''Black Widow'' is a

multidirectional shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of charac ...

developed by

Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...

and released in arcades in 1982. The game uses color

vector graphics Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector display a ...

. The player controls a

black widow spider ''Latrodectus'' is a broadly distributed genus of spiders with several species that are commonly known as the true widows. This group is composed of those often loosely called black widow spiders, brown widow spiders, and similar spiders. Howeve ...

via two joysticks, one to move and one to fire, defending the web from insects. ''Black Widow'' was offered as a conversion kit for ''

Gravitar ''Gravitar'' is a color vector graphics multidirectional shooter arcade video game released by Atari, Inc. in 1982. Using the same "rotate-and-thrust" controls as ''Asteroids'' and ''Space Duel'', the game was known for its high level of diffic ...

'' (1982), a game which was not commercially successful. The kit uses the original ''Gravitar''

PCB PCB may refer to: Science and technology * Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant * Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics * ...

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'' sideart.

Gameplay

To destroy certain enemies, the player must lure other enemies into destroying them. There is also 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 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 it reaches maturity.

Enemies and Scoring

Mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...

- If shot, becomes '$'. *

Beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

- Eats '$', but if shot, becomes '$'. *

Hornet Hornets (insects in the genus ''Vespa'') are the largest of the eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to their close relatives yellowjackets. Some species can reach up to in length. They are distinguished from other vespine wasps by th ...

- 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, bug slayer or rocket bug. * Grenade Bug - 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 1000 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

Reception

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

Legacy

''Black Widow'' was included in ''Atari Anniversary Edition Redux'' for the

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

, released in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. In

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

could play ''Black Widow'' as part of ''Atari - 80 Classic Games in One!''. Released in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, ''

Atari Anthology ''Atari: 80 Classic Games in One!'', known as ''Atari Anthology'' on consoles, is a video game collection developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Atari Interactive. The title is a compilation of 80 video games previously published by Atari, I ...

'' ported the game to the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

gaming consoles, and in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, the

Nokia N-Gage The N-Gage is a smartphone combining features of a mobile phone and a handheld game system developed by Nokia, announced on 4 November 2002 and released on 7 October 2003. It runs the original Series 60 platform on Symbian OS v6.1. N-Gage att ...

cellular phone received a copy of ''Black Widow'' in ''Atari Masterpieces Volume 1''. James Vollandt holds the official record for this game with a maximum 930,100 points. On 29 September 2021, Atari announced a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

, ''Black Widow: Recharged'' for consoles (including the

Atari VCS The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...

) and PC. It was released on 28 October 2021.

References

External links

*{{KLOV game, id=7139, name=Black Widow
''Black Widow''
at the Arcade History database
''Rare Game Room Gems: Black Widow by Atari''
at The GameRoom Blog
Caught in the Web: An Appreciation of Ataris Black Widow
at the Retroist 1982 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Atari games Atari arcade games Twin-stick shooters Vector arcade video games Video games about insects Video games developed in the United States Video games about spiders Single-player video games