S.P.Y. Special Project Y

S.P.Y. Special Project Y
Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Platform: Arcade (Custom) Released internationally: October 1989 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has revisional differences.

S.P.Y. Special Project Y is Konami's brand store version of a James Bond action game.

Unused Graphics

An alternate title seemingly intended for the unreleased Japanese version (as evident by the katakana transcription). The name was likely unused due to the Data East game Sly Spy (another James Bond-esque arcade game also released in 1989), which was also titled Secret Agent in Japan. Special Project Y was never actually released in Japan, despite allegedly undergoing location testing, although another Japanese title for the game, Espionage, appears in the bilingual version of the operator's manual.

Three unused trademark graphics. The first two would be next to the logo instead of inside of it, while the third is a slightly different graphic that fits the early "Secret Agent" title.

Early HUD elements which, unlike the ones in the final game, don't use the game's font; these are all separate graphics. The "Fire Ball" bombs are called "Super Weapons" in the Japanese operator's manual, shortened to just "WEAPONS" here.

A head that probably would have been used to represent the player's lives instead of a nebulous "P". Doesn't match the design of either player, though.

Unused graphics for the secret's agent's watch seen at the start of the game. The first set includes a "Saiko" label, which would parody the Seiko watches seen in many James Bond films; the watch used in the game is based off of the Seiko T001 seen in Octopussy.

The second, more lawyer-friendly set includes this game's internal board number (GX-857) and the Konami logo.

Mockup 1	Mockup 2	Final

Two different sets of labels, and the final game uses neither. Here's how they'd look if they were used.

Another mockup message that doesn't use any of the game's fonts.
Control Code "Y"
Find (the nemesis) Spiders' hideout and destroy the missiles. Good Luck.

Certainly explains the spider motif seen in the villains' hideouts.

(Translation: divingkataetheweirdo)

Early	Final

An alternate version of the Fire Ball pick-ups. The early version is another reference to Octopussy: A false bottom briefcase full of explosives is featured in the intro sequence.

An unknown power-up with a P on it. How mysterious!

Various unused (and pushy) instructions for idle players.

Unused floor numbers for the elevators in Stage 5. There are no elevators on floors 1, 4, or 7, and the last floor that can hold an elevator is floor 9.

The villain's Blofeld-esque white cat appears by his side on a TV screen at the end of the first hideout stage. It's missing when the player finally confronts the villain in Stage 8, but there's a sprite of it running away in the sprite graphics ROM. Look at it go!

An unused speed limit sign. None of the stages in the game include an appropriate palette for this sign; this is just a guess on how it'd look.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Revision Differences

Version N changes the order of the first four stages:

	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4
Version M	Town	Garden	Hideout	Jetpack
Version N	Jetpack	Town	Garden	Hideout

Note that at the end of the Hideout stage, both players put on jetpacks and fly out into the ocean. Doesn't really make sense with the new level order.

This change also applies to the order in which the attract mode demos play.

(Source: Original TCRF research)