Black Widow: Recharged (in VCS Store)

[justclaws]

RetroRob also did an extended play of Black Widow: Recharged on the VCS.
 

 

[Skeeter]

For some reason I was under the impression that these "Recharged" Atari games were only available on the new VCS. Yeah, I'm way out of the loop here.

 

Anyway, when I saw this on Steam I decided to take a chance on it. Even with the one life perma death I liked it enough to go ahead and grab the others, Centipede and Missile Command.

 

Missile Command is so-so, but Centipede is cool with it's mouse control and I'm digging this twin stick Black Widow and I'm looking forward to Asteroids. These new "Recharged" games have actually got me thinking about getting an Atari VCS now. I probably won't for the foreseeable future as money is tight but who knows, it's definitely back on my radar now.

[+SabertoothRetro]

I've finally made it to the VCS exclusive challenges. For those that are interested, here are the titles:

 

 

Spoiler

31. Restricted

32. X Marks the Spot

33. I Hate Eggs

34. Swarming

35. More Restricted

36. Mix it Up

37. Grenadier

38. More Swarming

39. No Space

40. Survive

 

Oddly, the in-game music appears to be missing from these levels. 

[Mockduck]

8 hours ago, SabertoothRetro said:

I've finally made it to the VCS exclusive challenges. For those that are interested, here are the titles:

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

31. Restricted

32. X Marks the Spot

33. I Hate Eggs

34. Swarming

35. More Restricted

36. Mix it Up

37. Grenadier

38. More Swarming

39. No Space

40. Survive

 

Oddly, the in-game music appears to be missing from these levels. 

Wow nice, I can barely get started on the challenges. Not doing too great at this one, best score is just shy of 9k. 

[+SabertoothRetro]

Just in time for Asteroids Recharged, I've finally cleared all challenges in single player mode for Black Widow. 

 

The VCS challenges were among the most difficult of the game. "More Restricted" (#35) was by far the most challenging. I wanted to chuck my controller across the room more than a few times. I gotta say, it was a fist pumping moment when I got past that one! 

 

Good luck to everyone still playing. Looking forward to Asteroids this week! 

 

 

 

[SizzleAtari]

I can't even play the game anymore, the rotation is off now for some reason. I'm not sure what happened. When you move the spider around, it doesn't move smoothly anymore.

Edited December 28, 2021 by SizzleAtari

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

Doesn’t sound to good! I’ve recently installed an update for the game only a day or so ago and can’t say I’ve noticed an issue playing with the controller. I’ll give the joystick with rotation controlls a try later today with the game to see if I experience similar results after the update and will post back. 

[stirrell]

1 hour ago, SizzleAtari said:

I can't even play the game anymore, the rotation is off now for some reason. I'm not sure what happened. When you move the spider around, it doesn't move smoothly anymore.

I just tried it and am having the same issue. With the modern controller, using twin stick, the left stick used to control the movement and the right stick would determine the shooting direction. It seems like, to me, that the left stick acts the same after the update but that the right stick *rotates* the spider around instead of shooting in the direction of the stick. It almost seems like this should be the behavior of the Classic stick and not the modern controller. I can't imagine that this control change was intended and that it is, appropriately enough, a bug.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

Tried the game myself and can confirm the controls are messed up for me too on both the controller and joystick!. I think they’ll be an update released soon to resolve this but definitely annoying. 

[ColecoGamer]

I personally haven’t noticed any changes to Black Widow: Recharged. But then again, I haven’t downloaded the update to the game either.

[SizzleAtari]

I'm glad I'm not crazy, hadn't played it in a couple weeks but I knew it contolled differently. It's unplayable as of now for me. It's kinda hard to begin with, but the way it controls now, it's just awful. 

[SizzleAtari]

19 minutes ago, ColecoGamer said:

I personally haven’t noticed any changes to Black Widow: Recharged. But then again, I haven’t downloaded the update to the game either.

Don't do it!!

[Kris1977]

Anyone having issues with Black Widow Recharged controls? On my right stick it shoots left when I hold up and up when I hold left. Shoots right holding down and down holding right. My controller is calibrated and I even tried out Black Widow Arcade in Atari Vault finding it working perfect. I did have a tester version of the game downloaded but there was an update to correct it just as user justclaws said there would be. Now the controls are off and wondering if I'm the only one. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Kris1977

[stirrell]

Other people, including me, are seeing this issue as well:

 

Hopefully Atari will squash this bug soon.

[+SabertoothRetro]

Another update was pushed today. It may be a reversion to an earlier, more stable build as it does not have the leaderboard placeholders. But the controllers work again!

[stirrell]

6 minutes ago, SabertoothRetro said:

Another update was pushed today. It may be a reversion to an earlier, more stable build as it does not have the leaderboard placeholders. But the controllers work again!

The only negative to this is that I actually had a real legit excuse to why I was so terrible at Black Widow! A case where blaming the controller was justified.

[ColecoGamer]

1 hour ago, SabertoothRetro said:

Another update was pushed today. It may be a reversion to an earlier, more stable build as it does not have the leaderboard placeholders. But the controllers work again!

This is good to know. It sounds like the previous update was really messed up.

[justclaws]

I contacted the Recharged games producer, (see their videos) and the developer Adam, saying it was urgent.
I was happy to hear back from the Recharged producer, that the latest update should fix the previous goof-ups.

I hope they worked out how this sequence of things happened, and how to prevent it ever happening again! 😕

[+sixersfan105]

On 12/29/2021 at 1:59 PM, justclaws said:

I contacted the Recharged games producer, (see their videos) and the developer Adam, saying it was urgent.
I was happy to hear back from the Recharged producer, that the latest update should fix the previous goof-ups.

I hope they worked out how this sequence of things happened, and how to prevent it ever happening again! 😕

Did that update fix it? I believe my Black Widow version pre-dates the buggy version, so just wanted to be sure if I update now, I'll be ok. 

[stirrell]

1 hour ago, sixersfan105 said:

Did that update fix it? I believe my Black Widow version pre-dates the buggy version, so just wanted to be sure if I update now, I'll be ok.

The updated version fixed the control issues that had been introduced for me.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

Just noticed Black Widow Recharged is now free on the Epic Games Store for anyone interested!. It’s worth a download on PC even if you already have it on the VCS. It’s free untill 3/10/2022 

[The Helper]

I just downloaded Black Widow and Centipede for free for PC from Epic.

[+SabertoothRetro]

Having fun with Black Widow: Recharged on Friday the 13th with this "death reel." Some deaths are at laughably low scores. Is this the Demon's Souls of the Recharged series? 🕸️🕸️🕷️