Defender
Developer(s)	Williams Electronics
Publisher(s)	Williams Electronics
Designer(s)	Eugene Jarvis
Release date(s)	1980
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Platform(s)	Arcade game
Input	Joystick; 5 buttons
Arcade cabinet	Standard and cocktail

Defender is a horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game created by Williams Electronics in 1980. It was designed and 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 a hit when it was released and remained popular throughout the 1980s. Screenshot from the arcade game Defender by Williams. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... Williams is a long-standing electronic gaming and amusement company based in Chicago, Illinois. ... Video game publishers are companies that publish video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer. ... Williams is a long-standing electronic gaming and amusement company based in Chicago, Illinois. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... Eugene Peyton Jarvis (born 1955) is a game designer and programmer, producing pinball machines for Atari and video games for Williams Electronics. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... This is a listing of computer and video game genres with brief descriptions and examples from each genre. ... This is a listing of computer and video game genres with brief descriptions and examples from each genre. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ... This arcade cabinet, containing Centipede, is an upright. ... Scrolling shooters are a type of video game, a subgenre of shoot em up . ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Williams is a long-standing electronic gaming and amusement company based in Chicago, Illinois. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Eugene Peyton Jarvis (born 1955) is a game designer and programmer, producing pinball machines for Atari and video games for Williams Electronics. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive, informally sometimes including the years 1979, 1990 and 1991. ...

Development history

At the time Eugene Jarvis first came to the company, Williams was just about to make their move into the fledgling video game market. Eventually, Jarvis was given the job of developing the project. As the project progressed, he eventually got other people involved in the game's development (including Larry DeMar, with whom he would later co-found their company, Vid Kidz). Defender was developed using the "Exorcisor", a computer from Motorola that Jarvis describes as "the most bloated, overpriced computer ever created". This article is about computer and video games. ... Neverwinter Nights, a popular modern computer role-playing game, features a powerful 3D graphics engine. ... A Lego RCX Computer is an example of an embedded computer used to control mechanical devices. ... Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is an American international communications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. ...

Jarvis initially worked on the game on his own, added the scrolling land, and added some humans on the land, but lacked a narrative. One night while falling asleep he dreamt of the aliens following the land and picking up the humans and carrying them off and then turning into mutants, with the player trying to stop them. He had his game.

Initially the game was too easy, like flying in a tank of water, but the gameplay picked up considerably when 'baiters' were added which appeared after a set time period; the baiters kept the player under constant time pressure to finish the level; giving a sweaty hand feeling.

At one point, when the game was nearly complete, the highest score anyone had ever managed was 50,000 points, and many people thought that this was a fluke. Indeed, the development team almost didn't add extra levels, since they thought that nobody would reach them, the game was judged to be ridiculously hard.

When the time came for the game to make its debut at the AMOA trade show, the game still wasn't complete. The game had everything: its complex controls, its cabinet graphics, and the Defender marquee. However, it was missing one important thing: the ROM chip that actually contained the game. A trade fair (or trade show) is an exhibition organised so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their new products and services. ... This arcade cabinet, containing Centipede, is an upright. ... Apollo Theater marquee, c. ... Read-only memory (ROM) is a class of storage media used in computers and other electronic devices. ...

When the game was finally finished, the machine wouldn't come on the first time the ROM chips were inserted, they accidentally plugged them in upside-down and destroyed the chips in the process, however when the ROMs were "burned" (the method of transferring the game from the development computer to the arcade machine's ROM chips) a second time, it did come on. Unfortunately, nobody would play the game; because of its complex controls, many of the showgoers felt that the game was too complicated to play. In the end it was believed that this game, along with Pac-Man, would fail, and that Rally-X would be the top money earner. The game went on to sell more than 60,000 units—more than disproving these projections—and cemented its place in video game history.^[1] Pac-Man is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution by Midway Games in 1979. ... Rally-X is an arcade game that was released by Namco in 1980. ...

Gameplay

The player flies a small spaceship above a long, mountainous landscape (in all versions, except the Atari 2600 edition due to memory limitations; in that case, the landscape consisted of a city represented by buildings). 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. The players ship can fly through the landscape without being destroyed. Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta probe on 2nd of March, 2004. ... Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska (USA) has the highest visible base-to-summit elevation on Earth (approximately 5400 metres). ... The Atari 2600, released in 1977, is the first successful video game console to use plug-in cartridges instead of having one or more games built in. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin for wise man or knowing man) under the family Hominidae (the great apes). ...

A number of flying aliens reside in the air above the landscape. The player's responsibilities are twofold: The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, currently used by the SETI project in the search for extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth, the only place in the universe known to support life. ...

1. Destroy all aliens
2. Protect the humans from being captured

The player is armed with a beam-like weapon which can be fired rapidly in a long horizontal line ahead of the spaceship, and also has a limited supply of smart bombs (three, to begin with), which can destroy every enemy on the screen. BOLT-117 laser guided bomb Precision-guided munitions (smart munitions or smart bombs) are self-guiding weapons intended to maximize damage to the target while minimizing collateral damage. Because the damage effects of an explosive weapon scale as a power law with distance, quite modest improvements in accuracy (and hence...

At the top of the screen is a radar-like scanner, which displays the positions of all aliens and humans on the landscape. This long range radar antenna, known as ALTAIR, is used to detect and track space objects in conjunction with ABM testing at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein atoll[1]. Radar is a system that uses radio waves to detect, determine the distance of, and map, objects such...

Aliens

Defender's attract mode shows the various types of aliens featured in the game.

There are six types of aliens in total: Screenshot from the arcade game Defender, depicting the game aliens. ... The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, currently used by the SETI project in the search for extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth, the only place in the universe known to support life. ...

• Lander - The primary enemy on every level. Landers teleport into the level in staggered waves. They attempt to capture humans by descending upon them and dragging them into the air; if they make it to the top of the screen with a human, the two fuse together into a more dangerous Mutant. Landers can fire projectiles at the player.
• Mutant - A mutated Lander. Mutants home in on the player at constant speed, firing projectiles. They move erratically, making them difficult to shoot.
• 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 vertical cross-section, which makes it very hard to shoot.
• Bomber - A box-shaped alien that lays stationary mines in the air.
• Pod - A star-like 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. A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy ships or submarines. ...

Humans

The game starts with ten humans inhabiting the land. Landers will attempt to capture and fuse with these during play.

To rescue a human from capture, the player must shoot the Lander holding it while it is in the air, causing the human to drop back to the ground. At low height humans can survive the drop on their own, but if the Lander is killed at too high an altitude, the player must catch the human with their own ship and return them to the ground, otherwise the human will not survive the drop.

The humans can be killed by the player's weapon just as easily as the aliens can, so careful aim is required when firing near them.

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.

All ten humans are replenished every fifth wave, starting with wave five. If the planet explodes, the player has to survive mutant-filled waves until the next multiple of five wave arrives, when the planet will be restored.

Scoring

As well as the points gained by killing aliens, scores are also awarded for the following:

• Human falling back to the ground without dying: 250 points
• Catching a falling human: 500 points
• Returning a human to the ground: 500 points
• Human surviving the level: 100 points per human, increasing by 100 each wave until wave 5, then 500 per human every following wave.

The player receives an extra life and an extra smart bomb every 10000 points on the game's default settings, although this can be changed by the operator.

"Tournament mode" is a common competition setting where the player starts with five ships and smart bombs, but no additional ships or smart bombs are awarded. Scores over 200,000 at this setting are extremely difficult to achieve.

Controls

The control system of the Defender arcade game is quite unusual compared to that of most shooters. Instead of the standard 'Up, Down, Left, Right' system, it has a joystick to move up and down, a 'Reverse' button to toggle the player's horizontal direction, and a 'Thrust' button to move in that direction. There is also a Fire button for shooting, a button to activate a smart bomb, and a hyperspace button which teleports the player to a random position in the level, at a risk of either exploding upon rematerialization, or materializing onto an enemy or enemy projectile. Scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope depicting the inside of a starship entering hyperspace. ... Teleportation is the alleged process of moving objects from one place to another more or less instantaneously, without passing through the intervening space. ...

In practice, the layout of the controls was uncomfortable for some players. The thrust, fire and smart bomb buttons layout tended to cause cramping of the right hand, and the left hand was uncomfortable also. The hyperspace button was placed in the middle between the two hands, and in practice was very difficult to reach quickly.

Bugs

The game had some notable bugs and features:

• The 6809 processor was stressed with all the requirements of running the game. When a lot of objects are on the screen simultaneously the game starts to run much more slowly, to minimise this effect, the game randomly teleports aliens away from the player. The game also moves aliens further to compensate to minimise the obviousness of the slowdown, but this caused numerous other bugs and issues, like making the aliens much harder to hit.
• Related to the previous bug, if the player manages to pick up all the humans, if the player repeatedly fires, redrawing the humans and firing consumes enough processor power that all the enemies all get teleported away, and the game basically stops.
• The control keys weren't polled often enough by the software- in particular briefly pushing the reverse button would sometimes be completely ignored (particularly when a lot was happening at the time); in addition the fire button works only intermittently.
• Once the score reaches 990,000 points, anything the player does that creates points (Shooting a lander=150 points, getting hit by a bullet=25 points, etc) awards the player an extra life and smart bomb until the score rolls over to zero at 1,000,000 points. The player continues with all of the extra lives and smart bombs they were awarded, but they will not get any more until they have reached score they would have needed to earn them at the game's award level settings. In other words, if you win 46 lives with this bug between 990,000 and 1,000,000 points on a machine set to award new lives and smart bombs every 10,000 points, you will not get an extra life until 460,00 points past the rollover to 0 points.
• Related to this bug, the top score any player can ever achieve on the high score board is 999,975 points. If the player rolls the score over past 1,000,000 points to 0 points, then dies, their score will not be recorded in the high score board, and the game will think that they got "0" points despite the fact that they got 1,000,000 points. The only way to die without getting points is to use Hyperspace and die on re-entry. Any collision with an enemy will award points and give the player an extra life.

The Motorola 6809 is an 8-bit* microprocessor from Motorola, introduced circa 1979. ...

Legacy

Defender 3D

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 Midway and Williams Electronics merged in 1986 to form WMS Industries, but kept the Bally, Williams, and Midway labels) new T-Unit arcade hardware. Image File history File links Nudefender. ... Image File history File links Nudefender. ... This article is about the 1980s Stargate video game. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Midway Games (NYSE: MWY) is a video game publisher known for such game series as Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and Spy Hunter. ... Williams is a long-standing electronic gaming and amusement company based in Chicago, Illinois. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1995, Jeff Minter created Defender 2000 for the Atari Jaguar video game console, published by Williams Electronics. 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jeff Yak Minter (born in Reading, April 22, 1962) is a British computer/video game designer and programmer. ... The Atari Jaguar was a video game console introduced to the US market in November 1993 against the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as a powerful next generation platform. ... Williams is a long-standing electronic gaming and amusement company based in Chicago, Illinois. ...

In 2002, Midway published a 3D remake of Defender for Sony's PlayStation 2 video game console as well as the Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. Also in 2002, Midway published a 2D remake of Defender for the Game Boy Advance. An IGN reviewer said of this game, "I haven't seen a worse classic remake since Atari botched Pac-Man on the 2600 more than two decades ago."^[2] For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Midway Games (NYSE: MWY) is an American video game publisher known for such game series as Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam and Spy Hunter. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... PS2 redirects here. ... Xbox and a Controller S The Xbox is Microsofts game console, released on November 15, 2001. ... The Nintendo GameCube (Japanese: ゲームキューブ; originally code-named Dolphin during development; officially abbreviated as GCN by Nintendo of America) is Nintendos fourth home video game console, belonging to the sixth generation era—the same generation as Segas Dreamcast, Sonys PlayStation 2, and Microsofts Xbox. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Later ports of Stargate were relabeled Defender II since Midway no longer had the rights to use the name.

Defender is listed as one of the "Top 100 Videogames" of all time by the Killer List of Videogames (KLOV). The Killer List of Videogames (otherwise known simply as KLOV, pronounced Kay-El-Oh-Vee) is a website devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. ...

Games inspired by Defender

Defender inspired numerous similar games, including Attack of the Mutant Camels, Repton and Drop Zone for 8-bit home computers; Datastorm, Overkill, Star Ray and Guardian for the Amiga; Eliminator for the TRS-80; and Protector II for the TRS-80 Color Computer and Atari 400/800. Attack of the Mutant Camels was a surrealist computer game released for the Commodore 64 in the 1980s by Jeff Minters Llamasoft. ... Repton was a popular arcade-style game for the Apple II and Commodore 64 (C64 version shown). ... Datastorm was a popular game for the Amiga Datastorm was a popular Defender-like game for the Amiga published in 1989. ... The original Amiga (1985) The Amiga is a family of home/personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation (motto: ) as an advanced home entertainment and productivity machine. ... TRS-80 Model I. TRS-80 (also affectionately or derisively known as the Trash-80) was the designation for several lines of desktop microcomputer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation and sold through its RadioShack stores in the late-1970s and 1980s. ...

In 1982, Williams Electronics, the pinball division, released a pinball table based upon Defender. The three-flippered table featured drop targets representing colonies and invaders and used all the sounds featured in the arcade coin-op. Coincidentally, many of the pinball tables created at the time by Williams Electronics used the same sound chips. 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Williams is a long-standing electronic gaming and amusement company based in Chicago, Illinois. ... This article is about the arcade game. ... Williams is a long-standing electronic gaming and amusement company based in Chicago, Illinois. ...

Ports and platforms

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. Defender will be released on the Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 in 2006. There is a related 3D shooting game for the same consoles which uses similar sounds but is otherwise not the same game. A video game console is a dedicated electronic machine designed to play video games. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive, informally sometimes including the years 1979, 1990 and 1991. ... Midway Arcade Treasures is a collection of 24 old arcade games that was developed by Digital Eclipse and released by Midway for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. A second collection, Midway Arcade Treasures 2, was released for the same consoles in October 2004 and a third console compilation... The Nintendo GameCube (Japanese: ゲームキューブ; originally code-named Dolphin during development; officially abbreviated as GCN by Nintendo of America) is Nintendos fourth home video game console, belonging to the sixth generation era—the same generation as Segas Dreamcast, Sonys PlayStation 2, and Microsofts Xbox. ... PS2 redirects here. ... The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and on March 14, 2002 in Europe. ... Xbox Live Arcade is an online service operated by Microsoft that is used to distribute video games to Xbox and Xbox 360 owners. ... The Xbox 360 is the successor to Microsofts Xbox video game console, developed in co-operation with IBM, ATI, Samsung and SiS. Information on the console first came through viral marketing campaigns and it was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information...

Most ports at the time lacked the multiple buttons needed to truly run the game, and so the "reverse" button is often left off and reversals of the joystick direction serve to turn the ship around. This can radically alter the gameplay and make certain strategies impossible on the console ports.

Atari 2600 Screenshot screenshot Atari 2600 Defender by me This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... The Atari 2600, released in 1977, is the first successful video game console to use plug-in cartridges instead of having one or more games built in. ...	Atari 5200 Screenshot screenshot Atari 5200 Defender, made myself. ... The Atari 5200 is a video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari. ...	ColecoVision Screenshot screenshot Colecovision Defender by me This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... A CBS ColecoVision unit The ColecoVision was Coleco Industries third-generation home video game console, released in August of 1982. ...	C64 Screenshot Image File history File links Screenshot C64 Defender (video game), made myself This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... Close_up of C64 Commodore 64 (C64, CBM 64) was a popular home computer of the 1980s. ...
Game Boy Screenshot (as Defender / Joust) Image File history File links screenshot Game Boy Defender (game), made myself. ... The original Game Boys design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles. ... This article is about the 1982 arcade game. ...	SAM Coupé Screenshot Image File history File links The SAM Coupé version of Defender. ... The SAM Coupé was an 8-bit British home computer that was first released in late 1989. ...

The SAM Coupé version is notable because it was ported in the summer of 1998, before the current retrogaming mania, by one individual, Chris Pile. The conversion was very faithful to the original despite the differences in hardware. The SAM Coupé was an 8-bit British home computer that was first released in late 1989. ... This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... Chris Pile, born 1969 in Warwickshire, England, is a software developer, briefly notorious as The Black Baron. In the early 1990s he produced two highly acclaimed pieces of software for the SAM Coupé home computer: ProDOS (a CP/M implementation) and a very faithful port of the classic game Defender. ...

In July 2000, Midway licensed Defender, along with other Williams Electronics games, to Shockwave for use in an online applet to demonstrate the power of their web content platform, entitled Shockwave Arcade Collection. The conversion was created by Digital Eclipse. This article is about the year 2000. ... Midway Games (NYSE: MWY) is an American video game publisher known for such game series as Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam and Spy Hunter. ... Williams is a long-standing electronic gaming and amusement company based in Chicago, Illinois. ... Macromedia Shockwave is frequently confused with Macromedia Flash. ...

Most recently the game "Defender" was released for the PS2.

Defender also runs under MAME. This can be legally used by people who own a Defender board from the original arcade machine. MAME is a computer software program for personal computers designed to faithfully and precisely emulate as many arcade games as possible, with the intent of preserving gaming history and preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. ...

Songs

In 1982, Buckner and Garcia recorded a song titled "The Defender", using sound effects from the game, and released it on the album Pac-Man Fever. 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Buckner & Garcia are the duo of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia. ... Pac-Man Fever is a 1982 album recorded by Buckner & Garcia. ...

In the same year, R. Cade and the Video Victims recorded a song titled "Defender Contender", and released it on the album "Get Victimized!", a lesser-known video game song album.

Also in 1982, Manilla Road included a song titled "Defender" on their second album Metal, with its lyrics based on the game. Manilla Road is a heavy metal band, forming around its lead singer Mark the Shark Shelton (vocals and guitar). ... Metal was released in 1982 by Manilla Road. ...

The Beastie Boys have also rapped about the game and featured Defender sound effects in their tracks. In their song Body Movin' (from Hello Nasty, 1998) the lyrics are "And if you play defender I could be your hyper space", referring to helping the active player by being ready to press the difficult-to-reach hyperspace button when the game gets too difficult. The Beastie Boys are an American group from New York City: Brooklyn and Manhattan. ... Hello Nasty is an album by the Beastie Boys. ...

See also

• List of arcade games
• The song "Down At The Arcade" by Lou Reed from his 1984 album New Sensations

This is a list of arcade games organized alphabetically by name. ... Lou Reed Lewis Allen Lou Reed (born March 2, 1942) is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, originally from Brooklyn, New York. ... See also: 1983 in music, other events of 1984, 1985 in music, 1980s in music and the list of years in music // Events January 21 - Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood reaches number one in the UK singles chart: it spends a total of forty-two weeks in the Top... New Sensations is a 1984 album by Lou Reed. ...

References

1. ^ Midway Arcade Treasures Bonus Material
2. ^ Craig Harris (2002-12-19). Defender - Lesson one on how not to remake a classic on the GBA.. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.

Midway Arcade Treasures is a collection of 24 old arcade games that was developed by Digital Eclipse and released by Midway for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. A second collection, Midway Arcade Treasures 2, was released for the same consoles in October 2004 and a third console compilation... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 10 is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

External links

• The KLOV entry on Defender
• An Interview with the Creator of Defender as shown on Gamer TV
• Defender - 'my homage to the greatest computer code in human history'
• Defendguin -- an Open Source, Linux-themed, SDL-based Defender clone for a variety of platforms
• The Internet Pinball Database entry on the Defender Table
• The Defender Pinball Serial Number Project
• Defence Condition - open source GDI-based Stargate clone for Win32
• Article at The Dot Eaters, featuring Jarvis, DeMar, Defender and other Williams games
• Conquer the Video Craze is an album issued in 1982 by Curtis Hoard that contains instructions on how to win various video games, including Defender
• Prototype/Pilot Defender arcade game research