Spider Fighter

Spider Fighter is a fixed shooter designed by Larry Miller for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1982.[1] The manual states that "Larry is the newest addition to the Activision design team."[2] He went on to create the Atari 2600 racing game Enduro for Activision, released in 1983.[1]

Spider Fighter
Developer(s)Activision
Publisher(s)Activision
Programmer(s)Larry Miller[1]
Platform(s)Atari 2600
Release1982
Genre(s)Fixed shooter
Mode(s)Single-player

The object of Spider Fighter is to protect an orchard containing fruit—grapes, strawberries, oranges, and bananas—from four kinds of bugs.[2] Digital Press described it as "much like the coin-op game Stratovox but w/o the voice."[3]

Gameplay

At the time of release, a photo of the TV screen showing a score of 40,000 points or higher would earn the player a patch for the Activision "Spider Fighters."[2]

Reception

Spider Fighter was not as successful as Activision's other fixed shooter released earlier the same year, Megamania.

Electronic Fun with Computers & Games gave the game 3 out 4 joysticks in the May 1983 issue.[4] A June 1983 Electronic Games review was more critical, claiming it a "keen disappointment" and a "mediocre title from a superior game company."[5] Joystik took the middle road, calling it "a better than average bottom-shoot game that somehow looks like it should be more difficult than it is."[6]

In an AtariHQ review long after the game's release, Keita Iida said "2600 players who are familiar with Activision's usual efforts (which are exceptional overall) might feel a bit let down by Spider Fighter."[7]

See also

References
  1. Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. "Spider Fighter Manual". archive.org.
  3. "The Digital Press Virtual Collectors Guide". Digital Press.
  4. Wiswell, Phil (May 1983). "Spider Fighter". Electronic Fun with Computers & Games: 64.
  5. "Spider Fighter". Electronic Games: 40. June 1983.
  6. Gorzelany, Jim (July 1983). "The Home Front: Spider Fighter". Joystik. 1 (6): 61.
  7. Iida, Keita. "Spider Fighter". AtariHQ.
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