12 replies to this topic

[vdub_bobby]

Back to an only-mildly-faithful coin-op port! Let's play Defender II!

Post a score and let's get this thing rolling!

Please post any tips you may have - best tip gets 1 bonus point. No continues - only games played from the beginning count! Play Game A

And if anyone has a link to the manual, please post it.

This week's competition ends in a weekish on Thursday (December 4) at approximately evening sometime PST.


This week's scores:
51,800 darthkur (+10 pts)
41,900 vdub_bobby (+8 pts)
17,000 LarcenTyler (+6 pts)


Twin Galaxies High Scores

146,300 Andrew D Furrer
91,100 Patrick Scott Patterson
61,600 john m brissie


Standings

1. darkthur (138 pts)
2. Wickeycolumbus (70 pts)
3. LarcenTyler (69 pts)
4. vdub_bobby (64 pts)
5. RJ (22 pts)
6. aikainnet (20 pts)
7. shadow460 (11 pts)
7. Jess Ragan (11 pts)
9. atari2600land (10 pts)
10. Atari5200 (8 pts)
10. figgler (8 pts)
12. Shannon (4 pts)
12. Jibbajaba (4 pts)
12. gdement (4 pts)
12. ClassicGMR (4 pts)
16. ratfink (2 pts)

(There was an error in last week's standings; that's been fixed.)

Game Info

Coin-op original, first known as Stargate, released in 1981 by Williams. Ported to the NES by HAL America in 1988.

Other platforms: Apple II, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, PC Booter

Prequels/sequels/spinoffs: Defender (coin-op - 1980; Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Intellivision, PC Booter, TI-99/4A, VIC-20 - 1981), Repton (Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64 - 1983), Revenge of Defender (Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS - 1988), Strike Force (coin-op - 1991), Defender 2000 (Jaguar - 1996)


Tips

None yet.

Edited by vdub_bobby, Fri Dec 12, 2008 12:15 AM.

[darthkur]

51,800

[vdub_bobby]

41,900

Attached Thumbnails

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[LarcenTyler]

17,000

Not quite Defender 2 since you can't turn invisible or hyperwarp automatically. More Like Defender 1.5 if you ask me!

[Jess Ragan]

Hell, more like Defender 0.8. You can't collect humanoids and drop them to the ground like you could in the very first game. The moment you touch one, he's returned to the ground and you're given an arbitrary number of points. I'd dismiss the game as pretty lame if it weren't for the stylish graphics, which are more attractive than the ones in the arcade version... I'm utterly mesmerized by the way the landers spin. If they had spent as much time perfecting the gameplay, this would have been an NES classic!

[vdub_bobby]

Yeah, this is an awful port - the thing that bugs me the most is the lack of persistence.

The number and type of enemies aren't persistent when you die. You start every round with plenty of humanoids on the ground, regardless of how many survived the previous wave.

The other missing things...you can't drop off rescued humanoids - though I don't think they are returned to the ground immediately; maybe they are. You can't carry a bunch of humanoids through the stargate and warp ahead several rounds. There is no invisibility. No hyperwarp. You can't shoot humanoids on the ground. I think I remember from somewhere that you never get more bombs; what you start with is what you've got.

However - don't think of it as a Defender port, think of it as a Defenderish clone and have fun! It has good graphics, nice sounds (except for the lame jingles when you start a game), and good controls.

Edited by vdub_bobby, Wed Dec 3, 2008 12:00 PM.

[LarcenTyler]

Lame jingles? Are you even listening? That's the fight start theme from Punch-Out!! And when you complete a stage you hear the arcade's game over theme. Not to mention, if you listen closely, you can hear a couple other sound effects from the arcade game. Is this a joke or something?

[Jess Ragan]

LarcenTyler, on Thu Dec 4, 2008 7:19 PM, said:

Lame jingles? Are you even listening? That's the fight start theme from Punch-Out!! And when you complete a stage you hear the arcade's game over theme. Not to mention, if you listen closely, you can hear a couple other sound effects from the arcade game. Is this a joke or something?

It IS pretty lame in a game like Defender II, because those jaunty tunes don't belong in a port of a dark and angry Williams arcade title. Would you play a Mortal Kombat game with the soundtrack replaced with the theme from Strawberry Shortcake? It's the same principle.

[vdub_bobby]

Jess Ragan, on Thu Dec 4, 2008 11:34 AM, said:

LarcenTyler, on Thu Dec 4, 2008 7:19 PM, said:

Lame jingles? Are you even listening? That's the fight start theme from Punch-Out!! And when you complete a stage you hear the arcade's game over theme. Not to mention, if you listen closely, you can hear a couple other sound effects from the arcade game. Is this a joke or something?

It IS pretty lame in a game like Defender II, because those jaunty tunes don't belong in a port of a dark and angry Williams arcade title. Would you play a Mortal Kombat game with the soundtrack replaced with the theme from Strawberry Shortcake? It's the same principle.

That's what I meant.

[LarcenTyler]

You know, I just found out you can't play Defender 2 (or the other arcade classics they hosted) on Midway.com anymore!

[Jess Ragan]

Probably has something to do with the fact that Sumner Redstone dumped the company like a hot rock a week ago. Frankly, I'm a little surprised the Midway web site still EXISTS.

[LarcenTyler]

And Shockwave doesn't have the games anymore, unless Midway might reconsider giving them back?

[vdub_bobby]

And we're done! Hope you had fun with one of the lazier ports (but still a good game!) on the NES.