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Defender |
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Manufacturer:
Williams Year: 1980 Class: Wide Release Genre: Shooter Type: Videogame Monitor:
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1 Maximum number of Players: 2 Gameplay: Alternating Control Panel Layout: Single Player Controls:
Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel) |
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DescriptionDefend the human population from swarms of attacking aliens. Extremely popular even though it was deemed a flop at a 1981 Chicago arcade machine trade show because of its difficulty. The attract mode for the game was programmed in just five hours.Know anything more about this game? Cabinet InformationThe machine shown at the top of the page is the classic cabinet that the majority of US players have seen. The machine to the right, however, is believed to be a prototype (or an early production model) that contains side art very much inspired by the film "Star Wars". Perhaps Williams changed the production side art designs upon advice from legal counsel? This type of machine is also pictured on Williams' Defender flyers. Oddly enough, a number of these machines have been seen in various countries throughout Europe.Game IntroductionYour mission, as captain of the Defender, is to protect the humanoids stranded on the planet from their alien abductors. The scanner will help you determine a strategy to shoot down the alien ships before they reach the humanoids. If you destroy the aliens after they have captured their prey, you must return the humanoids to the safety of the planet or they will fall to their death. If an alien carries its victim out of your range, the humanoid will mutate, join the alien force, and take to assault with deadly vengeance!The challenge becomes ever more intense as the action progresses. Fighter ships (Bombers) and mines will test your skills. A direct hit will destroy the mother ship (Pods) but smash it into a swarming mass of mini-ships (Swarmers) which then must be wiped out! If you do not act quickly, the cosmic Baiter will attack! Use your two escape options only if all else fails! Your "smart bomb" power is limited and "hyperspace" puts you into an unknown space warp. But beware! If all the humanoids are abducted, the entire planet will explode in a blinding flash! Game PlayTips:
MiscellaneousPlay the game on-line (requires Shockwave) at http://www.shockwave.com/sw/content/defenderPlay a JAVA emulated version of the game by visiting http://web.utanet.at/nkehrer/JDefender.html This is one of many games that has been bootlegged or copied. Some of these versions have added improvements to the game but others are direct copies. Examples of these games are Mayday!!, Defence Command, Defense Command and Mirage. Defender was licensed to Taito for Japanese manufacture and distribution. Scarcity in collections (VAPS.org)Very Common - There are 244 known instances of this game owned by one of our 900 members. Of these, 210 of them are original dedicated machines, 5 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards have been placed in another game cabinet, and 29 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.Of the 42,694 video games (3,154 unique) tracked by the Video Game Preservation Society, this game ranks a 88 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on ownership records. - There are 19 VAPS members currently looking for this game. Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them (they are common because arcade operatos might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses), while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up. Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector. For a clue to value, compare how many people have this game vs. how many people want this game and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range. TechnicalAll the game settings are configured in software on the screen. This is the Williams way of doing things. In Defender, they used the rudimentary system used on their pinball machines (no notations except in the manual). After Defender made it, they started clearly labeling the on-screen adjustment menus. The board sets use a 6809 processor for game play and a 6800 for sound (on a separate board).TriviaThis game shares the title of "Highest Grossing Video Game of All Time" along with Pac-Man. To date it has earned more than one billion dollars!According to Midway, the geneology of the games is as follows: Defender, Stargate, Robotron:2084, Blaster. This game was included in the "Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits" game for PCs and the PlayStation game console. The release also included Stargate (as "Defender II"), Bubbles, Joust, Sinistar and Robotron: 2084. eBay ListingsClick here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for the Defender Videogame machine and items related to it.Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for machines and parts made by Williams. Alternatively, check out the IAM/KLOV custom report of the hottest coin-op machines on eBay, powered by Ace.com (updated throughoutthe day).
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