They don’t make them like this anymore. Defender came out in 1980 and was developed by Williams Electronics. It was widely expected to fail because the complex controls included a joystick for up and down and no fewer than five buttons! Certain vociferous industry execs predicted commercial failure but then they also predicted that Pac-Man would flop so they obviously had no idea what they were talking about.

In the event Defender was a slow burner but as people mastered the controls it continued to rise in popularity and was one of the best arcade games available in the eighties with legions of fans. Defender took a similar premise to Space Invaders and Galaxian and turned it on its side, introducing side scrolling action, a more developed story line and quite complex and tricky game-play.

Your mission was to pilot the Defender and save abducted humans from their alien kidnappers. You flew over a mountainous landscape and could make circuits of the planet. Humans were dotted around on the surface below and various alien ships flew along trying to shoot you down and capture the hapless humans. You could see the position of aliens and humans on your radar scope which appeared at the top of the HUD. Six different types of aliens came to attack and the Landers would attempt to come down and steal humans from the surface of the planet before mutating them and fusing to become a Mutant, fast moving alien attack ships that would chase the player. There were also Baiters, Bombers, Pods and Swarmers, each with their own movement and attack type. All the aliens except for Baiters would have to be destroyed in order to trigger the next level.

The player was armed with a laser and some smart bombs which would take out every enemy onscreen. You could score points by rescuing captured humans and bonuses would be offered if you managed to catch them, return them to the ground and see them safely through to the next level.

The game was really tough and as well as the simple joystick for up and down as you scrolled along the landscape the five buttons allowed you to thrust, fire, reverse, smart bomb and hyperspace. I never used hyperspace much because it was tough to reach and would often teleport you somewhere worse. It took some serious practice to get good at this game.

Defender was partly popular because the graphics were impressive and featured all manner of visual effects. It also had great sound effects but the immersive game-play and imaginative design were the main reasons for its enduring success and despite the difficulty factor gamers persisted with it for years. To master Defender was a real badge of honor.

The game was released as a stand up cabinet and then later there was a cocktail table version. The game spawned a sequel called Stargate and was ported to a number of systems. It also inspired a slew of similar titles with various twists on the game-play. This was one of Williams Electronics greatest successes and they sold over 60,000 units. Williams later bought Bally/Midway and the company still exists today under the name WMS Gaming.