History VideoGame / Defender

* TheRemake: Remade in 2002 for the [=PS2=], with much more story. And seven customizable ships, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

The game also received an esoteric sequel, ''Stargate'' (AKA ''Defender II'' nowadays), a PinballSpinoff, a SpiritualSuccessor called ''Strike Force'', a [[UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar Jaguar]] remake titled ''Defender 2000'', as well as a 3-D [[VideoGame/Defender2002 re-imagining in 2002]].

* TheRemake: Remade in 2000 for the [=PS2=], with much more story. And customizable ships.

* VideoGameRemake: The 2002 [=PS2=] [[VideoGame/Defender2002 remake]] was a flight combat game in the vein of Star Fox, with insect-like MechanicalLifeforms‎ called the Manti conquering most of the solar system, and the player character, a rookie soldier named Kyoto, leading the fight to take them down.

The game also received an esoteric sequel, ''Stargate'' (AKA ''Defender II'' nowadays), a PinballSpinoff, a SpiritualSuccessor called ''Strike Force'', a [[UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar Jaguar]] remake titled ''Defender 2000'', as well as a 3-D [[VideoGame/Defender2002 re-imagining in the 2002]].

The game also received an esoteric sequel, ''Stargate'' (AKA ''Defender II'' nowadays), a PinballSpinoff, a SpiritualSuccessor called ''Strike Force'', a [[UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar Jaguar]] remake titled ''Defender 2000'', as well as a 3-D re-imagining from the early 2000's.

* BlindJump: The teleport ability (officially called "Stargate") relocates the ship to a random location, and has a small chance to TeleFrag you upon use, however.

* FasterThanLightTravel: Jump-drive type, and one of the few examples that can be used in atmospheric flight
** BlindJump: The ability teleports the ship to a random location, and has a small chance to TeleFrag you upon use, however.

* DifficultySpike: After the first level, the game takes a disproportionate leap in difficulty. Somewhat justified, since it was an arcade game, and it needed to be over at some point so other people could play.

* VideoGameRemake: The 2002 [=PS2=] remake was a flight combat game in the vein of Star Fox, with insect-like MechanicalLifeforms‎ called the Manti conquering most of the solar system, and the player character, a rookie soldier named Kyoto, leading the fight to take them down.

* DifficultySpike: After only the first level, the game takes a disproportionate leap in difficulty. Somewhat justified, since it was an arcade game, and it needed to be over at some point so other people could play.

** ''Stargate'' was even harder (half a dozen new enemies, the namesake in-game gate, ''and'' you get '''another''' button (inviso) to mind. The game's chapter subtitle in one of the early guide books was "More difficult than flying a 747".

When the game debuted at the AMOA (Amusement Machine Operators of America) trade show in 1980 – which it almost didn't, due to the [=ROMs=] being loaded the wrong way – visitors were afraid to go near its complex control panel. Observers decreed that ''Defender'' would fail in the arcades. These same observers thought ''Pac-Man'' was also doomed to failure, for being too repetitive. (The critics' darling? ''VideoGame/RallyX''.)

* TheRemake: Remade in 2000 for the PS2, with much more story. And customizable ships.

* ShownTheirWork: How do you adapt ''Defender'' on the Atari2600, which has ONE joystick and ONE button? Pretty well. How do you do the smart bomb? The developers intelligently designed it so that you had to go ''under'' the planet's surface and fire (though that meant you couldn't use it at will in an emergency, you had to prepare). Hyperspace worked the same way, except you had to go off the top of the screen.

* TakeThat / SdrawkcabName: In ''Stargate'', some of the aliens' species are anagrams of Williams' competitors. One of them is called the "Yllabian Space Guppy" (Bally spelled backwards). The alien race as a whole is now called the Irata (

* WarpWhistle: The Stargate in the sequel, which transports the player halfway across the planet (or, in this case, the scrolling playfield). It can also be used to skip to later levels.

* EarthShatteringKaboom: If all 10 of your humanoids die, your planet explodes, and the game becomes much more difficult -- all the enemy units that would otherwise be relatively docile Landers are instead the much more ornery Mutants. (If you can survive to an attack wave that's divisible by 5, your planet is restored.)

* PragmaticAdaptation: The Atari 2600 version crammed all the controls of the arcade original into a single-button joystick controller, having the player activate a Smart Bomb or use Hyperspace when he went offscreen. That said, it was considered a PortingDisaster.

* SensorSuspense: Oh so very much.
* ShownTheirWork: How do you adapt ''Defender'' on the Atari2600, which has ONE joystick and ONE button? Pretty well. How do you do the smart bomb? The developers intelligently designed it so that you had to go ''under'' the planet's surface and fire.

* TakeThat / SdrawkcabName: In ''Stargate'', the aliens' species are anagrams of Williams' competitors (e.g. one of them is called the "Yllabian Space Hum" [Bally spelled backwards]).

* WarpWhistle: The Stargate in the sequel, which transports the player halfway across the planet (or, in this case, the scrolling playfield).

But ''Defender'''s revolutionary side scrolling, cutting-edge 16-color graphics, bold cabinet, fast action, and strong sci-fi storyline compelled arcade patrons to try their hand at its intimidating control panel. It took a while, but gamers eventually warmed to the difficult controls, and achieved scores the game's creators didn't think were humanly possible.

* NintendoHard: Not only is ''Defender'' insanely difficult for a first-time player, but after its success, design team Vid Kidz (EugeneJarvis and Larry De Mar) adopted the attitude that a game should "kick the player's ass" -- their words -- the first time he tries to play it. They applied this philosophy to ''VideoGame/{{Robotron 2084}}'', a classic in its own right.

* TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames: This game was one of its biggest stars, especially among the hard core.

* VideoGameRemake: The 2002 PS2 remake was a flight combat game in the vein of Star Fox, with insect-like MechanicalLifeforms‎ called the Manti conquering most of the solar system, and the player character, a rookie soldier named Kyoto, leading the fight to take them down.

->''Defending my planet''
->''Is all that I do''
->''Hostile intruders''
->''Put there by you''
->''A mass invasion''
->''Coming down from the sky''
->''I'll come back fighting''
->''Even after I die!''
->''Defender!''
->''Defender!''
->--'''Manilla Road''', "Defender"

While it lacks the pop culture legacy of ''VideoGame/{{Pac-Man}}'', ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' and ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'', ''Defender'', the first game created by Creator/EugeneJarvis and Creator/LarryDeMar (and the second video game by Creator/WilliamsElectronics), is one of the most popular and most relevant video games of the arcade era.

* NintendoHard: Not only is ''Defender'' insanely difficult for a first-time player, but after its success, design team Vid Kidz (EugeneJarvis and Larry De Mar) adopted the attitude that a game should "kick the player's ass" -- their words -- the first time he tries to play it. They applied this philosophy to ''[[{{Robotron2084}} Robotron: 2084]]'', a classic in its own right.

When the game debuted at the AMOA (Amusement Machine Operators of America) trade show in 1980 -- which it almost didn't, due to the [=ROMs=] being loaded the wrong way -- visitors were afraid to go near its complex control panel. Observers decreed that ''Defender'' would fail in the arcades. These same observers thought ''Pac-Man'' was also doomed to failure, for being too repetitive. (The critics' darling? ''VideoGame/RallyX''.)

Why is ''Defender'' historically relevant? Its success proved that even casual gamers could handle complexity. Without ''Defender'', it would have been risky for a company to release an arcade game that challenged the player to manage a joystick and six buttons... which didn't happen again until the first ''StreetFighter'' game, seven years later.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The 2600 version crammed all the controls of the arcade original into a single-button joystick controller, having the player activate a Smart Bomb or use Hyperspace when he went offscreen. That said, it was considered a PortingDisaster.