine driving and shooting at the same time. You are in control of a car driving on a vertically scrolling road, fighting against a variety of vehicular and airborne enemies:
- Tire slashers called "Switchblade" or "Never To Be Trusted"
- Armored vans called "The Road Lord" or "Bulletproof Bully"
- Sniper limousines called "The Enforcer" or "Double Barrel Action"
- Bomb-dropping helicopters called "The Mad Bomber" or "Master Of The Sky"
Along with enemies, there are civilian vehicles on the road as well. Injuring a civilian causes you to temporarily stop scoring points.
In addition to your default machine guns, you can find and drive into a weapons truck and get outfitted with additional weapons: oil slick, smoke screen, and ground-to-air missiles, each of which is useful against different enemies. Further in the game, you can take a side road to a boathouse and turn the car into a boat, taking the battle onto the water. 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.
This game was followed with
Spy Hunter II, perhaps the worst sequel in the history of video gaming. A Famicom game called
Battle Formula was renamed
Super Spy Hunter and released on the NES in 1992.
In 2001, Midway released a 3D "enhanced remake" of the original game for the
PlayStation 2,
GameCube, and Microsoft Xbox. It was followed up with
Spy Hunter 2 and
Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run.
Spy Hunter has examples of:
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