005

005 is a 1981 arcade game from Sega and one of the earliest attempts at spy-themed action anywhere. The name is a transparent wink at the famous agent with zeros in his codename — you play a secret agent who must deliver a briefcase of documents without getting caught along the way.

For its time the concept is remarkable. While the arcades of 1981 were ruled by shooters and Pac-Man-style chase games, 005 built its play around avoidance. Guards sweep the area with flashlight beams, and the task is not to eliminate them but to slip past — which makes the title one of the earliest ancestors of what would later be called the stealth genre.

The rhythm of play follows from that. You move through screens, read patrol routes, wait for the right moment and dash between hiding spots. Detection is punished instantly, so the game rewards observation and timing far more than fast fingers — a genuinely unusual proposition in 1981, when reflexes were the arcade's only currency.

With this cabinet Sega showed that an arcade machine did not have to be about firepower. Although 005 never reached the fame of later spy games, it is an exceptional historical artefact: few places let you see the foundation stones of sneaking games laid so early and so legibly.

OldGame.cz offers the cabinet for immediate play — the game's page starts the emulator right in your browser.