According to the manual, Miller was "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]
The player still has all three oranges (upper right).
In each level, the player protects three pieces of fruit using a blaster that moves horizontally along the bottom of the screen. The joystick button fires a shot upward toward four types of attackers. Each level contains a set number of "master nests": enemies which can grab a piece of fruit and drag it off the left side of the screen. A nest drops the fruit when shot. The game ends if all fruit has been stolen or all of the blasters are destroyed. The type of fruit varies per level: grapes, strawberries, oranges, and bananas.
There is an option to have the shots move horizontally with the blaster after being fired, allowing them to be steered.[2]
At the time of release, anyone who sent a photo showing a score of 40,000 or more points received a patch for the Activision "Spider Fighters."[2]
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 retrospective review, 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]
