Black Widow (arcade game)

Encyclopedia : B : BL : BLA : Black Widow (arcade game)

For other uses of the term see Black Widow (Disambiguation).

Black Widow is an vector arcade game developed by Atari released in 1982. The player takes the titular role of a Black widow spider defending a web from invading bugs. The player must move the spider around the web while simultaneously shooting/avoiding various bugs and collecting the bonuses that appear after the enemies are elminated. The spider is controlled through two joysticks; the left one is used to move the spider, and the right one is used to control the shot direction.

Contents

1 Gameplay

1.1 Enemies and Scoring

2 Trivia
3 External links

Gameplay

The game is a fixed shooter and is very similar to Robotron 2084 by Williams. Unlike Robotron, Black Widow does not have as many enemies on-screen. However, the gameplay has been characterized as just as intense as its Williams counterpart. This is due to the fact that in order to destroy certain enemies, the player must lure other enemies into destroying them. It is further differentiated by the Bug Slayer, a bug that helps the player eliminate enemies, with only 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 amount of extra lives necessary to endure later, more difficult, rounds. Also, 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 it reaches maturity.

Black Widow in action

Enemies and Scoring

Mosquito - If shot, becomes '$'.
Beetle - Eats '$', but if shot, becomes '$'.
Hornet - Lays an egg on '$', but if shot, becomes '$'.
Egg - Grows to become hornet or spoiler. Must be pushed off the web to score 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, or even 2500 points.
Grub Steak - Tag for 500, 250, 100, or 50 points -- the sooner the better.
Spoiler - Invulnerable. Can only be destroyed by a grenade, bug slayer or rocket bug.
Grenade - Explodes if shot. Bugs and eggs within the kill zone score 500 points each.
Rocket Bug - Invulnerable. Launches "rockettes" at black widow from the other bugs it tags. Shoot rockettes to score 100 points each.
Thunderbug - If shot, it breaks formation and attacks. If shot again, it explodes all other T-bugs for 5000 points. Keep away from all T-bugs to earn 10000 points. The resulting chain reaction from multiple thunderbugs is very dangerous and can encompass over 80% of the level at some times, depending on how many T-bugs are involved.
Bug Slayer - Harmless to the player and invulnerable. The Bug Slayer competes with the Black Widow for food. Beat it to its flashing prey for points

Trivia

Black Widow actually came out as a conversion kit for Gravitar, which met poor commercial success. The kit included a new marquee, control panel, sideart, and an additional wiring harness. The kit used the original Gravitar PCB, with a few small modifications and a new set of ROM chips.

External links

[Black Widow entry] on the Killer List of Videogames

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.