Opinions: Gravitar or Black Widow?

FlashbaxArcade

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which would you take if you could only have one?
which one is better/more fun to play?
what about Space Duel also?

i didn't have much experience in playin these when i was a kid so do not know much about them but love sideart and vectors!!!

thanks for your opinions
 
I never much cared for Gravitar; but I only played it a few times. Space Duel is one of my all time favorites; you can play one or two players with attached or detached ships. Sounds and graphics are awesome. Black Widow is freekin cool, too. A friend of mine had this game a few years ago; and that was the first time I had ever played it. Its very intense and fast paced. I would take a Black Widow over a Gravitar any day; but I'd take Space Duel first. Just my opinion, though. You're going to get a lot of different responses here...
 
yeah, I dig black widow too, kind of robotron like.

1. space duel
1A black widow
3 gravitar
 
#1 Space duel. One of my favorites.. I put it ahead of tempest and star wars(but its close). you can plug Gravitar into the SD harness and it will almost work. So you can play all 3 games in the cabinet with a little work..

#2 black widow.. Plus if you ever want to go gravitar your a CP and pcb away. If you go gravitar to BW, you need to add 4 wires to the harness. Plus I think BW is the harder to find game.. Especially if you find one with side art. In my mind, BW is slightly better than major havoc.

#3 gravitar. Good game, but its back of the pack. The only game I put it ahead of is ESB.
 
if i could only have 1.....BW....high intense game play.
 
i forgot about Major Havoc too! never played it but heard good things...

thanks for your opinions and keep them comin....please!
 
Here's my list.

1. Gravitar
2. Space Duel
3. Black Widow

Black Widow doesn't really do much for me, but I love Gravitar's multiple planets and level difficulty, and Space Duel's 2 player aspect.
 
As you can see, there's a lot of opinions and they mostly contradict each other as far as preference between the two go. It really comes down to what appeals to you for gameplay.

I had a BW for a while and sold it to a guy with two Gravitars as I wasn't overly fond of the BW gameplay. Love the Gravitar though it doesn't get much play as it's too hard for the little ones. Most people never get past the planet map screen thinking it's a very simple game. ;)

However, I recently bought a BW kit; board, marquee and cp to trade out on my Gravitar from time to time. Now I've decided to try and find a dedicated cab to have both running.

They're both games with a slightly longer learning curve than most arcade games but they're also so unlike any other games out there that they really stand out to me.

To answer your question,

1. Gravitar
2. BW


Where in TX are you?
 
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Gravitar is by far one of the deepest games out there. If you like a challenging game that isn't too hectic, that just keeps on giving, then it is worth learning the controls. You get 3 solar systems with several planets in each. It gets harder, but without getting faster.

Black Widow seems to me like Atari's answer to Robotron. I like the graphics and the game is OK, but it just doesn't hold my interest for very long. Too many things on the screen to keep track of at one time.

Space Duel is a good 2 player games, but it really doesn't offer anything different after the first several screens. It is just the same thing over and over, and those damn plus marks are a PITA, and just won;t go away.

So if you want a game where people who have never played them before can drop a quarter, and play for a few minutes before moving on, I say go for BW or SD. If you want a game that you can get to know, that will challenge you , and that you will have to work at, then there is no question, Gravitar is your game.
 
All of these games can be pretty easily run in a single cabinet. My advice would be to buy the cabinet that you like best art wise and then make yourself the control panel adapters to play each of the games. It is easiest to start with a Space Duel cabinet as the wiring harness is the easiest to modify. All of this can be done in a completely reversable manner.

Also be aware that the BW and Gravitar boards are identical and can play either game with a ROM swap and removal or addition of two small components.
 
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