Spy Hunter (video Game)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Spy Hunter'' is a
vehicular combat game A vehicular combat game (or car combat game) is a vehicle simulation video game where the primary gameplay objectives include vehicles armed with weapons attempting to destroy vehicles controlled by the CPU or by opposing players. The genre n ...
developed by
Bally Midway Midway Games Inc. (formerly Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known simply as Midway) was an American video game company that existed from 1958 to 2010. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (franchise), Ra ...
and released for arcades in 1983. The game draws inspiration from the
James Bond films James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David ...
and was originally supposed to carry the
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
brand. The object of the game is to drive down roads in the technologically advanced "Interceptor" car and destroy various enemy vehicles with a variety of onboard weapons. ''Spy Hunter'' was produced in both sit-down and standard upright versions with the latter being more common. The game's controls consist of a
steering wheel A steering wheel (also called a driving wheel, a hand wheel, or simply wheel) is a type of steering control in vehicles. Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles, buses, light and hea ...
in the form of a futuristic aircraft-style yoke with several special-purpose buttons, a two-position
stick shift A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system where gear changes ...
(offering 'low' and 'high' gears), and a pedal used for acceleration. ''Spy Hunter'' was a commercial success in American arcades, where it was one of the top five highest-grossing arcade games of 1984 and 1985. It was ported to the
Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...
,
Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...
,
Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spec ...
,
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...
,
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
,
Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...
, ColecoVision, MS-DOS,
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
, and BBC Micro. ''Spy Hunter'' was followed by ''
Spy Hunter II ''Spy Hunter II'' is a 1987 vehicular combat arcade game developed and published by Bally Midway. It is the sequel to 1983's ''Spy Hunter''. Unlike its predecessor, ''Spy Hunter II'' was not ported to any contemporary systems and remained obscur ...
'', which added a 3D view and two-player split-screen play, a pinball tie-in, and a successor series of games bearing the ''Spy Hunter'' name. In addition, the NES received a sequel titled ''Super Spy Hunter''.


Gameplay

''Spy Hunter'' is a
vertical scrolling A vertically scrolling video game or vertical scroller is a video game in which the player views the field of play principally from a top-down perspective, while the background scrolls from the top of the screen to the bottom (or, less often, fro ...
driving Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a land vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses. A driver's permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met, and drivers are required to ...
game with the player in the role of a spy driving an armed sportscar. The object of the game is to travel the freeway destroying as many enemy vehicles as possible while protecting civilian vehicles. The game uses a
top-down perspective A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions ...
. Controls consist of a two-position gearshift lever, a floor-mounted accelerator pedal, and a steering yoke with five buttons, and the cabinet also includes a dashboard with status lights. The game begins with the player driving the fictitious G-6155 Interceptor, using the yoke, pedal, and gearshift to steer and control speed. The car is equipped with a machine gun that has unlimited ammunition and can be fired by pressing and holding the corresponding button on the yoke. Various enemy vehicles try to destroy the player's car or force it off the road, including a helicopter that drops bombs from overhead. A counter increments the
score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...
while the car is moving and on the road. Additional points are earned by destroying enemy vehicles using weapons or forcing them off the road. After an initial lead-in time during which the player has an unlimited supply of cars, the player must earn extra cars by reaching score thresholds. Destroying non-enemy cars halts the score counter for a short while, and no points are scored whenever the player's car is off the road. The car can be destroyed by a hard collision with another vehicle, if it is hit by an enemy weapon (including the craters blasted into the road by the helicopter's bombs), or by running far enough off the roadway (or waterway). Following periodic forks in the road, the player can enter new regions with different terrain or weather conditions. The player can also acquire special weapons by entering a weapons van, which appears in each new territory and can be periodically summoned by pressing its button on the yoke when its dashboard light is flashing. Available special weapons consist of
oil slick An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...
s,
smoke screen A smoke screen is smoke released to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, or ships. Smoke screens are commonly deployed either by a canister (such as a grenade) or generated by a vehicle (such as ...
s, and
surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...
s; each is controlled by a different button, and the dashboard lights indicate which ones are available at any given time. Special weapons have a limited ammunition supply and are lost whenever the player's car is destroyed. At certain points, the player will have the option to convert the car into a
speedboat A motorboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine; faster examples may be called "speedboats". Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the intern ...
for a brief time by driving through a boathouse; at others, the player will be forced to make the transition. Enemy boats can attack from in front or behind, and the helicopter can drop bombs from above. While in speedboat mode, the oil slick becomes a
flamethrower A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World W ...
, while the smoke screen and missiles remain unchanged. The game has no ending, and play continues until the player has lost all cars.


Development

Game designer
George Gomez George Gomez is an industrial designer, video game designer, and pinball designer who has worked for Bally, Williams, and Stern Pinball, among other companies. He has designed or contributed to several notable games, including ''Tron'' (1982), ...
drew inspiration for the game from listening to an
audio cassette tape Audiotape is magnetic tape used for storing audio. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Audiotape can be used in various tape recorders including machines for reel-to-reel audio tape recording on open reels o ...
of music from
James Bond films James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David ...
. He designed the game with Tom Leon, with whom he had worked on ''
Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer ...
''. Gomez sketched out the in-game road map on a long scroll of drawing paper and also came up with the idea of the weapons van. Originally the game was to be based directly on James Bond and have the "
James Bond Theme The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the List of James Bond films, James Bond films and has been used in every Bond film, starting with ''Dr. No (film), Dr. No'' in 1962. Composed in E minor by Monty Norman, the piece has ...
" as in-game music, but the license could not be acquired. Instead, an electronic arrangement of
Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flutist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, ...
's theme to ''Peter Gunn'' plays throughout.


Reception

In the United States, it topped the ''RePlay'' upright
arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...
charts for four months during 1984, in April, September, October and November. It also topped the ''
Play Meter ''Play Meter'' (initially ''Coin Industry Play Meter'') was an American trade magazine focusing on the coin-op amusement arcade industry, including jukebox and arcade game machines. It was founded in December 1974 by publisher and editor Ralph C ...
'' dedicated cabinet charts for street locations in July 1984 and November 1984. It was listed by AMOA as one of America's top five highest-grossing arcade games of 1984, with AMOA later giving it the award for "most played" arcade video game of 1985 in the United States. In 1995,
Flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phe ...
magazine ranked the arcade version 29th on their Top 100 Video Games. They praised the game music, controls and gameplay. ''
Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') is a British-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot web ...
'' scored the ColecoVision version 80% in 1989.


Legacy

A pinball table based on ''Spy Hunter'' was released in 1984 by Bally. The arcade game was ported to the ColecoVision in January 1985. The original ''Spy Hunter'' was followed by an arcade sequel, ''
Spy Hunter II ''Spy Hunter II'' is a 1987 vehicular combat arcade game developed and published by Bally Midway. It is the sequel to 1983's ''Spy Hunter''. Unlike its predecessor, ''Spy Hunter II'' was not ported to any contemporary systems and remained obscur ...
'' in 1987. It retained the "Peter Gunn" music and incorporated a cooperative two-player mode, but the top-down view was replaced with a perspective from behind and above the car. After Japanese video game developer
Sunsoft , is a Japanese electronics manufacturer, video game developer and publisher. They are known for their video games under the brand name Sunsoft. History In April 1971, Sun Electronics Corporation (alternatively called Sun Denshi) was founded i ...
ported ''Spy Hunter'' to the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
, the company created ''Battle Formula'' with similar gameplay. Sunsoft America signed a deal with Bally Midway to release it outside Japan as ''Super Spy Hunter''. The series was reprised in 2001 with '' SpyHunter'' developed by
Paradigm Entertainment Paradigm Entertainment Inc. (previously part of Paradigm Simulation) was an American video game development company. Paradigm is perhaps best known for its vehicle simulation games. Founded as a 3D computer graphics company in 1990, Paradigm pr ...
and published by
Midway Games Midway Games Inc. (formerly Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known simply as Midway) was an American video game company that existed from 1958 to 2010. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (franchise), Ra ...
for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
,
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
,
GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...
,
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
, and
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
. A sequel developed by
Angel Studios Angel Studios, Inc. is an American independent Christian media company and Film distributor, film distribution studio based in Provo, Utah. It operates the Over-the-top media service, over-the-top video on demand, video on-demand service Angel. ...
was released in 2003. Another reboot of the series was developed by
TT Fusion TT Games Limited is a British holding company and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games. The company was established in 2005 through the merger of video game developer, developer Traveller's Tales and Video game publisher, publisher Giant Interact ...
for the
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
and
PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...
and released by Warner Bros. Interactive in October 2012. ''Spy Hunter'' was cloned as '' Major Motion'', released by
Microdeal Microdeal was a British software company which operated during the 1980s and early 1990s from its base at Truro Road in the town of St Austell, Cornwall. The company, founded by John Symes was one of the major producers of games and other softw ...
for the
Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...
in 1986. ''Agent Intercept'' (2019) for
Apple Arcade Apple Arcade is a video game subscription service offered by Apple Inc. It is available through a dedicated tab of the App Store on devices running iOS 13, visionOS, tvOS 13, iPadOS 13, and macOS Catalina or later. The service launched o ...
is an homage to ''Spy Hunter''. In the 2015
toys-to-life Toys-to-life is a video game feature using physical figurines or action figures to interact within the game. There are several technologies used to make physical figurines appear in game such as image recognition, quick response (QR) codes, Blue ...
video game ''
Lego Dimensions ''Lego Dimensions'' is a Lego-themed action-adventure platform crossover video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Wii U. ...
'', the Midway Arcade level pack includes a buildable
Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...
G-6155 Interceptor. A playable emulation of the arcade version is also included as part of the pack. The player character from ''Spy Hunter'' also appears as part of a sidequest where the player has to destroy 20 cars in the Super Sprint racetrack. The 2022 video game '' Gotham Knights'' includes a playable emulated version of the game as an
easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...
.


Re-releases

''Spy Hunter'' was included in '' Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits: Volume 1'' for
Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
; ''
Midway Arcade Treasures ''Midway Arcade Treasures'' is a video-game compilation of 24 arcade games, emulated from the original printed circuit board, PCBs. The compilation was developed by Digital Eclipse and issued by Midway Games, Midway for the PlayStation 2, Xbox (c ...
'', a 2003 compilation of arcade games available for the
GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...
,
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
,
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
, and
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
; '' Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play'' for
PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...
; and ''
Midway Arcade Origins ''Midway Arcade Origins'' is a 2012 video game compilation developed by Backbone Entertainment and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A successor to the '' Midway Arcade Treasures'' series, it ...
'', a 2012 compilation available for
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
and
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...
.


In popular culture

* In the ''
Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...
'' episode titled " Hit, Run and Homicide", Jessica realizes the solution to the episode's mystery while playing ''Spy Hunter'' in the Cabot Cove grocery store. * "Dev Hunter", a game made in the style of ''Spy Hunter'' is included as an
Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...
in the first release of
Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet editor developed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows, Windows, macOS, Android (operating system), Android, iOS and iPadOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a ...
2000. It requires
DirectX Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct" ...
to work. Shortly after Excel 2000's release,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
officially banned Easter eggs from its non-game software. * In the ''
Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animation, adult stop motion, stop-motion animated sketch comedy television series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The twelve-minute ...
'' episode "Dragon Nuts", a spoof of ''Spy Hunter'' is featured in the sketch "Omaha's Number 1 News Team". The news station's traffic copter films two police cruisers in pursuit of the sports car from ''Spy Hunter'', which failed to yield for a routine traffic stop. The sports car causes the cruisers to crash using its smoke screen generator, boards the weapon truck, equips itself with its surface-to-air missile launcher, uses it to destroy a helicopter, and the driver, tailed by several more police cruisers, escapes in a speedboat. * ''Spy Hunter'' is parodied in the ''
Teen Titans Go! ''Teen Titans Go!'' is an American animated television series developed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic for Cartoon Network. It premiered on April 23, 2013, and is based on DC Comics' fictional superhero team the Teen Titans. The series ...
'' episode "Video Game References", as when it is
Cyborg A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
acquired the rights to the arcade game ''Spy Hunter'' from
Midway Games Midway Games Inc. (formerly Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known simply as Midway) was an American video game company that existed from 1958 to 2010. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (franchise), Ra ...
. The following September, Universal signed actor
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on a part-time basis. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional w ...
to star in the film adaptation based on the game. Screenwriters
Michael Brandt Michael Brandt (born October 1, 1968) is an American screenwriter. Life and career Brandt is an alumnus of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where as an undergrad he earned a BBA and in graduate school earned Master of Arts in Communication Stu ...
and
Derek Haas Derek Haas (born June 30, 1970) is an American writer and producer. Life and career Derek Haas attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he earned both his Bachelor of Arts, B.A. and Master of Arts, M.A. in English Literature. He lives ...
were hired to write the screenplay, though a director had not been decided at the time. ''Spy Hunter'' was slated to begin its budgeted $90 million production in spring 2004 in time for a summer 2005 release. In January 2004, screenwriters
Mark Swift and Damian Shannon Mark Swift and Damian Shannon are American screenwriters and film producers. They are known for their collaborative script-writing projects, in particular '' Freddy vs. Jason'' and later the 2009 reboot '' Friday the 13th''. Early life and ed ...
replaced the original writing duo to rewrite the script, with production slated for June. By May, Universal Pictures acquired director
John Woo John Woo Yu-sen ( zh, t= ; born 22 September 1946) is a Hongkongers, Hong Kong film director known as a highly influential figure in the action film genre. The recipient of various accolades, including a Hong Kong Film Awards, Hong Kong Film Award ...
to helm the project. In the same month, the previous screenwriters were replaced by screenwriter
Zak Penn Zak Penn (born March 23, 1968) is an American screenwriter. Penn wrote and directed '' Incident at Loch Ness'' and '' The Grand'', wrote the script for ''The Incredible Hulk'', co-wrote the scripts for '' X2'', '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and th ...
to rewrite the script once more. By August, production had been delayed, pushing ''Spy Hunter'' back to be released in summer 2006. In April 2005, Penn was replaced by screenwriter
Stuart Beattie Stuart Beattie (born 4 August 1971) is an Australian filmmaker. His screenplay for '' Collateral'' (2004) earned him nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay and Saturn Award for ...
to rewrite the script. By May, however, director John Woo left the project due to scheduling conflicts. In August, Johnson said the film was still developing without a director. Pre-production work was underway with designs such as the morphing Interceptor vehicle driven by Alex Decker. Production was eventually halted for the time being, and Dwayne Johnson was detached from the project. In May 2007, Paul W. S. Anderson was hired to replace Woo as the director with an all-new script unrelated to ''Nowhere to Run''. He left the project a year later due to his commitment to '' Death Race 2'' as a producer. In February 2013, Warner Bros. – the current theatrical distribution rights holders – announced that
Ruben Fleischer Ruben Samuel Fleischer (; born October 31, 1974) is an American film director, film producer, television producer, music video director, and commercial director. He is best known as the director of ''Zombieland'' (2009), his first feature film, a ...
was brought on board to direct from a screenplay by Carter Blanchard. In November 2015, Blanchard was replaced with the duo Neal Greaves and Sam Chalsen while
Dan Lin Dan Lin (; born April 8, 1973) is a Taiwanese-American film and television producer. He is the chairman of Netflix Films and the founder of Rideback (formerly Lin Pictures until 2018), a film and television production company that he formed ...
and
Roy Lee Roy Lee (born March 23, 1969) is an American film and television producer. His production company, Vertigo Entertainment, has a first-look deal with Lionsgate. Early life Lee was born in 1969 at Wyckoff Heights Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, ...
were set to produce the film. Whether Fleischer was still on board to direct remains to be seen.


See also

* '' Bump 'n' Jump'' (1982), another game where the player can bump vehicles off the road. * ''
Roadblasters ''RoadBlasters'' is a vehicular combat game released in arcades by Atari Games in 1987. The player navigates an armed sports car through 50 different rally races, getting to the finish line before running out of fuel. Ports were released for ...
'' (1987), a later driving/combat video game also popular in arcades.


References


External links

* * * {{Authority control 1984 video games Amstrad CPC games Apple II games Arcade video games Atari 2600 games Atari 8-bit computer games ColecoVision games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Commodore 64 games Classic Mac OS games Midway video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Top-down video games U.S. Gold games Vehicular combat games Video games adapted into comics Video games scored by Naoki Kodaka Video games developed in Japan Video games developed in the United States Warner Bros. Games franchises ZX Spectrum games Single-player video games