I have been looking for this fragmented, vague, young memory of this game forever. At first I thought it was spy vs spy, for some reason that popped into my head, but it wasn't that game, wasn't multiplayer, I don't think, but maybe same Era?
Basically I remember it being a side scroller, might have been multiple gameplay styles but I only remember the first part I could never beat at my age, I was some kind of thief or spy, running from the cops, and you basically moved from left to right avoiding letting the police spotlight touch you, or you lose. But it wasn't platformer style so much, you would time your movements, then run behind something before the spotlight came back, or you could hide in a dumpster, or hide behind a door or something, then when the time was right pop out and run to the next hiding place. Someone's got to know this one! May have been snes or so.