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This page is about the arcade game Defender. For other uses of the term, see Defender.
Defender is a horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game created by Williams Electronics in 1980. It was programmed by Eugene Jarvis (who later formed Vid Kidz and made more of Williams' hits), Larry DeMar, Sam Dicker, and Paul Dussault. This game was an incredible hit when it was released and remained popular throughout the 1980s. It shares the title with Pac-Man as highest grossing arcade game ever.
Gameplay
The player flies a small, aerodynamically-shaped spaceship above a long, mountainous planetary landscape. The land is inhabited by a small number of humans. The landscape wraps around, so flying constantly in one direction will eventually bring the player back to their starting point.
A number of flying aliens reside in the air above the landscape. The player's responsibilities are twofold: To destroy all aliens, and to protect the humans from being captured. The player is armed with a powerful laser-like weapon which can be fired rapidly in a long horizontal line ahead of the spaceship.
Defender was the first arcade game to have events taking place outside the screen. A radar-like scanner at the top of the screen displays the positions of all aliens and humans on the landscape.
Aliens
 Defender aliens There are six types of aliens in total.
- Lander - The primary enemy on every level. Can fire projectiles at the player. Captures humans and can fuse with them to become Mutants. Landers teleport into the level in waves.
- Mutant - A mutated Lander. Homes in on the player at constant speed, firing projectiles.
- Baiter - A flat, iridescent spacecraft that teleports in if the player is taking too long to complete a level. Homes in on the player and attempts to match their speed, whilst firing accurate projectiles. A difficult opponent due to its unbeatable speed and tiny horizontal cross-section, which makes it very hard to shoot.
- Bomber - A box-shaped alien that lays stationary mines in the air.
- Pod - A starlike alien that bursts into a number of Swarmers when shot.
- Swarmer - A tiny teardrop-shaped alien that moves very quickly in an undulating fashion. Difficult to shoot.
Once all aliens (except Baiters) are destroyed, the player progresses to the next level.
Humans
Only Landers can capture a human. They descend on their hapless victim from above, and drag it vertically upward into the air. A warning sound is relayed to the player when this happens. If the Lander makes it all the way to the top of the screen with its captive, they fuse together to form a new, dangerous alien called a Mutant. Mutants home in on the player at a constant speed, and also fire at them.
To prevent this happening, the player must shoot ascending Landers and catch the human themselves before returning them to the ground.
If all humans are killed, the entire planet explodes, leaving the player in empty space. This also has the unfortunate effect of turning every Lander into a Mutant, making the player's job very difficult.
Controls
The control system of Defender is quite unusual compared to that of most shooters. Instead of the standard 'Up, Down, Left, Right' system, it had a 'Reverse' button to toggle the player's horizontal direction, a 'Thrust' button to move in that direction, and a joystick to move up or down. There was also a Fire button for shooting, and a Hyperdrive button which teleported the player to a random position in the level. The game also had a "Smart bomb" button which would only destroy all onscreen aliens. The player has only a small reserve of these bombs, so they need to be used sparingly.
Legacy
After the success of Defender, there was a successful sequel called Stargate made in 1982, of which 26,000 units were made. After Stargate came Strike Force in 1991. It was one of the first games on WMS's (Bally and Williams Electronics merged in 1986 to form WMS Industries, but kept the Bally, Williams, and Midway labels) new T-Unit arcade hardware.
Defender is listed as one of the "Top 100 Videogames" of all time by the Killer List of Videogames (KLOV).
Ports
Defender has been ported to most video game consoles of the early 1980s. More recently Defender was included in Midway Arcade Treasures, a compilation available for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles.
See also
External links
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