Story Line: 1983 Classic Game Spy Hunter
Driver's License to Kill
Ah, 1983. Reaganomics. Junior high (for some of us). Theaters full of moviegoers
unable to decide which was more shocking: the fact that Luke had been making goo-goo
eyes at Leia or the fact that the Ewoks won.
Back then, few games at the local arcade were more addictive than Spy Hunter, a simple
top-down driving game that added something new to the still-young racing genre: guns!
As the Spy Hunter, you shot your way through streets filled with enemies of the free
world, conveniently color-coded for identification.
The original Spy Hunter, created by George Gomez, remains a legend-an innovative,
addictive game that rose to the top during an era when anything and everything
was being tried in the arcades. Like many racing games before and since, the cabinet
featured a built-in steering wheel, gas, brake pedals, and a gearshift. The steering
wheel came with a few special features, however: buttons for offensive weapons, like
machine guns and missiles, and defensive tricks, like a rear-projecting oil slick.
The game also featured another innovation in its licensed soundtrack (the Theme
from Peter Gunn), which remained wedged in your brain for hours.
Back in 1983, arcades would be jam-packed with kids who wanted to play the shoot
'em up racing game Spy Hunter. During this time, game companies released games
that were aimed at specific audiences to become popular and eventually (and hopefully)
become classics. Spy Hunter was one of these games. And as we all know, Spy Hunter
sports the most popular theme song in history, Theme from Peter Gunn. And if you
didn't know the title of that song before hand, most people would just refer to
it as the "Spy Hunter theme".
Breaking News Archive Link
8/19/2003 Phillyburbs.com reports on Spy hunter World Record
Thanks to his Spy Hunter skills, Mark Little appeared in last Sunday's edition
of the Doylestown Intelligencer, a daily suburban newspaper published near
Philadelphia, PA. As the Intelligencer points out, Little's accomplishment broke
a 18-year-old record and the feat is slated for world-record treatment in the
forthcoming edition of Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World
Records. Doylestown Intelligencer, August 18, 2003
Twin Galaxies in the News
Link
8/18/2003 His passion? It's hunting down a record
Doylestown Intelligencer, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
His passion? It's hunting down a record
By JESSE ABRAMS-MORLEY, The Intelligencer
The new world champion doesn't live in a mansion.
He doesn't wear a championship belt.
And he's not likely to be spotted on a red carpet anytime soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little can be spotted - sometimes for several hours at a time - is
in his basement, playing arcade games that haven't been popular since the 1980s.
Now, Little has something to show for his hard work.
The 25-year-old electronics technician from New Britain this summer broke a
19-year-old world record for the highest documented score in the arcade game
"Spy Hunter."
After totaling more than 800,000 points while playing the car-chase game in late
June, Little sent a videotape of his performance to Twin Galaxies, the organization
responsible for maintaining high-score records for video games.
Twin Galaxies verified Little's score and will include him in its next book of world
records, due out later this year.
"It's kind of an exciting moment," Little says.
It was a moment a long time in the works.
Born and raised in Doylestown, Little says he started playing video games before
he entered kindergarten.
He liked Atari, the most popular game system at the time. But he always had more
appreciation for arcade games, which he played every chance he got.
"Every time we'd go to the store, I used to mooch quarters off my mom and grandma,"
Little says.
He played classic titles, such as "Donkey Kong," "Pacman," "Ms. Pacman" and
"Spy Hunter."
It wasn't the plot or graphics, but the opportunity to compete directly against
others that drew the youngster to the arcades.
"Basically it was a chance ... to get out and pit your skills against everybody
else in your local neighborhood and local arcade for the chance to get your name
on top of the scoreboard," he says. "It was kind of a high when you would see
that you knocked down everybody that was best in your neighborhood."
The arcade became the place to go for many children of the 1980s looking to make
a name for themselves and gain respect.
"The age of video-game arcades was a seriously big phenomenon," says Walter Day,
who edits Twin Galaxies' book of world records. "I'll bet a million people across
the world was vying for the world record in 'Spy Hunter' and other games."
Gamers formed their own subculture, trading secrets and codes that were helpful
in beating games.
Tricks and tips "would proliferate like osmosis," Day says.
Even with all the competition and cooperation, the world record in "Spy Hunter"
stalled at 794,495, a mark Brian McDowell, then of Harrell's, N.C., set in June 1984.
Note: Brian McDowell Statistics:
Spy Hunter 1984 High Score:
Name: Brian McDowell
High Score: 794,495
Brian McDowell
Birth Date 03/01/68 Harrell's, NC
Day says he doesn't keep in contact with McDowell and doesn't know where the former
record holder lives. Most people gave up trying to beat his mark a long time ago.
But not Little.
He bought the game about three and a half years ago and started playing it in his
basement. Around the beginning of April, he began a regimen of playing for at least
an hour and a half each night, hoping to earn second place on the all-time high-score list.
"I would basically just lock myself away from everybody, really try to focus on
the game and really take a shot at it," Little says.
After about a month and a half, the longtime video-game player captured second-place
honors, but he decided to keep up his intensive playing.
And almost 19 years to the day after McDowell set his seemingly unbreakable record,
Little broke it.
The big game started with Little dodging enemies and scoring more points early on
than most "Spy Hunter" aficionados total in an entire game.
Little cruised until he lost his second-to-last car at the 758,000-point mark.
Less than 40,000 points shy of the world record, he drove onward, while
computer-animated helicopters and cars tried to derail his moment of glory.
"When you're that far ahead in the game, the game pretty much has no mercy on
you," Little says. "The original designers of this game never wanted somebody
to be able to play this game for over an hour and a half on one quarter."
But Little defied their wishes and dodged just enough enemies to score 832,620
points and set a world record.
"This is quite an accomplishment," says Robert Mucked, who verified Little's
score for Twin Galaxies. "He has mastered an extremely difficult game, and he
currently has no viable competition."
Except himself.
Little says he eventually wants to score more than 1 million points, though he
is going to take some time off from "Spy Hunter."
He will still be playing video games, however.
With 12 other titles in his basement, including pinball machines, Little has
more than enough games to keep himself occupied.
He started collecting games about seven years ago by purchasing a machine from
a bowling alley. After buying the games, he restores them to their original
form, sometimes spending as much as 100 hours in the rehabbing process.
Little says the time is well spent and believes video games can have a therapeutic
effect.
"It's a great way to just escape from the daily stress," he says.
Day agrees that the games have an upside, but he worries about their harmful
effects as well.
Too many children grow up playing too many hours of games with too much violence,
he says.
"It simply can't be good to be ingesting that many rays from a screen," Day says.
"I don't believe that a person should just be playing video games."
Little says he understands the games have to be viewed in the proper perspective.
But that won't stop him from playing.
"Where else for a quarter could you throw the winning touchdown in a football game?"
he says. "Or play basketball with some of the NBA stars? Or drive down a road going
200 mph without having to worry about a ticket?
"As with anything else, you do realize that once your game's over, you go back
into reality. But it's nice to escape every once in a while."
Jesse Abrams-Morley can be contacted via e-mail at jmorley@phillyburbs.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spy Hunter - ANOTHER New World Record !!
Link
Twin Galaxies Forums Forum Index -> Coin-Op Video Games
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Author Message
RMRUCZEK
TG Board of Directors
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 1:25 am Post subject: Spy Hunter -
ANOTHER New World Record !!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello fellow gamers:
A very determined Mark Little, who hails from Pennsylvania in the USA, has finally
taken down a VERY tough score to beat...the 794,495 on "Spy Hunter" by Brian
McDowell this past June 20th.
Playing at home in his private arcade, an eclectic collection of his personal
favorite pinball and arcade titles, Mark captured an incredible performance
on video camera of 832,620 points, lasting almost 90 minutes and beating his
previous verified personal best by almost 400K.
"Spy Hunter" is a very memorable title from the 1980's largely due to the way-cool
"Peter Gunn" theme song from the classic TV show of the 1950's which was also
used as background music for some of the scenes in the movie "Blues Brothers"
with Jim Belushi & Don Aykroyd.
One of the little known facts about "Spy Hunter" is that it is rarity among
arcade titles in that its sit-down equivalent has the controls in a totally
different layout than the upright ("Star Trek" being one of the few other titles
bearing this peculiarity)
Okay, onto his score. As I viewed his performance, I started to notice that
the game IS a pattern as far as the roads go, as far into the game as I was
able to recall. Further, when I logged his performance in terms of how often
he entered or exited from the water, there was a fair amount of consistency
between each "set", with a few notable exceptions as detailed below. I am
hoping that Mark and other interested players can comment on what I've noticed...
it could be that since no one else has been documented achieving this high of
a score that no one has thus far caught onto these observations. So, without
further ado...
****************************
THE PATH TO GREATNESS
Opening Time Allotment - "Spy Hunter" starts you off with a timer that counts
down, and during this period, you can crash as many times as possible without
losing a life, though the goal is of course to stay alive. Under Twin Galaxies
Tournament Settings (TGTS), it is possible to earn one or more extra lives
during this period depending on your score by the time the timer expires.
Mark finished the initial timer period with a hair over 18K thus earning the
maximum amount of bonus cars (2). Now the real game begins !!
30,000 - Mark needed just 3:15 to reach the 1st extra car threshold
51,850 - enters the water for the 1st time
At this point, since the scores are ever-accruing, I am ball-parking his scores
to the nearest whole thousand, except when he loses a life, and of course
the final score.
61K - enters 2nd land (meaning exits 1st water sequence)
106K - enters 2nd water (meaning 2nd water sequence) - approx 5:20
115K - enters 3rd land
136K - enters 3rd water - approx 13:00
145K - enters 4th land
163K - enters 4th water - approx 15:44
Oh no !!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little loses his 1st car at 164,600 points at approx 15:50 - Mark was
squeezed between a roadside barrier and a copter bomb dropped on the ground,
and accidentally ran over the bomb. Not bad, as this beats most gamer's entire
game score...sometimes 5x over !!
172K - enters 5th land
190K - enters 5th water - approx 18:40
199K - enters 6th land
217K - enters 6th water - approx 21:29
Notice what I see thus far ? Approx every 2:45 a complete "sequence" occurs. Of
course this is relative to Mark's overall speed and decision-making, but so
far this is consistent. However, the major info I noticed comes later...read on...
225K - enters 7th land
244K - enters 7th water - approx 24:30
253K - enters 8th land
290K - enters 8th water - approx 29:47
However, at 274,790 points
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Lost his 2nd car. he was run off the road by
"Switch Blade", one of the three major opponent cars, while dodging a copter
attack. This loss really started at 270K when he narrowly missed a weapons van
due to a copter bomb in front of it, and though he fought valiantly for several
turns, quite a few actually, the next van didn't come quickly enough.
299K - enters 9th land
321K - enters 9th water - approx 32:40
330K - enters 10th land
370K - enters 10th water - approx 37:50
Uh oh...trouble happened in the 10th sequence. At 352,875 points Mark was on
a winding icy road and grazed "Switch Blade" and crashed just as the stage
turned from normal road to ice. That's the 3rd car lost.
Disaster at 355,480 as he loses yet another car (the 4th), a very disheartening
crash occurred. Right off the change from icy to regular road he was about to
enter the weapons van when the car was hit...I'm not 100% sure but I think an
"Enforcer" vehicle shot him, although it could have been a copter bomb right
underneath the ramp going into the weapons van. Either way, Mark said "Oh MAN !!",
obviously disappointed at the veritable unfairness of the situation. I was
watching it and know what must have been going thru his mind.
377K - enters 11th land
398K - enters 11th water - approx 40:50
405K - enters 12th land
425K - enters 12th water - approx 43:48
434K - enters 13th land
488K - enters 13th water - approx 49:53
Aha !! My key observation starts now. The 13th "sequence" is more than twice
the duration in between the previous sequences...unlucky 13, I suppose, but no
one to date has mentioned or pointed this fact out. What it means, I have no
clue...but keep reading as I've annotated where else these extended sequences
take place. You never know how important (or not) this observation will be. At
the very least it would be interesting to know if other "Spy Hunter" games played
to this duration behave the same, sequence-by-sequence.
497K - enters 14th land
550K - enters 14th water - approx 55:59
Another "long sequence".
And, sadly, another car was lost, the 5th, at 541,350 points. Mark carefully shot
a "Switch Blade" car well in front of him, but accidentally ran into its wreck
while avoiding a copter bomb.
556K - enters 15th land
577K - enters 15th water - approx 58:50
The duration between the sequences is back to what would be called "normal"...off
that only after the 13th and 14th stages (thus far) the sequence duration was
longer than all the others.
587,500 points - the timer passes the one hour mark !!
585K - enters 16th land
604K - enters 16th water - approx 1:01.45
I have to tell you that the 16th water sequence was THE TOUGHEST in the game for
Mark. the copter was relentless in pursuing him, and he almost was bombed the
instant he left the water and reached dry land.
614K - enters 17th land
636K - enters 17th water - approx 1:04.54
A cry of "Yikes...yikes...get over !!" is heard from Mark right before the 17th
water sequence began. A very precarious situation unwound...the roads were icy,
and he had to escape certain death by getting into a weapons van. Unfortunately,
as it coasted towards the right, the break to the water section ("Bridge is Out")
came up, and he was this close to not being able to get safely into the corridor
leading to the water. I think he made it with less than an inch to spare !!
641K - enters 18th land
664K - enters 18th water - approx 1:07.57
671K - enters 19th land
717K - enters 19th water - approx 1:13.19)
Another long duration between the sequences...so that's stages 13, 14 and 19
thus far. No discernible pattern yet, but an interesting fact.
At the 697-700K thresholds, Mark was in a tight bind. he had three (3) "Bullet
Proof Bomb" vehicles in front of him, a copter dropping bombs from above, and
at least one very determined "Switch Blade" trying to get him from the bottom of
the screen. This chase kept going for quite a nerve-wracking while, until 711K
when the weapons van came and was probably the best sight that Mark had seen in
a very long time !!
726K - enters 20th land
746K - enters 20th water - approx 1:16.16
Hey...the 20th sequence set !! Thus far only one (1) other individual on record
reached this lofty mark...and I'm guessing he did because in "Spy Hunter", shooting
certain opponents temporarily disables point scoring, and whether you travel from
point "A" to "B" fast or slow, the same point value is awarded overall. So, I am
reasonably certain that unless Mark's competitor was ultra aggressive with the
point-based enemy vehicles and the copter, he probably also lived to tell up
to this point.
755K - enters 21st land
773K - enters 21st water - approx 1:19.25
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Loses his 6th car at 758K in another tough spot. Coming into ice, an "Enforcer"
and "Switch Blade" vehicle are each right next to him on one side, and where the road
is, his only viable escape route in these tight quarters, an "Enforcer" vehicle was
on the side of the road. Mark didn't even have a chance on this one, folks, so he
did the only possible alternative...brake, and see what happens. Well, that shook
off the enemies on the road, but before he could react the "Enforcer" parked on the
side let him have it with a bullet. Virtually no way out of this one...and so very
close to a new world record.
782K - enters 22nd land
800,100 points exactly - enters 22nd water - approx 1:22.25
A few things to comment on here...
At approx 795,300 points, a dirty little "Enforcer" car was parked on the side of
the road as Mark zoomed ahead to avoid a copter, and just BARELY missed Mark's ca
with a shot !! Now, Mark didn't say a word that I could hear, but if I was in his
shoes, I would have though to myself "You dirty BUM !!", or at least something to
that effect. But knowing myself the way I do, I am sure I'd have shared my thoughts
audibly with anyone within earshot.
As mark passed the 794K barrier, I should have mentioned, he was so pre-occupied
with the action at hand that he didn't distract himself by calling out to anyone
present that he has just broken the world record. But I lived through his climb,
on tape at least, and know he must have felt quite proud at this point...and
rightly so.
At the 800K barrier, Mark just entered the 22nd water sequence and shouted out
"800,000 !! WOW !! Hah !!" as he exulted in not just passing the world record
less than a minute ago, but also the 800K barrier, which his now 2nd place
competitor just missed years back. Mark was now in uncharted territory, both
for himself and "Spy Hunter" in general.
His next comments were understandably concerned as he blurted out "Hope that
camera's recording !!". Trust me, Mark, it was.
807K - enters 23rd land
828K - enters 23rd water - approx 1:25.10
Mark is playing very quietly now, past the excitement phase and concentrating
on his game play...knowing that every decision, and every second he lasts, means
a higher score. He cruises through the next sequence with moderate enemy opposition,
but comes thru unscathed.
Just 16 seconds into the 23rd water sequence, he is trapped by a very aggressive
sea vehicle that catches him with a missile...one of the banes of the previous
400K+ game that he submitted for verification several weeks ago.
Time of game is 1:25.26 and final score...832,620 points, a new world record !!
Mark takes the time for the game demo graphics to keep playing until the high
score screen is eventually reached. "Almost...there you have it...832,620 !!"
he proudly says. And fellow gamers, the best part here was seeing the legacy on
this machine....every single score below this one was 500K and up, each and every
one good enough for 2nd place before this breakaway attempt, the highest being a
587K he opted not to submit as he kept refining his game. He told me that he was
getting better, but I had no idea as to what extent, until now.
Mark continued to record as he pulled up the admin settings screen and showed
difficulty setting of three (3), which is TGTS for the title. the bonus vehicle
thresholds were also displayed here, but then again they come up in the demo
screen at some point.
Mark spent the last few minutes of the tape proudly showing me his private
collection of his favorite classic titles....some pinball ("No Fear, "Black
Knight 2000" and his holy grail, as he calls it, "Haunted House", an interesting
3-tiered game with eight flippers !! His arcade collection included "Spy Hunter"
(of course), "Street Fighter 2 CE", "Sega Outrun", "Dig Dug", a recent "Galaga/Ms
Pacman" anniversary combo machine (which he says has a hidden "Pacman" game inside),
and hidden in the garage is a rare title, "720 Degrees".
Hmmm...wonder if he knows the trick to cause a game crash by jumping your skater
off the playfield ? Saw that one at NYC's "Station Break" arcade many years back.
But I digress...
He finished the "tour" with his private game room area that was a work in progress...
lots of outlets just awaiting proper usage. Definitely something he can look forward
The video camera now indicated 6:45pm and the tour was over. Mark said "Goodnight !!"
and the taping ended there.
****************************
FINAL COMMENTARY
Congratulations to Mark Little on behalf of Walter Day, myself, and all of my
fellow Twin Galaxies staff members, for an incredible achievement on a prestigious
title like "Spy Hunter". When I think about it, the most popular "driving-based"
titles rarely last longer than 10-15 minutes, at most, and technically this is a
driving based title. Except for the modern title "Crazy Taxi", I cannot think of
any other title off the top of my head in which someone kept the game going for
so long, assuming the game allowed infinite play. I'm sure I might have forgotten
a title or two that allows for this, but regardless, this is an impressive
achievement indeed.
Well done !!
Robert
_________________
Robert T Mucked
Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee
Star Wars classic arcade marathon champion
rmruczek(at)doremus. (work E-MAIL)
******************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twin Galaxies in the News Link
8/18/2003 His passion? It's hunting down a record
Doylestown Intelligencer, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
His passion? It's hunting down a record
By JESSE ABRAMS-MORLEY, The Intelligencer
The new world champion doesn't live in a mansion.
He doesn't wear a championship belt.
And he's not likely to be spotted on a red carpet anytime soon.
Where Mark Little can be spotted - sometimes for several hours at a time - is
in his basement, playing arcade games that haven't been popular since the 1980s.
Now, Little has something to show for his hard work.
The 25-year-old electronics technician from New Britain this summer broke a
19-year-old world record for the highest documented score in the arcade game
"Spy Hunter."
After totaling more than 800,000 points while playing the car-chase game in late
June, Little sent a videotape of his performance to Twin Galaxies, the organization
responsible for maintaining high-score records for video games.
Twin Galaxies verified Little's score and will include him in its next book of
world records, due out later this year.
"It's kind of an exciting moment," Little says.
It was a moment a long time in the works.
Born and raised in Doylestown, Little says he started playing video games before
he entered kindergarten.
He liked Atari, the most popular game system at the time. But he always had more
appreciation for arcade games, which he played every chance he got.
"Every time we'd go to the store, I used to mooch quarters off my mom and grandma,"
Little says.
He played classic titles, such as "Donkey Kong," "Pacman," "Ms. Pacman" and
"Spy Hunter."
It wasn't the plot or graphics, but the opportunity to compete directly against
others that drew the youngster to the arcades.
"Basically it was a chance ... to get out and pit your skills against everybody
else in your local neighborhood and local arcade for the chance to get your name
on top of the scoreboard," he says. "It was kind of a high when you would see that
you knocked down everybody that was best in your neighborhood."
The arcade became the place to go for many children of the 1980s looking to make
a name for themselves and gain respect.
"The age of video-game arcades was a seriously big phenomenon," says Walter Day,
who edits Twin Galaxies' book of world records. "I'll bet a million people across
the world were vying for the world record in 'Spy Hunter' and other games."
Gamers formed their own subculture, trading secrets and codes that were helpful
in beating games.
Tricks and tips "would proliferate like osmosis," Day says.
Even with all the competition and cooperation, the world record in "Spy Hunter"
stalled at 794,495, a mark Brian McDowell, then of Harrell's, N.C., set in June 1984.
Day says he doesn't keep in contact with McDowell and doesn't know where the
former record holder lives. Most people gave up trying to beat his mark a long
time ago.
But not Little.
He bought the game about three and a half years ago and started playing it in
his basement. Around the beginning of April, he began a regimen of playing for
at least an hour and a half each night, hoping to earn second place on the all-time
high-score list.
"I would basically just lock myself away from everybody, really try to focus on
the game and really take a shot at it," Little says.
After about a month and a half, the longtime video-game player captured
second-place honors, but he decided to keep up his intensive playing.
And almost 19 years to the day after McDowell set his seemingly unbreakable
record, Little broke it.
The big game started with Little dodging enemies and scoring more points early
on than most "Spy Hunter" aficionados total in an entire game.
Little cruised until he lost his second-to-last car at the 758,000-point mark.
Less than 40,000 points shy of the world record, he drove onward, while
computer-animated helicopters and cars tried to derail his moment of glory.
"When you're that far ahead in the game, the game pretty much has no mercy on
you," Little says. "The original designers of this game never wanted somebody
to be able to play this game for over an hour and a half on one quarter."
But Little defied their wishes and dodged just enough enemies to score 832,620
points and set a world record.
"This is quite an accomplishment," says Robert Mucked, who verified Little's
score for Twin Galaxies. "He has mastered an extremely difficult game, and he
currently has no viable competition."
Except himself.
Little says he eventually wants to score more than 1 million points, though he
is going to take some time off from "Spy Hunter."
He will still be playing video games, however.
With 12 other titles in his basement, including pinball machines, Little has
more than enough games to keep himself occupied.
He started collecting games about seven years ago by purchasing a machine from
a bowling alley. After buying the games, he restores them to their original form,
sometimes spending as much as 100 hours in the rehabbing process.
Little says the time is well spent and believes video games can have a therapeutic
effect.
"It's a great way to just escape from the daily stress," he says.
Day agrees that the games have an upside, but he worries about their harmful
effects as well.
Too many children grow up playing too many hours of games with too much violence,
"It simply can't be good to be ingesting that many rays from a screen," Day says.
"I don't believe that a person should just be playing video games."
Little says he understands the games have to be viewed in the proper perspective.
But that won't stop him from playing.
"Where else for a quarter could you throw the winning touchdown in a football
game?" he says. "Or play basketball with some of the NBA stars? Or drive down
a road going 200 mph without having to worry about a ticket?
"As with anything else, you do realize that once your game's over, you go back
into reality. But it's nice to escape every once in a while."
Jesse Abrams-Morley can be contacted via e-mail at jmorley@phillyburbs.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
permafrostrick
Referee
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 3:05 am Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I remember the typical "loop" taking about 3 minutes....
18k sounds right after the timer expires as well. I remember driving like a
bat out of hell those first 90 seconds. he he
I also vaguely remember that after so many loops you do get thrown for a loop(hehe
) where there were odd/unexpected loops. Given I had only done that a couple games
and wasn't recording it I never got to objectively watch it to see those kinds
of details like #loops before you get the odd ones and how often they occurred etc.
oh man, he has a Haunted House pinball!!!!! I am envious. I loved that pinball
game...although it was rare to find one where all targets and flippers etc. were
all in working order.
...and he is near Philly?!? I just might have to pay him a visit....
Robert, all Galaga machines have a "hidden pacman" inside. You do a certain control
sequence(can't remember the sequence offhand..was something like up-down-up-down-right
-left-right-left player-1-player-2
etc. but I can't remember
it so I'm sure that example is not correct.) and it resets to pacman. Didn't you
know that? It's interesting to hear the 20th anniv galaga/mspac also still has it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
artz
Location: Spring, TX USA
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 6:01 am Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
permafrostrick wrote:
Robert, all Galaga machines have a "hidden pacman" inside. You do a certain
control sequence(can't remember the sequence offhand..was something like
up-down-up-down-
right-left-
right-left player-1-player-2
etc. but I can't remember
it so I'm sure that example is not correct.) and it resets to pacman. Didn't you
know that? It's interesting to hear the 20th anniv galaga/mspac also still has it.
Rick,
I was under the impression that only the 20th anniversary game has Pac-Man, not
the original classic from the early 80's. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JoeyL21988
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 8:15 am Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yea, I believe it is only the 20th Anniversary machines. The original Galaga
machines didn't allow movement for up and down. ^_^
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mandm785@juno.com
Location: Doylestown, PA
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 11:57 am Post subject:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert,
Thanks for the awesome write up on my game! You truly write an amazing report of
the game play you view! I guess my next goal, will be to break a million! I plan
on looking further into the "patterns" that exist for this game. The road is
predictable, but the enemies are not. (At least not for me) The 13th area is you
observed, is kind of bizarre, and I will see if I can find further insight or
information on it.
As far as Pac-Man in the 20th Anniversary, it's hidden at the game select screen.
UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT unlocks it. You hear hear a noise, and then
if you choose Ms. Pac Man, you'll be playing Pac-Man!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little
PS- Did you guys know they have Spy Hunter motion picture movie, in the works
as we speak?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
permafrostrick
Referee
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 12:19 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
oh well...I stand corrected. For some reason I thought I was told about that
years ago...before the 20th anniversary game was out...but perhaps it was only
a couple years ago right when it first came out.
You can also find the correct sequence by a simple Google search for galaga
easter egg.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bondo
Location: weare,nh
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 3:23 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NICE JOB MARK!!! Shawn and Jason cram congratulate you also, a very long played
game indeed. Hopefully we will be able to see you play at one of the tournaments
sometime. Are you going to CGE in august? Anyway GREAT JOB!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mandm785@juno.com
Location: Doylestown, PA
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 3:42 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for the compliments, but unfortunately, I cannot go to the CGE. I am going
to try to attend next years TG Funspot tournament next year. I have never been
to Funspot, and I really want to make a trip up there! My jaw nearly hit the
ground when I saw the list of games, they have posted on their website.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RMRUCZEK
TG Board of Directors
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 6:12 pm Post subject: Always 2004...or Later in '03
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark:
So you know, the annual event at Funspot will most likely be next May 2004.
However, at some point between Sep-Dec of this year, I will be at Funspot
along with Mark Longridge, so maybe we can see you then ? And there is a
stand-up "Spy Hunter" there as well !!
Robert
_________________
Robert T Mucked
Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee
Star Wars classic arcade marathon champion
rmruczek@doremus.com (work E-MAIL)
******************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mandm785@juno.com
Location: Doylestown, PA
Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2003 9:22 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A quick update on this thread-
Not to toot my own my horn, but---
I just received an email from George Gomez- the original designer of Spy Hunter!
He said that he just read the story of my Spy Hunter new world record, and
offered his congratulations. He simply stated it as "Awesome". I found it truly
an honor, to receive recognition, on a game, by the designer himself!! This was
the best recognition, I could ask for!! George has helped create many others
classics, such as Tron, and Satan's Hollow. He was also the man behind many
of Williams best pinball machines.
_________________
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little
Spy Hunter arcade world record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bondo
Location: weare,nh
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 3:31 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark, that's great!! maybe you can get him to sign something for you(or sign
your game?) and if he does attach it to your spy hunter game. There may be an
opportunity for you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RMRUCZEK
TG Board of Directors
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 6:51 pm Post subject: Contact
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Greg:
Mr. Gomez contacted me as well...asked for information as follows...
"As the designer of Spy hunter I read your article with great interest, but
something perplexes me...controls, they were the same, what do you mean different?"
I'll re-read my article later to figure out what he meant and then will reply
with the info.
Robert
_________________
Robert T Mucked
Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee
Star Wars classic arcade marathon champion
rmruczek@doremus.com (work E-MAIL)
******************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
arcadenut
TG Board of Directors
Location: Glendale, AZ
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 8:08 pm Post subject: Re: Contact
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RMRUCZEK wrote:
Hello Greg:
Mr. Gomez contacted me as well...asked for information as follows...
"As the designer of Spy hunter I read your article with great interest, but
something perplexes me...controls, they were the same, what do you mean different?"
I'll re-read my article later to figure out what he meant and then will reply
with the info.
Robert
Robert,
I believe that Mr. Gomez was commenting on your statement that the control layout
between the standup and the sit down version were different.
Looking at the manual (found at the bottom of this page):
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=S&game_id=9742
It appears that the controls ARE different, but in the same layout. What is odd,
is that the Sit-down only appears to have a single button on it. However, the
manual may be incorrect as I seem to recall that you needed two buttons, one
for firing and one for your special weapons.
I believe this is where the confusion comes in.
_________________
Brien King
spammehere@arcaderestoration.com
http://www.arcaderestoration.com
Home of Cart Commander, The Ultimate Cartridge Collecting Utility!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
permafrostrick
Referee
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 9:10 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bondo wrote:
Mark, that's great!! maybe you can get him to sign something for you(or sign your
game?) and if he does attach it to your spy hunter game. There may be an opportunity
for you.
I agree here. I'm sure he still has many flyers/posters for this game.
Perhaps he can send you an autographed copy saying congratulations on the record...
and have the score and date too.
That would be a cool thing to have and put in a nice frame and put on the wall in
your personal arcade.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MKM
TG Advisor
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 9:36 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I used to play this game all the time in a 7-11. Never got scores like that though.
Great score!
_________________
Please send me a Private Message to get my email for TG/game questions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spy Hunter - ANOTHER New World Record !! Link
Twin Galaxies Forums Forum Index -> Coin-Op Video Games
View previous topic :: View next topic
Author Message
Krayd
Location: Surrey, BC
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 9:53 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great work Mark! That is a difficult game. I've played the shockwave version.
My highest score was 20,005 points (which just beats the score of the default
#1 high score of 20,000). Is there a score you are working to get to? Like a
million points. Is there a score that you would retire from the game after
getting?
_________________
GTA: Vice City WR Completion Time - 3 hours 59 min 3 sec ( 03:59:03 ).
Fastest GTA III Completion Time - 1 hour 51 min 48 sec ( 01:51:48 ).
Currently working on: BOUNTIES!GTA III
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RMRUCZEK
TG Board of Directors
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2003 10:15 pm Post subject: Info from the Designer !!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello fellow gamers:
Enjoy...George Gomez sent me some cool info.
Robert
******************************
FIRST E-MAIL
The games may have been modified but my original design for both upright and
sit-down were identical. And they were produced that way if only because of
the economies of manufacturing. Which means: why make different parts, since
it will cost less to make more of one design.
Spy hunter 2 which I had nothing to do with was different.
On my game both left and right grips should each have a trigger and a thumb
button, in addition to the center button (call weapons van). The shifter was
a 2 position device, low and high. Of course there was the gas pedal and a
series of dashboard weapons lights for machine guns, missiles, oil slick and
smoke. After the first few thousand games the grips were retooled in plastic
and they went on to be used in hundreds of different games. They were licensed
to Happ controls in the late 80's and they have been on almost every manufacturer's
games at one point or another.
The original sand cast aluminum grips(painted black) were actually molded directly
from patterns that I carved and they had softer contours and were more comfortable
but they were also very expensive. So to cost reduce them the company took the
grips and retooled them to be injection molded plastic. However the patterns for
the plastic grips were made off the engineering drawings and the drawings of that
era were not as representative of the actual parts I carved, since they were made
after my patterns instead of before.
I have the original wood patterns along with some other stuff from development
of the game in a box somewhere. When I have time I'll dig it out and send you
photos. The guys working on the current game were asking for that stuff also.
GG
SECOND E-MAIL
Oh I see what you are referring to , I just looked at the manual schematics.
That drawing is incorrect. It is merely representative. Actually the control
grip assembly that is illustrated is from a game made prior to SH. The name
escapes memory but it was a black and white game that had a knock off of the
Death Star trench scene with Tie Fighters coming at you. It was designed by a
guy named Dave Needles and miraculously the company never got sued by Lucas.
The grips that are drawn were merely bicycle hand grips with a Radio Shack
thumb pushbutton switch.
No Spy hunters were ever produced with those grips.
_________________
Robert T Mucked
Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee
Star Wars classic arcade marathon champion
rmruczek@doremus.com (work E-MAIL)
******************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MRX
Location: Ny Tx CA
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2003 2:43 am Post subject: yes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I know
_________________
It was a joy to play
In the 10 year span
From 75 to 84
When I was still a young man
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
squarefishx2
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 9:01 pm Post subject: Re: Spy Hunter - ANOTHER New
World Record !!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RMRUCZEK wrote:
Hello fellow gamers:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A very determined Mark Little, who hails from Pennsylvania in the USA, has finally
taken down a VERY tough score to beat...the 794,495 on "Spy Hunter" by Brian McDowell
this past June 20th.
Playing at home in his private arcade, an eclectic collection of his personal
favorite pinball and arcade titles, Mark captured an incredible performance
on video camera of 832,620 points, lasting almost 90 minutes and beating his
previous verified personal best by almost 400K.
Robert
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little's Second Place World Record Results by Robert Mucked: Link
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spy Hunter - 2nd Highest Score Verified !!
Twin Galaxies Forums Forum Index -> Coin-Op Video Games
View previous topic :: View next topic
Author Message
RMRUCZEK
TG Board of Directors
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 11:02 pm Post subject: Spy Hunter -
2nd Highest Score Verified !!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello fellow gamers:
I just finished verifying the 2nd highest score in the world on arcade
"Spy Hunter" achieved April 20th, 2003 by Mark Little of Pennsylvania in the USA.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark reached a score of 435,465 points playing at TG settings in this most
exciting classic arcade title. Game fans well appreciate the "Peter Gunn music
chosen for the game and it often makes the list of gamers' top ten favorite
titles of all time to play.
The score took roughly 44 minutes to accomplish as Mark averaged 100K per
10-10.50 minutes of game play, and we believe that this is the first arcade
submission captured on videotape for this title.
Mark started off with a bang...he didn't even die until 109,500 or so, and
that was on an icy road, one of the tougher aspects of the game to negotiate.
He mentally regrouped and hung onto the second life until 237,095 points when
a sudden appearance of a helicopter's bomb on the main road caught him off guard.
He kept going again until he reached a little over 311K and encountered a
devastating combination of a helicopter on an icy road with "Enforcer" cars
right by the weapons van during a turn...the copter bomb got him again.
Mark sounded surprised when he died not more than a few seconds later at 311,805
points...while trying to start his next vehicle he ran right into an "Enforcer"
car's wheels and skidded right off the road into a crash.
At the 329,850 mark he encountered a very unexpected missile attack that was
launched from behind. Being that this was the first time I witnessed a score
so high, I was surprised myself !! This happened of course in the water.
He continued up to 380,100 or in a most non-non, non-non heinous way (guess
who saw "Bill and Ted" like 75+ times ?)...he was this close to the weapons
van when an "Enforcer" vehicle parked on the side of the road shot him, just
like that, perhaps a half inch from entering the van. That was SO bogus !!
The final death occurred once again in the water, actually the 12th time he
entered the water. He was a few seconds from reaching the end of that sequence
when yet another missile snuck up from behind, as equally unexpected as the
first occurrence.
So there you have it...and Mark is now trying to score even higher before the
2nd Book is released. According to Mark, he has already reached a slightly
higher score, just 7K more, but is trying for even higher before sending me
another official submission.
Congratulations, Mark, for a most excellent performance on one of the best
games ever made in the 1980's !! (Well, in my opinion, at least)
Robert
_________________
Robert T Mucked
Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee
Star Wars classic arcade marathon champion
rmruczek@doremus.com (work E-MAIL)
******************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bondo
Location: weare,nh
Posted: Tue May 06, 2003 5:09 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark, are you planning on attending the funspot classic at the end of may
(may 29-june 1) I'm sure many people would enjoy watching a game of that kind
of score. That's an AWESOME GAME, fun to watch NICE JOB KEEP PRACTICING.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RMRUCZEK
TG Board of Directors
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posted: Tue May 06, 2003 6:39 pm Post subject: Let's See
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Greg:
I'll ask Mark if he can attend...I believe he is an east-coast player...oh
yeah, dummy, I mentioned Pennsylvania in my article !!
Anyway, I'll ask him.
Robert
_________________
Robert T Mucked
Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee
Star Wars classic arcade marathon champion
rmruczek@doremus.com (work E-MAIL)
******************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
permafrostrick
Referee
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posted: Tue May 06, 2003 10:43 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
not sure how factory settings compare to TG settings, but I had turned over Spy
Hunter back in the 80s. It was so easy to do I never bothered to even submit it
thinking odds were many had accomplished it.
Unfortunately in mame the game doesn't play all that well....but I do need to
play with the analog controls more...but still doesn't have anywhere near the
control the arcade game has.
I haven't seen one of the arcade ones since the 80s.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RMRUCZEK
TG Board of Directors
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posted: Tue May 06, 2003 11:10 pm Post subject: Factory
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Rick:
Not exactly sure what "factory" settings are...does MacMAME allow you to
reset to defaults ?
Worse comes to worse, ask an owner on the www.vaps.org site what the defaults are.
Robert
_________________
Robert T Mucked
Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee
Star Wars classic arcade marathon champion
rmruczek@doremus.com (work E-MAIL)
******************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mandm785
Guest: Mark Little
Posted: Wed May 07, 2003 7:42 am Post subject: Spy Hunter Scores
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the Funspot tournament this year.
I REALLY hope to make it up there, as I have never been there. I've heard and
read so much about the place, it's got to be worth the trip!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RMRUCZEK
TG Board of Directors
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posted: Wed May 07, 2003 2:05 pm Post subject: One More Possibility
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Mandm785 Mark Little:
There are two (2) more possibilities to play at a live TG event. The first is
the upcoming "Mall of America" festival in Minnesota, but you need to check with
Walter Day first to ensure that the title is available.
A second event is in the works down the road. No specifics yet, but when we know
all the facts, we'll post the details here. This one's awhile off so for now this
is a heads-up well in advance.
Robert
_________________
Robert T Mucked
Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee
Star Wars classic arcade marathon champion
rmruczek@doremus.com (work E-MAIL)
******************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.cubeman.org/dru/?q=node/view/3
Paul Dean's Spy Hunter Record: Link
Submitted by cubex on Thu, 05/20/2004 - 01:14.
In Classic Arcade news Paul Dean's 1985 World Record on the game Spy Hunter
has once again become a hot topic for discussion. Paul reports that the game
took 11.5 hours. Check out all the details at Paul's Web Site
http://www.spyhunter007.com/
I just read here about Paul Dean's Spy Hunter Record set in 1986 of 9,512,590
-- And checked the Twin Galaxy scoreboard which confirms the high score. So which
is correct? (and I would love to see Mark play Spy Hunter at some point.)
_________________
"Photography with a Vision"
www.cooganphoto.com
www.cooganphoto.com/gravitar
- dedicated to the 1982 Atari classic video arcade game Gravitar.
Hints and playing tips with screen captures, etc. included...
Gravitar 3,652,700
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 9, 2004
BELOW ARTICLE FROM: PINBALL NEWS Link
www.pinballnews.com
Reports and comments from the U.K.
PINBALL EXPO 2004
We've reached the third part of our Pinball Expo - the fireside chats and the
final seminar.
The name of the fireside chat reveals its origin - a cozy, intimate discussion
between the guest and the audience held in Expo organizer Rob Berk's hotel suite.
Over the years these chats have become increasingly popular, which resulted in a
crowded hotel room with some people unable to see or hear the guest, like in this
chat with Larry DeMar last year. Below are the results of the George Gomez Chat.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GEORGE GOMEZ BIOGRAPHY BELOW: Link
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Gomez
George has a special place in the heart of Pinball Expo attendees. It was he who
spoke at a seminar in 1999 about Pinball 2000 and told the audience how he feared the
platform would never get the chance it deserved to fully develop. He was very downbeat
about Williams pinball division's future - a sentiment borne out a few days later when
its closure was announced.
So, we can trust George to tell it like it is.
George Gomez - Pinball Expo 2004
i.e. Fireside Chat
The audience had been primed by Steve Ritchie and Ray Tanzer to fire rubber bands at
George as he began to speak. In retaliation, George showed this cartoon by Pat McMahon
of Steve as a slot machine designer.
When he left college George got a job working for Midway, originally in the mechanical
engineering department making control interfaces and cabinets and later working on
video game design. He worked on the Spy Hunter video game developing software and
designing controls. At night, he used to head over to the pinball division and play
their Firepower 2.
He spent seven years in the video game department but wanted to make something more
tangible and real, so he left to become a toy designer.
George played a slideshow of some of the toys he designed including Crash & Bash
(trucks that would crash into each other with various parts flying off) and Wearable
Warriors (a range of hi-tech watches and other jewelry with built-in gimmicks and
characters).
He said this work was fun and paved the way for this later work designing pinball
as he could understand how mechanisms worked and put things together.
How George's toy design skills complemented his pinball design
329KB MP3 Link
Later, Incredible Technologies hired George as an independent contractor to design
Battle Tech centers - arcades where you could play games against fellow players -
for a client of theirs.
George Gomez Developed Battle Tech Player Pods
He came up with this concept for the player pod which was installed in their locations
for six months until the client company's constant late or non-payments caused George
to leave.
He then designed a number of novelty games for Bromley, one of which was noticed by Pat
Lawlor and Larry DeMar at an AMOA trade show. That recognition was to prove valuable a
couple of years later when a position opened up at Williams for a novelty game designer.
Also while making novelty games for Bromley, George was at an arcade when they brought
in a Terminator 2 pinball on test. He was getting frustrated with the restricted number
of features he could put in his games so when this new pinball showed up he tried it and
realized he could design these games too.
How George started making pinball games
447KB MP3 Link
One of George's early design ideas was a 3D version of Steve Ritchie's Hyperball game,
where small plastic balls could be shot through the air at a series of targets, either
as a single player or head-to-head game.
When designing, whether it is a single part or an entire game, George likes to sketch
his plans as a way of trying out concepts. He said he doesn't always know where he's
going with an idea but sketching it usually helps clarify matters.
As an example, he showed this preliminary sketch of Lord Of The Rings.
There are some obvious differences to the final game with the ring in the centre of the
playfield and no Paths Of The Dead upper level but the sword lock and falling tower
were included.
There was also no Balrog guarding the centre ramp. His part is taken by a cave troll
hiding behind some rocks.
George talks about his early Lord Of The Rings design
409KB MP3 Link
Before he started designing Lord Of The Rings, George wasn't a fan of the books but
was working with several people who were exceptionally familiar with the theme. George
read the books and watched the movies to familiarize himself with the subject of his game.
The trouble working with Lord Of The Rings fanatics
409KB MP3 Link
Turning to internet reviews of his games, George said that despite not wanting to be
influenced by the online comments, he usually found it impossible not to read what people
are saying about his games when they go out on test. Sometimes, he said, those comments
are right on the money but other times he has to just roll his eyes.
One comment that particularly infuriated him was a suggestion that Monster Bash - his
personal favorite - was a rip-off of Attack From Mars. Saying that he had been waiting
since 1999 to do this, he showed the AutoCAD drawings of the two games side by side to
illustrate the lack of similarity.
Monster Bash vs. Attack From Mars
Looking at the Pinball 2000 platform, George said he didn't know how it could have
developed because there were many ways for it to move forward. As one of the originators
of Pinball 2000, he said they completely redesigned everything in a pinball game except
the flippers in just nine months and he thought it could have gone way beyond what the
first two games did.
Interestingly, he said that he didn't intend Pinball 2000 to replace the traditional
style of pinball but to run alongside it, giving Williams two product lines.
Describing the product launch at ATEI in London in 1999, George admitted that the team
wasn't ready and there were still a large number of bugs in the game which caused it to
crash on the show floor despite spending days and nights working on the system in the
days running up to the show. He said the operating system was completely new and many
of the programmers were not used to thinking in the certain way the system demanded.
The company sold a large number of Revenge From Mars games and George mused if they had
sold more Star Wars Episode One games the company may have taken a different view and
not shut down the division.
Turning to Monster Bash, George said it was one of those situations - and you can't
plan it - where you have the right team, the right energy and everything just comes
together. The team decided early on not to try to make the monsters scary because
they just weren't anymore, so they would make them funny instead and put them in a
situation to tie in with the music in the game. Hence, they put them in a rock band
and sent them on tour.
George loved the way he could play with the characters, despite them already being
established, and give them personality traits to fit in with the game.
George talks about the Monster Bash design process
369KB MP3 Link
Playing with the characters in this way required a cooperative licensor, and George
described Universal Studios as very forgiving. Roger Sharpe (in charge of licensing
at Williams) spoke from the audience and explained how Universal were in the process
of re-launching the monsters and wanted to keep them pure to the original concepts when
along came Williams wanting to put them in a rock band. There was a division of opinion
at Universal, some wanting to stay true to their origins while others wanted to go with
the rock band idea as a way to re-energize the brand. After seeing the games and getting
approval from other licensees, they gave their permission.
George described the amount of engineering time spent trying to get the best from the
phantom flip feature. This was one of Lyman Sheat's pet projects and he had George try
numerous different inlane switch combinations to get the most reliable results. He
estimated a third of the engineering time was spent on this one feature.
Moving to more recent events, George said he was approached by Stern and asked if he
would do a game for them. He agreed if it was on his terms, meaning he couldn't work
at Stern full time because he already has a full-time job leading a video game design
team for Midway, so would have less involvement in the overall project. They agreed
and Playboy was the result, followed by Lord Of The Rings.
It means that George delivers the playfield sketch and other information about the
layout and three weeks later Stern guys call him and invite him back to look at the
result. He says he misses the team spirit, the hanging out and the practical jokes
because he's not there very often. It's almost like a hobby for him now although it
remains fun.
Finally, there was a gathering of all the people in the audience who had worked with
George at Midway, Williams or Stern.
George Gomez, in Middle with Midway, Williams and Stern Employees
So that concludes our report from the two fireside chats. It's clear that they have
outgrown the confines of Rob's hotel room but in moving to the Grand Ballroom they have
also lost much of the intimacy and become more like seminars which is a shame because
part of the attraction of the format was the informality, most of which has been lost.
But that said, this year's guests provided some excellent entertainment and some
interesting insights into the design processes and methodology from some of pinball's
greatest designers of recent years. But that wasn't the end of the talks because squeezed
into the schedule on Saturday afternoon was a late seminar by another great pinball
artist.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
lead designer George Gomez talk about their iced out one-on-one basketball game.
NBA Ballers: George Gomez Interview Link
March 10th, 2004
George Gomez, Lead Designer, of Midway spoke to us about NBA Ballers and
gave us an inside look at the game so we could bring those details directly
to you. "The thing I am most proud of is that it this game is not like any
of the other basketball games," said Gomez. "This is the most developed
version of an NBA athlete in a virtual format on the shelf today. I want
you to pick this game up...It's way more than attributes that's determining
whether Shaquille takes a three or not." Link
Although a lot of people are trying to relax and catch their breath,
there is clearly a lot of tension in and around Midway's Chicago office.
Lead designer George Gomez just got back from a week of skiing in Aspen
and wasn't in the office for five minutes before phone calls began pouring
in from the NBA, asking us to change or fix issues that they had with the
strategy guide we've been editing for our buddies over at Brady Games. Link
The NBA Fastbreak design team
Mechanical Designer Tom Kopera, Software Engineer
Tom Uban, and Game Designer George Gomez
tip off at the ASI '97 show in Las Vegas. Link
George Gomez, Lead Designer, of Midway spoke to us about NBA Ballers and gave us
an inside look at the game so we could bring those details directly to you.
Postal Mail:
WMS Industries: Link
3401 N California Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
WMS via telephone at 773-961-1000.
Links to other Manufacturers: Link
For the readers who are unaware of your many contributions to the video game
industry, please provide a little background information on some of your more
notable work before NBA Ballers.
tron
George Gomez: I worked on TRON and the original Spy hunter back in the '80s. I
designed toys for 5 years and I designed Pinball machines for 6 years.
NBA Ballers plays like much more than a one-on-one basketball game. Describe
the elements which make Ballers as much about the lifestyle as it is about the
on-court action.
George Gomez: Well what we wanted to do was to create a level of character
distinction similar to a fighting game. Where there was much more than just
attributes to differentiate players. We did this with the Specials and the
move sets. The lifestyle elements were a natural component. The lifestyle
elements made it easy for us to distinguish our game from all of the other
basketball games out there. We have the rides, the cribs, the crews, the ice,
tats, kicks, and fashion to really set your ballers apart from all the rest.
Link
George Gomez who spoke about the T.V. Tournament and Rags 2 Riches game modes.
Once George finished, he handed it off to Mark Turmell whom addressed the press
and said (in a nutshell) "You were all so skeptical that we couldn't pull it off.
I'm here to tell you that we did and this game kicks ass." He is right. Link
Slam 'N' Jam and Dunk That Punk - NBA Ballers is Blasting Onto the Court
by Louis Bedigian
"From the outset we wanted to make sure that the single player experience in NBA
Ballers supplied at least 30 hours worth of valuable game play for the average
player."
NBA Jam is out. Not out of style, but out of the race for the best basketball
game. Where has the series gone? To gaming Heaven, we hope not. Surely it has
to be revisited someday.
But until that day comes, Midway has a new b-ball game that's set to shake things
up: NBA Ballers. It's not an NBA Jam clone, nor is it an NBA Street-wannabe.
NBA Ballers is a unique, one-on-one basketball game that hopes to take stylish
game play to a whole new level.
"From the outset we wanted to make sure that the single player experience in NBA
Ballers supplied at least 30 hours worth of valuable game play for the average
player," said John Vignocchi, game designer for NBA Ballers. "With that said
there are well over 300 different matches in NBA Ballers, all with varying rules
and objectives. In one match you might find yourself playing against TWO opponents,
while in another only 3-pointers count towards a score. Mixing up the game play like
this provides lots of fun and challenge and keeps things fresh as you go along.
Not only do we constantly change up the rules in between matches but we also "theme"
the various challenge ladders. Certain ladders are comprised of only centers, while
others feature speedy guards. These various challenge ladder themes mixed with the
rules and objective matches make character selection key and bring a lot of depth
to the overall game."
Anxious to jam, we sat down with John Vignocchi and lead designer George Gomez
to get the full story on Midway's latest evolution in sports gaming.
Nearly every basketball game on the market is a sequel. They all have some
groundwork to base their game on, but you guys don't have that luxury. How
do you start a game of this stature from scratch? Where do you begin?
George Gomez, Lead Designer: Well that's one of the reasons that it has taken
so long to do this game. You start by trying to come up with an idea with substantial
points of difference from what everyone else is doing. Then you need a game engine
to allow you to build your game on, and then you can begin to develop and implement.
It's not easy because the engine is being developed concurrently with the game. And
the longer you work on the game the more ideas you get and the more the concept
evolves and this requires more and more assets, etc.
NBA Ballers: George Gomez Interview Link
By: Dale Nardozzi - "Legba"
March 10th, 2004
NBA Ballers
You have been involved in the video game industry long enough to see many
advancements in both development software and console hardware. How do these
advancements make your job easier? In what ways do they make your job more difficult?
George Gomez: Well the magic of things like database driven components allows
the designers more control than ever. Things that used to take a long time to
implement are now very easy to do. In addition this allows us to experiment and
tweak things which in the old days were strictly the province of the programmer.
Our job is tougher because of the sheer amount of content that is required to
compete in today's market. NBA Ballers has 3 single player game modes, 2 head to
head modes, a practice mode, 2 complete create a baller modes, 50 live action movies,
a currency system, the first story mode in a video sports game, a mini game, codes,
un-lockables, music, and the list goes on. In the old days just one game mode was
all you needed.
------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
05-29-2004 Update on the Twin Galaxies Spy Hunter score 'reinstatement'
Link
It seems that this situation has become a saga, of sorts. Apparently, Rob
Mucked jumped the gun, and announced to Paul Dean (and, myself, in an e-mail
carbon-copy) that his score was reinstated, before actually getting a final
'thumbs-up' from Walter Day. Because of that, my news story of the 18th (and
a Funspot post the next day) was apparently a surprise to the listed record
holder for the game
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little, who made 832,620 points in June of 2003),
who not so happily announced the news himself on the TG forums, here.
As you can see from the various replies, this is an interesting story, and
one that may serve to help everyone decide on a fair way of dealing with
questioned scores from the 'Golden Era'. A number of great ideas have been
thrown out (including some thought-provoking ones from Darren Harris), but
one thing that someone pointed out to me makes for a curious situation -
according to TG's own challenge rules (see section 8.6, 4), a player whose
score is being questioned must (of course) be located for the challenge to
be issued. One must presume that if the player isn't located (as in most all
of the cases of the infamous 'pulled' scores), then the challenge, and the
possible take-down of the score, cannot proceed. Yet, it did.
Now, with the background in place, I'll move on to the reason for my news
item today. On his web site, Paul posted an important development that
detailed a conference call between him, Mark Little, and Walter Day. The
gist of it is that Paul will have time to recover from a back injury that
he is currently suffering, and then he will have to beat Mark's score in
order to 'prove' his abilities. If he does not, then his score will be
moved to a newly developed high score list that will serve to separate
modern scores (with their more stringent proof), and classic era scores,
where the proof was lesser. Only time will tell the result of this situation,
but, you can be sure that it will be reported right here, as soon as things
are resolved. Good luck to Paul, and, I hope that everyone is ultimately
satisfied with the outcome of this important scoring issue.
05-18-2004 Twin Galaxies reinstates 'pulled' Spy Hunter score
I think this is a first - today, after a long-term effort by Paul Dean,
Twin Galaxies has reinstated his 1985 Spy Hunter score of 9,512,590,
which was accomplished on 06-28-1985 at the Upland Family Fun Center in
Upland, California, during the 1985 Video Game Masters Tournament. The
score was originally 'pulled' (even after appearing in print in Walter
Day's 1998 record book) a few years back, along with a number of others
from the VGMT contests of the mid-80's (namely: Star Wars, Joust, and
Robotron). I'll have more on the removal of all these scores, in a future
article.
Well, due to the effort on Paul's part, and thanks also to time spent by
Rob Mucked, and apparently Walter Day himself, the Spy Hunter score is
back where it belongs - as a recognized true world record. An even bigger
thanks goes out to none other than a very famous CAG HoF'er, Phil Britt,
for his verbal confirmation of the veracity of Paul's score, and his play,
on that day in 1985. The full story on this accomplishment (both the original
game, and the efforts to gain reinstatement) will be appearing on CAG very
soon, so be sure to check back to get fully informed on Paul's once-in-a-lifetime
game ! In the meantime, you can check out a lot of gaming information on
Paul's web site, at www.spyhunter007.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted on Mon, Mar. 22, 2004 Link
Females take controls, too, at video-game expo
By Natalie Pompilio
Inquirer Staff Writer
And couples who play together stay together.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little, 26, and Miriam Mellor, 24,
of Doylestown, took on a two-player version of Marble Madness yesterday. He holds the
world's highest score in the arcade game Spy Hunter: "832,000 and change, and I'm going
for a million." She's his long-suffering girlfriend who likes puzzle games, who gamely
attends expos like yesterdays, and who'll play a game or two in the spirit of
togetherness.
"Sometimes, he begs me, 'Come downstairs and play,' " Mellor said.
"She's getting better," Little said.
Little said that most of the world-record holders are men, but that he'd like to see
more women step up.
That might happen if the next generation has its way. Glued to a game of Donkey Kong
Country were 14-year-olds Jessica "Kari" Johnson of Hamilton, N.J., and Bianca Rodriguez
of Blue Bell, Montgomery County.
"A-cha!" Johnson said as her gorilla hopped from tire to platform, grabbing bananas
from the air.
The girls, friends since kindergarten, said they were visiting the show while their
parents looked at computers next door. They love video games and play almost every day,
as do the other girls they know.
"I have no life," Rodriguez said.
"Me neither, but who cares?" Johnson said.
Asked whether they had noticed they were greatly outnumbered as females in attendance
yesterday, they looked around, surprised.
"I was oblivious," Rodriguez said. "All I saw were the games."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 Link
Click here to visit the Philly Classic 5 site
Media coverage & pictures from past Philly Classic events
More Legends
I got some interesting news from Tom about the Philly Classic "Meet the
Legends" reunion. It seems that there are going to be some world record
holders present, too:
Bryan Wagner - Burger Time champion Greg Bond - Mappy champion Shawn Cram -
Donkey Kong 3 AND Zookeeper champion Jason Cram - Congo Bongo champion Mark
Little - Spy Hunter champion
Very impressive! Thanks a lot Tom :) -KC-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spy Hunter Link
Variation: default settings
Platform: Arcade
Rules: Difficulty = 3, First extra base awarded at 30K, Extra base every 30K
(maximum 3), Starting timer - 1.5 minutes of play (90 seconds). Technically,
based on speed of completing the initial time allotment, it is possible to get
an extra car at 14K and another at 18K if you reach these thresholds before
the starting timer expires.
Date Final
Rank Score Name Verification
1 100.00 % 9,512,590 Paul Dean 05/27/2004
2 8.75 % 832,620 Mark E Little 05/05/2003
3 8.35 % 794,495 Brent McDowell 06/30/1984
3 8.35 % 794,495 Brian McDowell 06/11/2004
4 4.35 % 413,510 Sal Luiso 06/11/2004
5 3.98 % 378,335 Ryan Coulter 06/05/2004
6 3.65 % 346,980 Phil Britt 06/11/2004
7 3.03 % 288,535 Pat Laffaye 05/09/2001
8 2.37 % 224,980 David Nelson 06/27/2002
9 1.65 % 156,770 Jason Wilson 05/09/2001
Mark E Little
New Britain, PA
United States
Choose a platform
(all) Arcade
Arcade Spy Hunter default settings 832,620 Place: 2nd
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Dean's Spy Hunter score has been re-accepted!? Link
Twin Galaxies Forums Forum Index -> Coin-Op Video Games
View previous topic :: View next topic
Author Message
mandm785@juno.com
Joined: 06 May 2003
Posts: 37
Location: Doylestown, PA
Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 5:27 pm
Post subject: Paul Dean's Spy Hunter score has been re-accepted!?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello all,
I can't believe I'm the one who is announcing this... Paul Dean's score for Spy
Hunter has been re-accepted by Twin Galaxies. I love how this one was swept
under the carpet last week, with no-one saying boo about this. I personally
believe this is Bull****. How can you re-instate a score that was removed? I
PERSONALLY want to see PROOF, that this score was sustained, legally. I can
believe someone could beat my score, but by 10 times? I want to challenge this
score, and hope Paul is ready to defend it. If he does not, his score should
not be valid. I know there is a 100% policy, but heck I'd settle for 75%. I
think I have some pretty good ideas about how this score came to be, and I
will be doing some research on my end. I have gone through all the verification
processes, and have my own video of it, I even showed up at Philly classic.
I can back my score up, can Paul?
_________________
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little
Spy Hunter arcade world record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defenderman
Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 183
Location: Grand Junction, CO, USA
Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 6:44 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is usually many reasons for a removed score to be re-accepted.
One of reasons for Paul's Spy Hunter case is because of the Arcade Referee
making a verification error which at first appears the video tape had a banned
glitch performed, when in fact the player was very close to accidentally performing
that glitch.
Another reason is because Paul actually performed his high score again, only this
time, he did it without using any of the cheat codes or glitches that plagued
his initial run.
Those are some of the reasons for a removed score to be re-accepted.
However, I wish that Twin Galaxies would let it's users view the tape to prove
that he didn't use any cheat and/or glitches.
_________________
You Spoony Bard!
Tellah, Final Fantasy II/IV Jpn
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mandm785@juno.com
Location: Doylestown, PA
Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 6:05 am Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello All,
Last night I performed a little known trick on my Spy Hunter, and my machine is
well over 5 million points and counting as I write this. I have this on tape,
and would like everybody to know that there are other ways to get huge scores
on Spy Hunter, and they should be banned. I never seen or heard this trick
talked about, so referees need to know and consider this. Again I have this
on video as PROOF.
_________________
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little
Spy Hunter arcade world record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
artz
Location: Spring, TX USA
Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 9:15 am Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's currently a 16 message thread over at www.funspotnh.com on the
re-instatement of the record.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WalterDay
Founder
Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 1:27 pm
Post subject: Decision is Made By only me and There IS More research to Do
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SpyHunter?? Still more phone calls required -- and one more interesting conference
call placed before this is decided either way. This was announced by Mark Alpiger
not Twin Galaxies. I didn't tell Robert Mucked I was unfinished with my research
and my decision and he mentioned it to Mark Alpiger - who wanted a newshook in
order to increase web traffic at his site.
So, we will see what these remaining phone calls bring to the surface.
Walter Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weehawk
Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 3:34 pm Post subject:
Re: Decision is Made By only me and There IS More research to Do
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WalterDay wrote:
This was announced by Mark Alpiger not Twin Galaxies.
Uh...it was also announced on the page of a Twin Galaxies referee.
And put back on the Twin Galaxies scoreboard on this site for the world to
see if they bothered to look.
Last edited by Weehawk on Wed May 26, 2004 1:09 am; edited 1 time in total
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
squarefishx2
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 4:37 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.funspotnh.com/discus/messages/10/636.html?1085411949
Here is the direct link to the thread on Funspot
_________________
"Photography with a Vision"
www.cooganphoto.com
www.cooganphoto.com/gravitar
- dedicated to the 1982 Atari classic video arcade game Gravitar.
Hints and playing tips with screen captures, etc. included...
Gravitar 3,652,700
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cubeman
MAME Editor
Location: Oshawa Ontario Canada
Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 5:28 pm Post subject: Spy Hunter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let me just make a comment of remarks.
I posted news about Paul Dean's score prematurely because I went with my gut
instincts on it. When I looked at Paul Dean's web site it appeared to me that
he supplied sufficient details to convince me that the score was genuine, however
I was not present when Paul Dean got his record. My confidence was based on the
email messages I received from Jeff Peters who _has_ seen Paul Dean play.
Let me also say that it will ultimately be up to Walter to come to a decision
on the matter. After all, Twin Galaxies is his creation and it's his name on
the front of the book. I'll abide by Walter's decision.
Really _I_ can't be 100% positive unless I'm right there watching the player,
but like many players I like to express my 2 cents.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Longridge
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weehawk
Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 5:49 pm Post subject: Re: Spy Hunter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cubeman wrote:
Let me just make a comment of remarks.
I posted news about Paul Dean's score prematurely because I went with my
gut instincts on it. When I looked at Paul Dean's web site it appeared to
me that he supplied sufficient details to convince me that the score was
genuine, however I was not present when Paul Dean got his record. My confidence
was based on the email messages I received from Jeff Peters who _has_ seen
Paul Dean play.
Let me also say that it will ultimately be up to Walter to come to a decision
on the matter. After all, Twin Galaxies is his creation and it's his name on
the front of the book. I'll abide by Walter's decision.
Really _I_ can't be 100% positive unless I'm right there watching the player,
but like many players I like to express my 2 cents.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Longridge
Your reputation for promoting score verification is well documented.
And I apologize for throwing you into this (though I didn't mention you by
name), but it seemed really unfair that Mr. Day was laying it all on Mark
Alpiger when a TG ref had announced it as well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WalterDay
Founder
Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 11:17 am Post subject: Spy Hunter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I didnt know Mark had posted this information. However, Mark Alpiger learned
of this process directly from Robert Mucked, not from Longridge.
walter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RMRUCZEK
TG Board of Directors
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 9:06 pm Post subject: Agreed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello fellow gamers:
The problem here is that a TG referee (myself) jumped the gun on revealing
a score reinstatement. Fact remains, we so rarely since I've been on board had
any that I did not wait for a final thumbs up from Mr. Walter Day before sharing
news of the change in status. Had I done so, the score would not have been on
the TG database (again) and no problems would exist.
I will not shirk from my responsibility here. The damage was done, and I am
fully to blame. My apologies to all, especially Mark Little and also Paul
Dean for having them come into the limelight in this fashion.
Robert
_________________
Robert T Mucked
Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee
Star Wars classic arcade marathon champion
rmruczek@doremus.com (work E-MAIL)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great time at Phillyclassic Link
Twin Galaxies Forums Forum Index -> Coin-Op Video Games
View previous topic :: View next topic
Author Message
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little:
mandm785@juno.com
Location: Doylestown, PA
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 11:14 pm Post subject: Great time at Phillyclassic
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello All,
Hope everyone who attended this last weekend had a great time- I know I sure
did! I really enjoyed meeting the many "legends" of the arcade. It was great
to finally be able to meet and chat with the people who own the records on these
classics, and watch them in action. Everyone in the Twin Galaxies "group" was
very friendly and cordial. Hope everyone had a safe trip back home! I now have
quite a bit of work ahead of me, as Bryan Wagner destroyed some of my high scores
in my gameroom during his visit!!
_________________
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Little
Spy Hunter arcade world record
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RMRUCZEK
TG Board of Directors
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:24 pm Post subject: Great to Meet You !!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Mark:
It as thrilling to meet the world champion at "Spy Hunter" for the first time in
person !! Often I never meet the record holders face to face except in rare
occassions, so this was special.
Hoping that we will see you at Funspot this year where "Spy Hunter" awaits, and
maybe a new world record !!
Robert
_________________
Robert T Mucked
Twin Galaxies - Editor and Chief referee
Star Wars classic arcade marathon champion
rmruczek@doremus.com (work E-MAIL)
******************************
Spy Hunter Marquee
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bondo
Location: weare,nh
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 5:55 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OH MAN!!!! does he crank on that game. Very nice meeting you mark, hopefully
we'll see you in june at funspot, keep up the good work.
GREG
mappy champ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bryguy
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 12:12 pm Post subject: Marks place
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark,
Your a great guy. Very hospitable. I really enjoyed your arcade. I love the
Burgertime cocktail! The hi on his Spy Hunter was 832,000!!!
Amazing. Thanks for helping me up my hi on the game. And playing the immaculate
Haunted House pinball you have was great!
Hope tp make another trip to your place!
As for my scores, - it gives you something to shoot for.
Take care,
Bryan Wagner
_________________
Arcade Burgertime WR 8,417,500
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Gomez was the lead programmer for spy hunter: Link
Klov
Link
George Gomez (creator of Spy Hunter, Tron, more classic pinball than you
can shake a stick at):
While we are on the subject of George Gomez. . .
Question: You mention that George Gomez was a designer on the original
arcade Spy Hunter. Do you know who else worked on it? I have
always loved that game.
Answer: Uncle Willy often hums the Peter Gunn tune to himself, while
searching for the oil-drum button on his steering wheel. If only
commuting were like Spy Hunter, it might be more bearable.
(DISCLAIMER: any implied endorsement of "road rage" driving
techniques is not intended!)
Uncle Willy managed to find a few names of the original design
team: Tom Leon was the programmer and co-designer with George
Gomez. Bob Libby created the algorithmic jazz riffs that segue
between the Peter Gunn excerpts. Lots of folks contributed that
great video art, including Steve Ulstad, Sharon Barr, Brian
Colin, and Kevin O'Conner. Doug Watson and Tony Ramunni did the
art for the cabinet. Uncle Willy does not own a Playstation, but
he hears that there is a "Midway Arcade Classics" game available
for that platform which includes the definitive listing of
credits, and interviews with some of the designers.
More on George Gomez and Pinball:
Message 7 in thread
From: Steve Lane (smlane@unity.ncsu.edu)
Subject: Re: So who designed J. Mnemonic?
View this article only
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Date: 1995/08/28
Kingndi (kingndi@aol.com) wrote:
" George Gomez is indeed the designer of Corvette and Johnny
" Mnemonic. George has been in the coin-op game biz a long
" time, and has done many things: Rockin' Bowl, parts of the Battletech
" System, Spy Hunter, and Tron to name just a few. He rarely gets credit
" for his work, mostly because he is quiet and easy-going and as
" often happens in our business, some other clown is always
" waiting to take the credit.
I'm not surprised to hear this; that loud people get more
credit than quiet people, independent of their actual
contributions. I was hesitant to believe that Corvette
was Gomez' first game, as it's so terrific.
" George also works very hard and long hours, and is totally immersed
" in whatever he's working on. His first pinballs have done very well,
" and no one deserves success more. Expect more great things
" from him--he's got plenty of imagination and energy to spare.
Awarded for the cheesiest quote of the year so far must go to George Gomez for
this classic:"The game recreates the excitement and glamour of the magazine
within the fiction of the game." Err, right George.
Here's the press release:
Playboy Pinball Display - George Gomez
Playboy, the most popular men's magazine in history, is now the pinball machine
that everyone's talking about. Brought to you by Stern Pinball, Inc. and Playboy
Enterprises International, Inc., the Playboy pinball machine is the work of George
Gomez (designer of Monster Bash™), Dwight Sullivan (programmer of T2® and Star
Trek: TNG®), and the incredible team of pinball experts at Stern Pinball. Steeped
in Playboy's rich 50-year tradition, this pinball machine brings you the world's
most beautiful women in a glamorous lifestyle that only can be called Playboy.
This is one pinball machine you have to see to believe, and play to experience.
The Playboy pinball machine challenges you to collect Playboy Rabbit Heads, to
complete a calendar year of Playmates, and experience "Mansion Mania" in a way
you never have before. The Playboy pinball machine also features a mechanical
Centerfold that opens and closes, along with several other unique playfield mechanisms
that reveal the many beautiful women of Playboy. (Important note: photo inserts
for the playfield mechanisms are interchangeable, allowing for appropriately rated
images to be applied to various environments.)
The Playboy pinball machine also features an incredible art package by Kevin O'Connor
(artist of Star Wars: Episode One® and PLAYBOY: 35th Anniversary), great sounds and
music, and a sexy lady's voice talking to you the whole way.
Item 7500 Stern Playboy Pinball - was $4495 now On Sale for
Retail Price: $4995 Our Price: $SOLD OUT
George Gomez says, "This is the first Playboy pinball that truly highlights the
beautiful women of Playboy. The game recreates the excitement and glamour of the
magazine within the fiction of the game."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXTRA... EXTRA...
Story dated 8th March 2002.
Link
Stern Pinball Inc has produced its latest newsletter and predictably it is mostly
about their newest pinball game - Playboy.
The original plan was to send out these newsletters once a month but those ambitions
have been scaled back to just three newsletters a year to coincide with the production
of each new game.
This edition features a chat with Playboy designer George Gomez.
Hello again and welcome to The Second Stern Pinball Newsletter
Everyone at Stern Pinball would like to thank you for the amazing response to our
last game, Monopoly™. The Monopoly™ pinball machine not only reached the top spot
on both the RePlay and Play Meter Polls, it is now one of Stern's best selling game
to date! Thanks again and keep flipping!
Further, Gary Stern was so excited with the success of working with Pat Lawlor and
his team on the Monopoly™ pinball machine that he invited some more former WMS
superstars, along with Stern's own incredible team of pinball designers, to create
Stern's newest game, Playboy. We hope that you welcome these pinball greats back,
and more so, we hope that you like the Playboy pinball machine as much as we do.
Playboy
Playboy Pinball Game
---
Stern & Playboy join to bring you the new Playboy Pinball, based on the world's
NO.1 male magazine Playboy. This new Playboy pinball machine is brought to you
by George Gomez (designer of Monster Bash™), Dwight Sullivan (programmer of T2®
and Star Trek: TNG), and the team of pinball experts at Stern Pinball.
Stern has managed to cover Playboy's rich 50-year tradition, by bringing you the
world's most beautiful women in a glamorous lifestyle.
The pinball features the Rabbit Heads challenge, where the player needs to collect
12 rabbit heads to complete a calendar year of Playmates, which unlocks "Mansion
Mania". The machine also features a mechanical Centerfold that opens and closes,
along with several other unique playfield mechanisms that reveal the many beautiful
women of Playboy. Of course Playboy being Playboy some of the images are on the
adult side of things, likely Stern has thought of this and has included, different
interchangeable photo inserts for the playfield mechanisms, allowing for
appropriately rated images for the venue in question.
The Playboy pinball machine also features an art package by Kevin O'Connor
(artist of Star Wars: Episode One® and PLAYBOY: 35th Anniversary), great sounds
and music, and a sexy lady's voice talking to you the whole way.
Gomez- Monster Bash Pinball Playfield Display
Williams Flipper - 1998, Playfield Designer: George Gomez
---
Designed by George Gomez (Monster Bash™), Stern employee Dwight Sullivan (WhoDunnit™),
and artist Kevin O'Connor (Star Wars: Episode One®, Playboy: 35th Anniversary),
the Playboy pinball machine brings you the world's most beautiful women in the
lifestyle that can only be known as Playboy.
So recently, Stern News sat down with game designer George Gomez and asked him a
few questions about the Playboy pinball machine, as well as a little of his own
pinball history. Now let's hear what's on George's mind these days.
Stern News: Welcome George, and thank you for taking the time to talk to us. You
just finished designing Stern Pinball's new Playboy pinball machine. Could you tell
us a little about it?
George Gomez: Playboy and pinball have always been a powerful combination and I think
that this game is the most exciting version to date.
SN: Could you please explain in more detail the 'Interchangeable Photo Inserts' that
go on the playfield.
George Gomez: Each target has the ability to reveal a beautiful girl. The girls are
represented in photo quality removable inserts that are made from translite material
and illuminated. The game is shipped with several sets of photo inserts. The sets
vary in how much of the girls they reveal. In one set the photos are very conservative
and in the next the girls reveal a bit more and of course there is a nude set. All
of the inserts are taken from actual Playboy photography so they are very high quality
and consistent with Playboy's high standards. This variety allows the operator to swap
inserts in order to adjust the game to the location and the customer base.
(Editor's note: photo inserts for the playfield mechanisms are interchangeable,
allowing for appropriately rated images to be applied to various environments.)
SN: How did you come up with the concept?
George Gomez: I used to play the original Bally game years ago. There was a bar downtown that
had one and I remember thinking that it would be fun to make the game as close to
the actual magazine as possible. When we were at WMS, my partner in this game,
Dwight Sullivan, wanted to do it on the Pinball 2000™ platform but it was deemed
too difficult at the time.
SN: Could you tell us the names of your favorite pinball machines and what elements
you like in them?
George Gomez: In no particular order.Firepower 2™, Black Knight™, Terminator 2®, Playboy,
Medieval Madness™, Attack From Mars™, Whirlwind™, Party Zone™, Monster Bash™,
RFM™, and Star Trek. I love games that build in intensity and games that make
me work at mastering them. I like smooth shooting, hook a lot of shots together
and feel like a hero, take a breather & bring on the next thing, collect cool
stuff kinds of games. I also love it when a game theme is thoroughly executed.
By that I mean that all of the elements: art, sounds, choreography, fiction, and
play mechanic need to be consistent and well thought out. I never could get into
those old games where the art was applied as an after thought and the theme may
have been space but the play mechanic was a card game. I didn't play pinball in
that era and that's probably why. When I was a kid I loved Marvel comics because
the stories and the art and the cover were all tied together, I despised D.C. comics
in the era when the stuff on the book cover had nothing to do with the story inside.
SN: You're best known in the pinball community for designing the Williams/Bally
hit Monster Bash™. Tell us why you think that pinball machine was such a
monster hit?
George Gomez: I think it represents what I described above. We made the Monster toys
compelling, the ball had fun kinetics in things like bashing Frank and Drac, it had
some smooth ramps like the Bride ramp. The game had a lot of humor, which was a
trademark of the most successful games of that time. And of course the pacing did
what I referred to previously; it built the game tension throughout the whole game. Every
person on that team stepped up and gave me their best stuff. It was a complete package.
SN: You are also generally credited with the idea for WMS' Pinball 2000™. What led
you to come up with that concept?
George Gomez: Desperation, in a word. If the player base had disappeared, it had to
do with the fact that we were no longer entertaining them. When you've designed a
thousand ramps and created all manners of game rules, you have to do something new.
It was simply an attempt to create a compelling new medium that would include elements
that were familiar and yet provide new ways to play. By the way I always felt that we
should retain both the traditional and the 2000 lines of product. But that proved
economically unfeasible.
SN: Let's go back to the Playboy pinball machine. How would you characterize this
particular Playboy pinball machine with the first two (Bally's Playboy; Data East's
Playboy: 35th Anniversary)? Is this a much more exciting game for the year 2002?
George Gomez: I think this is the ultimate application of the theme. The entire Playboy
mystique revolves around these incredibly beautiful and interesting women. We
have made this game consistent with that. We have for the first time focused on
portraying the very essence of Playboy. The previous games hinted at it but stopped
short of delivering on the promise. This game has all of it.
SN: Last question. What was the first pinball machine you ever played?
George Gomez: I don't remember what it was called but it would have been something from the
sixties. I think it was a space theme, and I think once I got beyond the concept
that I had to keep the ball in play, I focused on turning the lights on and trying
to get the ball to make its way everywhere on the playfield. It was in a rec. room
at an Air Force base somewhere out west. I was on a cross-country trip with the
Boy Scouts. I never imagined then that this game would become such a significant
part of my life.
SN: Well thanks George for all of your insight. And we wish you continued success,
and much success with the new Playboy pinball machine.
George Gomez: Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to design this game. It has been a
privilege to work with all of the talent in your company.
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One thing that I think pinball has lost in recent years is the sheer entertainment
factor in games. Elvis restores this in a big, BIG way. The last game I can
remember being this fun just to hear and watch was the George Gomez classic
Monster Bash. From the sounds of See See Rider playing as the first ball is put
into play to the numerous musical game modes, this game hits the bull's-eye.
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Pin Game Journal - Interview with George Gomez Link
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July, 2002. This issue of the PinGame Journal Issue features a very special story.
Told by former pinball designer John Popadiuk, it highlights the innovation and
style of the 1960's French pinball manufacturer Rally Play. Also in this issue
is a photo story of the 2002 edition of the industry ASI show and Tim Arnold's
Fun Night. Stern showed it's latest game, Playboy, at that show and the PGJ presents
an in depth look at the origin of this George Gomez game along with an interview
with George on his life Between Pinballs. Also in this issue readers will find an
exclusive chance to purchase a long out of print and unavailable book by Dick Buschel,
Show Shopping by Trent Augenstein, Guessing Game from Jonathan Schelberg, The New
Zoo Review, an intro to Visual Pinball, a bingo story from Jeffrey Lawton, the first
installment of Norm's Nest, reviews of the Pinball Compendium from Bruce Clark and
the newest This Old Pinball tapes. Other odds and ends including color art from
Playboy you've not seen before round out this issue. Don't miss it!
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Spy Hunter © 12/1983 Bally Midway. Link
Spy Hunter is an action/driving game. It places the player as the driver of
a 'spy' vehicle. The object of the game is to travel the freeways and hunt
down and destroy as many enemy vehicles as possible, all the while protecting
and not harming innocent civilian vehicles.
This game runs on the Bally Midway MCR 3 hardware.
Originally the James Bond theme was planned as the background music for the
game. The inability to obtain the rights to use the music, however, forced
Midway to change the theme on shipping models. In the end, the Peter Gunn
theme music was a large part of the game's appeal.
The James Bond theme was originally sought after and programmed into the
prototype machine until it was determined that licensing costs for this
music would be too expensive. A person from marketing suggested they use
the Peter Gunn theme instead.
A boat driving sequence and a helicopter sequence was also planned. Shortage
of memory, however, did not allow for this feature. The game has no end and
at no time does the player ever leave the car but it was RUMORED to have a
graveyard sequence, an actual end and a sequence where the player exited the
car for on-foot action.
The car was based on one of the designer's own Nissan 280z.
Like in the original Spy Hunter, the car is called the G-6155 Interceptor.
The designation comes from creator George Gomez's birthday (6/1/1955).
Here's A Great Cheat That Does Several Things At Once :
1) You need to have a supply truck available, and a be at a bridge-out level.
When the detour appears, don't take it - instead, call up your truck.
2) Wait until the road has straightened out into the bridge and drive into
the truck. When the truck pulls over and lets you out, stay on the side of
the road, and SLOWLY drive up until you reach the gap in the bridge.
3) Drive on until you car is about half-way over the edge, and wait until
the Enforcer comes along. He will try and get you, but he'll be unable to
drive far enough to do so. At this point, I would get a friend to mind the
game, while I went for a break. When I returned, I just drove across the
bridge, flying mysteriously across the bridge out, until I reached the other
side.
4) You will notice several differences to the game after this happens. The
Enforcer no longer appears, the game gets no harder, and Dr. Torpedo no
longer appears on water sections!
1. Spy Hunter (1983)
2. Spy Hunter II (1987)
Spy Hunter (1983) 2. Spy Hunter II (1987) - STAFF: Designed and programmed
by Bill Adams, George Gomez and Tom Leon. Music by Henry Mancini
Designed and programmed by : Tom Leon, Jeff Nauman
Art : Kevin OConnor, Brian Colin, Steve Ulstad, Sharon Perry
Music by : Henry Mancini
Group Manager : Bill Adams
Cabinet guru : George Gomez
Cabinet assistant : John Kubik
Spy Hunter II Flyer - Information Sheet
Spy Hunter II Flyer - Front side
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The Many Faces of . . . Spy Hunter Link
By Alan Hewston
This review was created while the Spy Hunter theme, "Peter Gunn" played continuously
in my mind. Spy Hunter was one of, if not the first games to combine the driving
and shooting genres and did well enough at the arcades in '83 that it eventually
spawned off a not-so-well-known sequel Spy Hunter II, in '87. As you know, there
were official classic home versions released for the Atari 2600, Colecovision,
Commodore 64, and the Apple and Atari home computers. A handful of more recent
platforms also saw Spy Hunter as a port as well.
Spy Hunter
The name James Bond never appeared in Bally Midways Spy Hunter, but the 007
influence was unmistakable in this 1983 arcade classic. Game designer George
Gomez was an avowed fan of the British secret agent with a license to kill,
and Spy Hunter allowed him (and the rest of the world) to live out a d...
As secret agent 007 . . . oops, they couldn't come out and say that. This game
is based upon secret agents like James Bond and their various super cars that
came heavily equipped to fight the bad guys on the highway. In your ultra-equipped
turbo-charged spy mobile, your mission is to use your unlimited supply of machine
guns to shoot up the bad guys or run them off the road, namely, the Road Lord,
Switchblade, the Enforcer, the Copter (called the Mad Bomber in the arcade), Barrel
Dumper and Doctor Torpedo. You should avoid the innocent drivers on the road, who
can cost you points if you shoot them, but then again, they can also cause you to
crash as well. In this vertical scrolling shooter game, your primary fire button
shoots your unlimited supply of machine guns in the direction you are headed.
This will eliminate 90% of the traffic. For vehicles behind you, armored vehicles,
and those in the air, a second fire button (or set of controls on the CV) activates
the special weapons - only available from your weapons van. Always be on the lookout
for your Weapons Van - let that big rig get ahead of you on the road and then drive
up the ramps into it. You are rewarded with a limited supply (usage) of: oil slicks,
smoke screens, or anti-helicopter missiles.
Besides driving on the road, Spy Hunter also had a boathouse and a speedboat for
chasing the enemy agents on the water. You may be forced to use the waterways -
warned via a text message to detour left, as the bridge is out ahead. But there
are also some chances to enter the waterways on your own. Once past the boat house
you come out on the other side in your Spy Hunter speedboat. The waterways are
somewhat more dangerous and require slower speeds due to the many small islands
that must be avoided. Another change in pace can be found when the road conditions
change to icy (I've not seen any other type of condition alerts).
You begin each game with only one life, but you have 999 counts on a timer
(about 90 seconds) where you get unlimited lives - that is, the weapons van
will pull up and give you another spy mobile as long as time remains on the
counter. Points were earned primarily for your driving distance but also when
you "rubbed off" the enemy agents. Extra lives are earned for scoring 10k, 18k,
30k and every 30,000 up to 120k.
Search Result 3
From: Wil (wb@subdural.com)
Subject: Re: old wives tales
View: Complete Thread (21 articles)
Original Format
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Date: 2003-09-30 20:38:13 PST
I heard tales of the mob having a hand in the coin op business for years.....
The tale I heard was about a video game - spy hunter. I heard that if you
were good enough, there was a car to helicopter transformation - ie, like car to
boat. When I first started following some of the pinball groups (irc and here) -
when Williams was still in business, I was able to get a hold of the creator of spy
hunter - George Gomez. I emailed him about it, and his reply was that there was
going to be an air transformation stage, but it was never done, due to memory
issues, rom sizes, and schedules, so it never made it. Now if someone knows more
about this - let me know! I also believe on the Midway Classics collection (one
with spy hunter) there are interviews with the games creators, and there is a
little something mentioned about this....
Wish it were true, or that it had been at least prototyped :)
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George Gomez by Moby Games:
Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Midway Collection 2 Link
Released: 1997 (complete release info)
Published By: GT Interactive
Developed By: Midway Games
Ported By: Digital Eclipse Software, Inc.
MobyScore: 3.0 (out of 5)
Platforms: Windows, PlayStation
Genre: Action
Perspective: 1st-Person Perspective, Platform, Side-Scrolling, Top-Down
Non-Sport: Arcade, Fighting, Sci-Fi / Futuristic, Shooter
Misc: Coin-Op Conversion, Compilation / Shovelware, Emulator, Licensed Title
Description:
An emulation-based compilation of 7 classic arcade games. Joust 2: Survival of
the Fittest (a... well... joust), Splat! (food fighting), Blaster (3D space
shooter), Moon Patrol (side scrolling space shooter; licensed from Irem),
Root Beer Tapper (the non-alcoholic version of the Tapper games- a quasi-shooter),
Spy Hunter (overhead scrolling shooter), and Burger Time (platform/puzzler;
licensed from Data East.)
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George Gomez by Moby Games: Link
Sno-Cross Championship Racing
Released: Aug 01, 2000 (complete release info)
Published By: Crave Entertainment, Inc.
Developed By: UDS
MobyScore: 3.8 (out of 5)
Platforms: PlayStation, Dreamcast
Genre: Racing / Driving, Sports
Perspective: 1st-Person Perspective, 3rd-Person Perspective
Description:
Strap on your goggles and helmet, choose your favorite Yamaha sled, and hit the
courses. Gain experience day and night, sun rain or snow, racing on the icy flats
of Vladivostok, the slopes of Aspen, and the tunnels of Nagano.
But, the real challenge starts when you enter the race circuit. Start with the
500cc sleds, win races, upgrade your snowmobile, and unlock higher end sleds and
new courses.. And, if you're looking for even more challenges, race head-to-head
with your friends, go vertical on hill-climbing tracks, or create your own courses!
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Description:
Link
Spy Hunter is the ultimate driving game if you happen to be a James Bond fan.
This game puts you in control of a high-tech sports car that's initially armed
with machine guns. Your goal: drive on an endless series of roads, avoiding civilian
vehicles and destroying enemy vehicles whenever possible. At regular intervals
along the way, you'll encounter Weapons Vans, which you can drive into to augment
your offensive and defensive armament. Available weapons include a smoke screen,
an oil slick, and a battery of missiles (which are the only weapons that you can
use to deal with the helicopters you'll encounter later in the game). You can even
drive off the main road and into a boathouse, whereupon your car is replaced by a
flame-spewing speedboat.
This game is extremely fast-paced, and isn't really suitable for more casual players.
The sheer number of controls--two triGeorge Gomezers, three buttons, a gear shift, a steering
wheel, and a gas pedal--gives you an awful lot to think about. Add that to the rather
unforgiving driving model (you die if you hit another car at the wrong speed and
when you accidentally drive off the road onto the grass) and you get a game that's
really tough to master.
Spy Hunter makes up for this by being extremely compelling. The spy theme is unique
in driving games (both then and now), the graphics were pretty good for the time,
and the music--an ever-present electronic arrangement of the Peter Gunn theme--combine
to make this one of the most fondly remembered games of its time.
Two versions of the machine were produced--an upright version and a slightly
less-common full-cockpit sit-down version.
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PSA-LIST: Whatever Happened To George Gomez? Link
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Multiple recipients of list psa-list
Subject: PSA-LIST: Whatever Happened To George Gomez?
From: "Warren Smith"
Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 22:07:32 -0700
Importance: Normal
In-Reply-To: <3ACDD548.99E433CA@laplaza.org>
Sender: owner-psa-list@philmont.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.fortunecity.de/gourmet/montblanc/152/new_making_of_pin2000.htm
When I was Rayado Ranger in 1978, George Gomez was
our boss, our ACR. After leaving Philmont, George got into the video game
business and made his reputation early by working on the design team that
made the early v
George Gomez NBA Fastbreak Pinball Field Display High Score Content Originally From:
