Difference between revisions of "Spider Fighter"

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[[Image:Spider Fighter - 2600 - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|2600 box art.]]
 
[[Image:Spider Fighter - 2600 - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|2600 box art.]]
  
'''''Spider Fighter''''', is a single-screen shooter developed by [[Larry Miller]] and published by [[Activision]] in 1982 for the [[Atari 2600]]. It is very similar to the [[Taito]] arcade game [[Stratovox]].
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'''''Spider Fighter''''', is a [[fixed shooter]] developed by [[Larry Miller]] and published by [[Activision]] in 1982 for the [[Atari 2600]]. It is very similar to the [[Taito]] arcade game [[Stratovox]].
  
 
==Personal==
 
==Personal==
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[[Category: 1982 Video Games]]
 
[[Category: 1982 Video Games]]
 
[[Category: Video Game Prime Order - Action, Adventure, Strategy]]
 
[[Category: Video Game Prime Order - Action, Adventure, Strategy]]
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[[Category: Video Game Genre - Fixed Shooter]]
 
[[Category: Video Game Genre - Shooter]]
 
[[Category: Video Game Genre - Shooter]]
 
[[Category: Video Game Genre - Single-Screen]]
 
[[Category: Video Game Genre - Single-Screen]]

Revision as of 15:52, 24 June 2022

2600 box art.

Spider Fighter, is a fixed shooter developed by Larry Miller and published by Activision in 1982 for the Atari 2600. It is very similar to the Taito arcade game Stratovox.

Personal

My family had this game as part of a large collection of Atari games we got at a garage sale in the mid 1980s. I liked the game because it was far more interesting than similar single-screen shooters, but it was also so fast-paced that I wasn't very good at it.

Status

I own this game. I've never made a serious attempt to top out the score (the game stops counting at 900,000).

Review

Video Game Review Icon - Enjoyment.png Video Game Review Icon - Control.png Video Game Review Icon - Appearance.png Video Game Review Icon - Sound.png Video Game Review Icon - Replayability.png
3 2 3 3 2

Best Version: Atari 2600

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • For a system that wasn't built to support dozens of sprites moving around the screen at once, the game certainly pulls it off, flicker free.
  • Unlike most single-screen shooters where the targets usually follow predictable blocky routes, the enemies in the game have much more fluid movements.
  • I like the idea of the Spy Pods "hatching" into stingers if you shoot the Master Nest first. It adds to the strategy of the game to take out the weaker foes first.
  • The game has some pretty decent jingles for an Atari 2600 game.

Bad

  • Because the Master Nests always spawn from the left, it becomes an effective strategy to hug the left side of the screen for the majority of the game, which is kind of boring.

Ugly

  • The enemies often stick to the bottom of the screen making avoiding their bombs a matter of luck rather than skill.
  • Like most shooters of this era, there is an all-encompassing sameness to the game. You max out the difficulty after about a dozen rounds, and then, to top out the score, it takes about another half hour of repeating the same thing over and over again.

Media

Box Art

Documentation

Credits

Role Staff
Entire Game Larry Miller

Videos

Commercial.
Longplay - Max score.

Links

Link-MobyGames.png  Link-Wikipedia.png  Link-AtariAge.png