Sly Spy

[Discoalucard]

www.hardcoregaming101.net/slyspy/slyspy.htm

Data East's spy-themed side-scroller owes a very (very, very) huge debt to James Bond.

[Malev]

That ending screen looks awfully familiar.



It's the same background spritework along with the crowd.

[Neo Rasa]

When you get the Golden Gun in this game, the projectile is totally the projectile of....HEAVYYY BARRELLL! The awesome weapon seen in the awesome Data East game Heavy Barrel that also makes an appearance in Thunder Zone (called an anti-tank weapon there).

The articles says that you rescue the President at the end of the game like in Bad Dudes but this is not the case, he's just there to congratulate you at the end. Sly is not a Bad Enough Dude. I think when the President says "You forgot a few things" he's referring to the women Sly picks up immediately after. The goofy ending and try again is pretty common in their games. Like you get a "Good luck!" at the end of Bloody Wolf even after you've beaten the game (and failed to fly a helicopter depending on which character you chose to play as first). I forget, is Sly Spy in English even in the Japanese release? I wonder if the translation is accurate or if we can look at it today and get further insight into the world of Sly Spy.

I love Data East's US-centric Patriotic fervor.

[ReyVGM]

The ending to this game confused the hell out of me decades ago when I first discovered MAME. Being an ending aficionado, I was convinced there was another ending and I played the game over 20 times trying a myriad of things across the game to see if anything triggered the 'good' ending.
Finally another person that played the game told me he was just saying that you missed the girls.


Necessary "I'm Bad!!" clip

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Fjg8X2_aw

[Discoalucard]

I assumed it was like the "Pleasure Dome" thing in Smash TV, it was just there to make people waste quarters to try to replay the game to get a better ending (and without going back and adding it back in later). Either that or it was planned then cut, and they never bothered to fix the end.

[Neo Rasa]

I think they realized correctly that in a post Trio the Punch world no ending could ever top it so why bother.

[Elvin Atombender]

I've never played the arcade original but I remember the Amiga conversion being serviceable, if a bit unpolished.

Feb 2, 2016 22:20:37 GMT -5 Malev said:

That ending screen looks awfully familiar.



It's the same background spritework along with the crowd.

The beauty of repetition, I guess. Not to mention that taking a quintessential British hero and turning it into an American is somewhat amusing.

[TheChosen]

Feb 3, 2016 15:12:32 GMT -5 Elvin Atombender said:

I've never played the arcade original but I remember the Amiga conversion being serviceable, if a bit unpolished.

This about sums-up most of arcade games ported on Amiga. Well...maybe not Pang, that felt near-perfect.

[Elvin Atombender]

My guess is that Sly Spy was yet another direct conversion from the Atari ST port, which sadly was a very common practice back then.

[Woody Alien]

Welcome back VGJunk guy! It has been, what, 3 years since your other article here?
I always follow your blog/site!

[Allie]

Feb 2, 2016 22:53:53 GMT -5 Neo Rasa said:

When you get the Golden Gun in this game, the projectile is totally the projectile of....HEAVYYY BARRELLL! The awesome weapon seen in the awesome Data East game Heavy Barrel that also makes an appearance in Thunder Zone (called an anti-tank weapon there).

The articles says that you rescue the President at the end of the game like in Bad Dudes but this is not the case, he's just there to congratulate you at the end. Sly is not a Bad Enough Dude. I think when the President says "You forgot a few things" he's referring to the women Sly picks up immediately after. The goofy ending and try again is pretty common in their games. Like you get a "Good luck!" at the end of Bloody Wolf even after you've beaten the game (and failed to fly a helicopter depending on which character you chose to play as first). I forget, is Sly Spy in English even in the Japanese release? I wonder if the translation is accurate or if we can look at it today and get further insight into the world of Sly Spy.

I love Data East's US-centric Patriotic fervor.

Don't forget the Stage 3 boss in Bloody Wolf (TG-16 version) firing off the Heavy Barrel himself.

[Neo Rasa]

I love what a goober that guy is because he's armed with HEAVY BARREL and also removes your weapons with a boomerang but you can still easily beat him with just a knife. It's even better when you fight him again at the end and own him just as easily.

[1983parrothead]

Which are better: this or the mid-90s James Bond 007 Game Boy game?

[Malev]

Feb 2, 2016 22:20:37 GMT -5 Malev said:

That ending screen looks awfully familiar.



It's the same background spritework along with the crowd.

Thanks to latest VGJunk, seems Data East got plenty of mileage from their White House sprite work