Sly Spy (1989). Play Free Online

Summary

Sly Spy feels like a love‑letter to the classic Bond gadgets, even though the game never carried an official licence. The arcade cabinet launches you with a sky‑diving shoot‑'em‑up, then shuttles you straight into tight, side‑scrolling run‑and‑gun levels that recall Rolling Thunder, complete with three distinct kick attacks for when the ammo runs dry. One of the coolest set‑pieces is the motorcycle stage—your bike’s built‑in machine gun turns it into a high‑speed barrage, while the marine stages swap the footwork for sub‑aquatic shooter action.

Enemies aren’t just cannon fodder; they sporadically drop fizzy soda cans, jetpacks, or even a DPV to make the water sections less boring. Collecting parts of the Golden Gun is a sweet nod to the Cobra Gun from Data East’s RoboCop, letting you crank out the same energy blasts from any vehicle once it’s assembled.

After Data East folded, G‑Mode scooped the rights and bundled the game into several retro compilations: Data East Arcade Classics (2010), Johnny Turbo's Arcade on Switch (2018), and the Evercade's Data East Arcade 1 (2021). It’s a surprisingly varied arcade experience that still feels fresh every time I boot it up.

Storyline

The plot of Sly Spy unfolds in an unnamed “199X” United States. During a White House ceremony the president and first lady are ambushed by jet‑pack‑wielding terrorists, the screen flashes red and gunfire erupts, leaving the leaders presumed dead. The American secret service alerts a lone operative known only as Sly that the attack was carried out by the Council for World Domination (CWD), a shadowy criminal syndicate.

Sly jumps from a plane, parachutes into Washington, and battles CWD forces across the city, on highways, through a harbor, a warehouse and even underwater. The mission escalates to a missile silo where he confronts the syndicate’s leader, protected by a force field and a deadly descending spike trap, which he must destroy to end the launch.

After the leader falls, the president—who survived the opening assault—congratulates Sly, only to tease him with his young daughters. The hero drives off in a Ferrari F40, leaving the world safe for now.

Edited by Maya Carter