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Spy Hunter |
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Manufacturer:
Bally Midway Year: 1983 Class: Wide Release Genre: Racing Type: Videogame Monitor:
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1 Maximum number of Players: 1 Gameplay: Single Control Panel Layout: Single Player Controls:
Sound: Unamplified Stereo (requires two-channel amp) |
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DescriptionThe player is a secret agent driving a car or a boat, rigged with all sorts of weapons, who fights other bad guys in various vehicles. The player drives on a vertically scrolling road on both dry pavement and snow. The theme music is Peter Gunn.Know anything more about this game? Cabinet InformationThe game was manufactured in both upright and sitdown models.Cheats, Tricks and BugsIf 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! Game IntroductionBasically 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". Game PlayThis 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. MiscellaneousPlay the game on-line (requires Shockwave) at http://www.shockwave.com/sw/content/spyhunterScarcity in collections (VAPS.org)Very Common - There are 124 known instances of this game owned by one of our 900 members. Of these, 119 of them are original dedicated machines, 0 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards have been placed in another game cabinet, and 5 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.Of the 42,694 video games (3,154 unique) tracked by the Video Game Preservation Society, this game ranks a 63 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on ownership records. - There are 23 VAPS members currently looking for this game. Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them (they are common because arcade operatos might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses), while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up. Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector. For a clue to value, compare how many people have this game vs. how many people want this game and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range. Alternate Cabinet Imageshttp://www.atarihq.com/museum/coinops/games/spyhunt.jpgTechnicalOne 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 ONLYTriviaContrary 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 G-6155, is a clever tribute to designer George Gomez - the numbers stand for his birthdate. Additionally, the car in the game was modeled after a 1983 Z28, which is featured in the brochure for the game. A helicopter sequence was originally planned, but was deleted due to lack of time and memory. eBay ListingsClick here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for the Spy Hunter Videogame machine and items related to it.Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for machines and parts made by Bally Midway. Alternatively, check out the IAM/KLOV custom report of the hottest coin-op machines on eBay, powered by Ace.com (updated throughoutthe day).
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