Arcade Classic: Spy Hunter

We don’t know a great deal about the clandestine world of international espionage, but what we do know is that leaving a highway littered with burning vehicles probably isn’t the best way to remain undercover. 1983 arcade game Spy Hunter doesn’t concern itself with such trivialities as you hurtle along the road, strafing a seemingly endless supply of enemy vehicles with front-mounted twin machine guns.

Originally intended to be a James Bond tie-in, developer Midway couldn’t secure the license, but Spy Hunter had no qualms about ‘borrowing’ from 007’s best car chase moments anyway. The selection of upgrades to your fictional G-6155 Interceptor was a familiar arsenal of smokescreens, missiles and oil slicks. The best part is that to unlock those abilities you had to ramp your car up into the back of a moving truck, Italian Job style. You’ll want to perfect the technique too because, like every arcade game of the era, Spy Hunter is brutally difficult and designed to relieve you of as much of your spare change as possible before you slink out of the Megabowl… read more >