Spy Vs. Spy / MagMax / Seicross retrospective: Espionage-à-trois | NES Works #090

“Defeat king Ghidorah in a courageous battle against copyright” made me legitimately laugh out loud.

Gotta admit, that one Spy Vs Spy track is catchy. It was sampled by Flying Lotus in the track "All Spies".

"In MagMax you need to build the Zeta Gundam in order to collect the Yamato's Wave Motion Cannon and destroy King Ghidorah in a courageous battle against copyright." 🤣 Great writing as always.

Man I loved Spy Vs Spy. At the time I had no idea it was originally a comic (MAD wasn't really a thing over where I lived), but I had so much fun playing that game vs my best friend. It kept us occupied for months. We actually got to know each other because he saw me playing the Adventure of Link through my bedroom window as he walked past our house, and Spy Vs. Spy considering was probably the first game we ever played together. We're still best friends 30 years later! I also enjoyed the sequels on the C64. They were a big larger in scale, but also a fair bit harder.

I got an NES in 88 when I was 5 and I got the NES Deluxe set the one that came with Rob the light gun (grey one) two controllers and it came packaged with the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt double cartridge, Gyromite, and I kid you not Spy vs Spy in the NES box brand spanking new. I did not understand this game until two years later but by then I had over 35 games and Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! But now at 40 I still get great memories thinking about this game and how much fun I had with it and telling my young father at the time thank you for the memories.

In a world where the contemporary star gets more views on their latest music video in one week than you will get on all your videos in a year, thank you. This is the stuff I love and happy to see someone cover the games of yesterday. I wish more people appreciated your work, but it's their loss.

“no one has Magmax in their top 100” I must be alone I guess.. it’s more a sentimental favorite, it was the only game at my grandparents house and would play it whenever I was sick unless I smuggled one of my games with me in a backpack!

Well, this was educational in a way I didn't expect. I knew about MAD and Spy vs. Spy thanks to the Cartoon Network show from a few years ago, but had no idea of Spy vs. Spy's origin

“Oh boy, the new Pony Canyon games!” –Hypothetical gamer in 1988, who probably doesn’t exist.

Magmax is a rental game. Buying magmax is definitely sad, but as a rental it’s not bad at all. Especially considering how rental shops worked. You were at the mercy of which rental store your parents went to. Was it the grocery store with only 30 games total , the local shop where the owner just bought a bunch at once without caring , or the other local shop where one of the employees actively games and curated an amazing rental selection. Selection was everything. If your options consist of urban champion, magmax, stack up, or uncanny xmen, then magmax sorta shines like a diamond.

The Spy Vs Spy music, a constant minor key affair, puts a lot of fear into me and makes that game really tense 😂

As much as I enjoy Spy vs Spy these days, and it certainly is a decent enough game, I will always remember it for one of the stupidest video game decisions I ever made as a kid - trading my copy of River City Ransom for it, considering I got the better part of the deal. What was I thinking!?

I was afraid you'd give Spy vs. Spy the short end of the stick, though I'm glad you at least had lukewarm things to say about it rather than negative things. It remains one of my favorite NES games, though, if only because it was one of THE best 2-player experiences on the system, as far as I'm concerned. Or I should say, one of THE best COMPETITIVE 2-player experiences on the system. Whenever I had somebody over and wanted to crush them in something, I would always fire up Spy vs. Spy, Archon, or Anticipation -- the trifecta of 2-player head-to-head, in my mind. Of those three... well, OK, Archon is my favorite. But Spy vs. Spy isn't too far behind! I'm glad Kemco localized the first game, and not the Island Caper, as -- frankly -- the first game is a considerably better experience. Yes, the second LOOKS nicer, but gameplay-wise, it somehow feels a lot emptier.

Hell yeah, SPY vs SPY!!! 😎👌 The first game and its ports were just perfect! Spy vs Spy was pretty popular in Japan, often labeled as a "friendship destruction" game due to how rage-inducing it can be. You still see a couple references to it in anime every now and then (e.g. in the first season of Maid Dragon). A shame we're not getting new games in its style anymore (the second and third games kinda deviated from the first one's formula), but there IS a fangame called "Spy vs Spy vs Spy vs Spy" for four-player spy shenanigans!

Recently picked up MagMax in my ongoing quest to buy the cheapest retro games I encounter at resale shops. The robot building mechanic is so fun and unique, it definitiely was worth the $5 entry fee in 2022

Speaking of FCI/Pony Canyon, probably 10-11 episodes away from Ultima III at this point. Looking forward to Jeremy's take on one of NES's earliest RPGs.

Spy VS Spy is like a "battle mode" extension of the mechanics of a game like E.T.. in both games the objective is a timed scavenger hunt for several objects and items that will allow you to escape the stage. And the modern version of that would be Dead By Daylight or the Friday the 13th game.

Did alot of Spy vs Spy growing up. It was a blast in a room of full of friends on hot seat. Rather dull single player.

Growing up with what I perceived as massive sprawling adventures like Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros 2, to years later picking up MagMax from the library and going back to a score attack game was almost a bit of shock to my perception. I didn't even consider that games could BE like that on the NES. Still, the box had robots on it and the name was close to "MegaMan" so I picked it up. It wasn't anything impressive to me then, and to me the most interesting thing about the game was that bootleg King Ghidorah was named "Babylon".

Such fond memories of renting spy vs spy with my cousin!