| The NES manual says the game was produced by Kemco, and its credits name Kotobuki System as producer and Seika Corporation as exclusive distributor. They credit the game concept to First Star Software and name Fernando Herrera and Richard M. Spitalny as project directors; the game is based on the Spy vs Spy characters created by Antonio Prohías, the property of E.C. Publications. | PDF p. 2, Instructionsback cover (PDF p. 24), creditsback cover (PDF p. 24), creditsback cover (PDF p. 24), creditsback cover (PDF p. 24), creditsback cover (PDF p. 24), credits | Manual |
| The NES manual calls itself Mad magazine's official instruction manual. It says Mad and Spy vs Spy are trademarks of E.C. Publications, used with permission, and that the game's audio-visual material was designed and copyrighted by First Star Software in 1984 and 1988. | front cover (PDF p. 1)printed p. 17 (PDF p. 19)printed p. 17 (PDF p. 19) | Manual |
| The player is a spy who has to escape an embassy before time runs out, carrying the top-secret briefcase filled with a passport, a bag of money, a key, and the secret papers, and board a plane through the embassy's only exit. | printed p. 2 (PDF p. 4), Mission Objectiveprinted p. 2 (PDF p. 4), Mission Objective | Manual |
| The NES game has three modes: Training, a simplified game in which a spy needs only the briefcase and one item; VS COM, against a computer-controlled spy; and VS PLAYER, for two players, with the white spy on controller 1 and the black spy on controller 2. It has eight levels in order of difficulty. Higher levels have more rooms, and as they go on a second floor is added; each level has its own time. | printed p. 3 (PDF p. 5), Game Optionsprinted p. 3 (PDF p. 5), Game Optionsprinted p. 3 (PDF p. 5), Game Optionsprinted p. 3 (PDF p. 5), Game Optionsprinted p. 3 (PDF p. 5), Game Optionsprinted p. 3 (PDF p. 5), Game Optionsprinted p. 3 (PDF p. 5), Game Optionsprinted p. 3 (PDF p. 5), Game Options | Manual |
| The screen is split: the top half follows the white spy and the bottom half the black spy, played by the second player or the computer. Both spies act at once, so each player has to watch and remember what the other does; the manual calls the two features Simulvision and Simulplay. | printed p. 8 (PDF p. 10), Game Elementsprinted p. 8 (PDF p. 10), Game Elementsprinted p. 8 (PDF p. 10), Game Elementsprinted p. 8 (PDF p. 10), Game Elements | Manual |
| The items are hidden in the rooms' furniture and behind their pictures, as weapons sometimes are, and opening or lifting an object can set off a booby trap instead. | printed p. 5 (PDF p. 7)printed p. 5 (PDF p. 7)printed p. 5 (PDF p. 7) | Manual |
| When both spies are in the same room they fight, with the A button. A spy who has collected a hidden weapon uses it automatically, and the first spy to find a given weapon keeps it for the whole game. Each hit weakens a spy; one whose power runs out leaves the screen for 10 seconds and loses 30 seconds from his clock, while the other plays on. Setting off a booby trap on purpose costs 10 seconds and restores full power. | printed p. 9 (PDF p. 11), Hand-to-Hand Combatprinted p. 9 (PDF p. 11), Hand-to-Hand Combatprinted p. 10 (PDF p. 12), Hand-to-Hand Combatprinted p. 10 (PDF p. 12), Hand-to-Hand Combatprinted p. 9 (PDF p. 11), Hand-to-Hand Combatprinted p. 9 (PDF p. 11), Hand-to-Hand Combatprinted p. 10 (PDF p. 12), Hand-to-Hand Combatprinted p. 10 (PDF p. 12), Hand-to-Hand Combat | Manual |
| Each spy can set four booby traps: dynamite bombs and giant springs, hidden in furniture or behind pictures; buckets of water, set on closed doors; and time bombs. Every trap but the time bomb has a remedy hidden in the rooms: the umbrella, always on the coat rack, guards against the bucket, wire cutters disarm the spring, and the water bucket protects against dynamite. The map marks a booby-trapped room with a small yellow square, but not time bombs; a spy who enters a room with one turns blue and has two seconds to get out. | printed p. 11 (PDF p. 13), Booby Trapsprinted p. 11 (PDF p. 13), Booby Trapsprinted p. 13 (PDF p. 15), Remediesprinted p. 13 (PDF p. 15), Remediesprinted p. 13 (PDF p. 15), Remediesprinted p. 16 (PDF p. 18), Floor Plan Mapsprinted p. 16 (PDF p. 18), Floor Plan Mapsprinted p. 13 (PDF p. 15), Remediesprinted p. 16 (PDF p. 18), Floor Plan Maps | Manual |
| In its report on the June 1988 Consumer Electronics Show, Computer Entertainer wrote that Kemco-Seika's only 1988 release would be Superman, and that it had also licensed Spy vs. Spy II: The Island Caper from First Star, among games mostly scheduled for 1989; describing Sega's Spy vs. Spy card, it called the Island Caper the game licensed to Kemco-Seika for the NES. The game Seika brought out for the NES in October 1988 was Spy vs. Spy, whose manual sets the mission in an embassy. | printed p. 2 (PDF p. 4), Mission Objective | Magazine |