Black Widow (video game)

Last updated
Black Widow
Bwidow manualcover.png
Manual cover
Developer(s) Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s) Atari, Inc.
Designer(s) Bruce Merritt [1]
Programmer(s) Bruce Merritt
Platform(s) Arcade
Release
Genre(s) Twin-stick shooter
Mode(s) Single-player

Black Widow is a 1983 twin-stick shooter video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for arcades. The player controls a black widow spider using one joystick to move and one to fire, defending the web from insects.

Contents

Black Widow was offered as a conversion kit for Gravitar (1982), a game which was not commercially successful.[ citation needed ] The kit uses the original Gravitar PCB with a few modifications and a new set of ROM chips. Many factory-built Black Widow machines were produced using unsold Gravitar cabinets with Black Widow side art applied over the Gravitar art.[ citation needed ]

Gameplay

Gameplay Blackwidow2.png
Gameplay

To destroy certain enemies, the player must lure other enemies into destroying them. The Bug Slayer is a bug that helps the player eliminate enemies, with loss of potential points being the only consequence. The Bug Slayer can help the player in tough situations, but can also prevent the player from achieving the number of extra lives necessary to endure later, more difficult, rounds.

Other enemies appear on the playing field as eggs, laid by other enemies. The player can move these eggs off the playing field to both eliminate the enemy and receive points, before they reach maturity.

Enemies and scoring

Reception

Black Widow topped the US RePlay arcade chart for software conversion kits in May 1983. [3]

Legacy

Black Widow was included in Atari Anniversary Edition Redux for the PlayStation in 2001. In 2003, it was included in Atari - 80 Classic Games in One! for Microsoft Windows. In 2004, it was included in Atari Anthology for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and in 2005, it was included in Atari Masterpieces Volume 1 for the N-Gage.

James Vollandt holds the official record for this game, with a maximum 930,100 points. [4]

A remake, Black Widow: Recharged, was released for consoles (including the Atari VCS) and PC in October 2021.

References

  1. Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. "Production Numbers" (PDF). Atari. 1999. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2013.
  3. "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. May 1983.
  4. Twin Galaxies. "Black Window Scores". Archived from the original on October 23, 2007. Retrieved July 19, 2010.