GOTD 5/13/2016: The Super Spy (Neo Geo)
The Super Spy for Neo Geo is deceptive in its presentation. I'll always remember the first time I played it. It was in a four slot Neo Geo in the lobby of the old Fenton, Missouri Wal-Mart. I had a quarter in my pocket earmarked for a Sam's Choice grape soda when I saw it, and watched as it cycled through its games... Super Spy, Fatal Fury, Sengoku, and Samurai Shodown. Being super into beat 'em ups, I wanted to play Sengoku, so I plunked my quarter in, blissfully unaware of how to change games... and The Super Spy started up. It looked cool, kind of like Wolfenstein, which my buddy Tim was always going on about, so I figured I was going to be playing this first person shooter... and then I couldn't figure out how to move, got the shit kicked out of me, and didn't touch it again for a decade.
I picked it up for my AES on a snowy, amazing day I'll probably write in the random memories thread someday, alongside a copy of Ninja Combat. Finding AES games in the wild is hardly a common occurrence for me, so I tended to grab anything I ran across. At this time, in the house I was renting the Neo Geo had its own bedroom hooked up to a Sony monitor (actually, it's still hooked up to the same one in my basement now), so we went to the Neo Geo room and tried them out. At this time, ready for what I was doing thanks to its crudely translated manual, I started to play what is actually a cross between a beat 'em up and Punch Out!... and it was considerably more playable.
Roy Heart (your character) does have a first person perspective, but his movement takes place mostly along horizontal planes, strafing left and right. Occasionally, like in a belt-scrolling beat 'em up, invisible walls restrict your progress, and you must fight off a group of terrorist thugs. Clear them, and you get to move on. Your goal is to search through the two buldings in order to defeat the terrorists and save the city. You can throw various punches and kicks, duck, block, brandish a knife, and shoot with a gun with sparse ammo. The knife begins to rust and become less effective as you use it, and the gun has only ten shots to begin with, though it can be reloaded or upgraded to an uzi by various rescued hostages, and you can pistol whip with it once it's emptied. Enemies only approach the forefront one at a time, though, and use telegraphed attack patterns. This is where the Punch Out! style play really takes shape, as the game becomes one of reflexes, focusing on evasion and counter-punching as opposed to fps tactics. Played correctly, the combat becomes fun and addictive, and you start to look forward to new enemy types to test your skills. You also gain experience and level up as you go, which makes you more effective as well.
As you explore, you'll enter rooms and elevators, giving each building kind of an open world feel to explore, find maps, weapons, and intel, and occasional mini-boss fights with crazed scientist with screwdrivers or angry thugs with guns or tasers. There are elevators in which you can go up and down, and you must find hostages and fight your way to the top to win. Sometimes, if you forget to duck when you see them, surveillance cameras will catch you, triggering some tough confrontations, and some floors are pretty maze-like.
The Super Spy is a tad long for what it is, and it's certainly tough. I can't clear it on one credit yet, but I can get about 3/4 of the way through the second building on one life on a good run. If you go into it to play something like a Punch Out! adventure, you'll find a nice game with fitting sound and music, awesome giant, scaling sprites, and truly fun battle mechanics. If you're expecting an FPS, though, you're not going to be happy.
Played this one?
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Originally Posted by celerystalker
