Despite the somewhat unsavory name, Taito's Elevator Action brought the world of spies and secret agents into the arcade. The star of this game was Agent 17, a rather poor imitation of the famous 007.

At the start of the game, the secret agent used a grappling hook to connect to a building, then zipped down the line and entered stealthily. Agent 17 worked his way down the building floors, by way of elevators and stairwells, stopping only to open red-colored doors. A red door hid secret documents that had to be collected by the spy in order to complete his mission. With the documents in hand, 17 arrived on the ground floor and made his getaway in a car waiting there for him.

Too easy, right? But let's not forget the blue doors in the building that concealed enemy agents bent on deterring you and Agent 17 from the task. You had to duck and weave to avoid their bullets but 17 could also produce some gunfire of his own. The plucky agent could shoot the bad guys or kick the crap out of them or even crush them with an elevator which became a player-controlled death device once Agent 17 was inside it. The longer you took to navigate the building, the more enemies appeared and things became harder as a result, so you had to be efficient and quick.

The spy theme didn't fail to entice gamers and Elevator Action became popular enough to warrant a sequel in the early 90s that featured more levels and a choice of three secret agents.