Spy vs Spy

Spy vs Spy

Overview & History

Released by Kemco in 1986 for the Sega Master System, Spy vs Spy adapts MAD Magazine’s iconic espionage rivals into a frantic, two-player trap-laying simulator. Based on the original 8-bit computer game by First Star Software, the Master System port delivers vibrant, colorful graphics that bring the caricatured black-and-white agents to life within a labyrinthine Caribbean embassy. Tasked with gathering four essential escape items—passport, money, plane ticket, and briefcase—before your opponent does, players must constantly balance aggressive sabotage with desperate scavenger hunts across multiple interconnected rooms.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

The core gameplay revolves around indirect confrontation and meticulous planning. As either the Black Spy or White Spy, you navigate top-down room layouts searching filing cabinets, wastebaskets, and desk drawers. However, every hiding spot can be rigged with lethal explosives, spring-loaded boxing gloves, or spring traps. A map screen tracks your inventory and displays a countdown timer, adding palpable tension as the absolute deadline approaches. Combat occurs in real-time when the spies meet face-to-face, initiating a frantic club-swinging duel where timing dictates survival. When a spy dies, they respawn empty-handed after a brief penalty, dropping any stolen loot they were carrying. To survive, players must utilize the search-and-trap cycle efficiently, occasionally drinking magical elixirs to boost walking speed or using wire cutters to safely disarm enemy booby traps before pillaging a room.

Keyboard Controls

• Arrow Keys / D-Pad: Move
• Action Keys: Attack / Jump
• Enter: Start / Pause