No love for Defender

[doctorclu]

I've come to realize something. It doesn't matter what platform the game is played on...Defender just plain sucks. I think the best platform I've played it on was actually the Saturn, but that's still not saying much.

 

Try classic on the Jaguar version... fun!

 

And then it is good on the Gameboy advance version. Not a big Defender fan otherwise.

[Zonie]

I've come to realize something. It doesn't matter what platform the game is played on...Defender just plain sucks. I think the best platform I've played it on was actually the Saturn, but that's still not saying much.

 

finally somebody comes out and tells the truth about defender. It's not even close to a good game on anything, and it seems the more they try to modernize it the worse it gets. I'm not sure why I hate it, but it just feels like there isn't any fun to be had. The view distance is too short, (or really ship too fast) and I can't make myself care about anything going on.

 

but everybody else loves it... why? It took me over a decade to care enough to figure out that there was more than one level. Maybe if the ship moved a lot slower, there was more on a single screen, and the ship actually flew somewhere...

 

 

You are friggin smoking CRACK my friend. Defender is one of the purest videogame classics out there. It's unmatched in it's intensity and actual level of skill that's required for the game. That being said, it's a game where if you actually practice it, you can keep getting better the more you play and then eventually get really good at it. Learning the controls to the point where you're an expert at "Flying" the ship is what it's all about. Ever see a good player? They can move that thing like it was mercury especially during the intense free space dogfights

 

And yes we're talking about the actual game. The home ports don't count, nor do the emulated versions brought to home consoles modifed where you simply push the pad in the direction you want to fly (which actually brings about problems in the faster dogfights since it will often get "stuck" when trying to do rapid fire reversals).

 

I actually still consider the arcade game as my de-facto measurement of a persons videogame skills.. if they can get at least one extra man (10k) then they're REAL gamers through and through Granted that's kind of hard these days as there obviously isn't a Defender on every corner

 

Nonetheless.. you can't dog on Defender.. it's a REAL MAN'S GAME

 

I totally agree with this.

 

Defender MUST be played on a coin op to fully appreciate it. I built a controller back in the day for my VCS, at least it helped a bit. The reverse button was the tricky part. I used a latching DPST push button to switch between left and right, and the thrust button closed the path to ground for the common pin on that. Worked great.

 

Stargate on the 2600 was one of the most amazing ports for that platform. doesn't seem to get much press...