Defender (1981 video game)

Defender is a 1981 horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Williams Electronics for arcades. The game is set on either an unnamed planet or city (depending on platform) where the player must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting astronauts. Development was led by Eugene Jarvis, a pinball programmer at Williams; Defender was Jarvis's first video game project and drew inspiration from Space Invaders and Asteroids. Defender was demonstrated in late 1980 and was released in March 1981. It was distributed in Japan by Taito.

Defender was one of the most important titles of the golden age of arcade video games, selling over 55,000 units to become the company's best-selling game and one of the highest-grossing arcade games ever. Praise among critics focused on the game's audio-visuals and gameplay. It is frequently listed as one of Jarvis's best contributions to the video game industry and one of the most difficult video games. Though not the first game to scroll horizontally, it created the genre of horizontal scrolling shoot 'em ups. It inspired the development of other games and was followed by sequels and many imitations.

Ports were developed for contemporary game systems, most of them by either Atari, Inc. or its software label for non-Atari platforms, Atarisoft. The 1982 Atari 2600 version was one of the best-selling games for the system and sold over 3 million cartridges.

Defender is a side-view, horizontally scrolling shooter set on the surface of an unnamed planet. The player controls a spaceship flying either to the left or right. A joystick controls the ship's elevation, and five buttons control its horizontal direction and weapons. The player starts with three "smart bombs", which destroy all visible enemies. As a last resort, the "hyperspace" button works as in Asteroids: the player's ship reappears in a random—possibly unsafe—location. Players are allotted three ships at the start of the game; another ship and smart bomb are awarded every 10,000 points (adjustable per machine). Two players can alternate turns.

The object is to destroy all alien invaders, while protecting astronauts on the landscape from abduction. Landers pick up humans and attempt to carry them to the top of the screen at which point they turn into fast-moving mutants. A captured human can be freed by shooting the lander, then catching the human before it falls to its death, and dropping it off on the ground.

Defeating the aliens allows the player to progress to the next level. Failing to protect the astronauts, however, causes the planet to explode and the level to become populated with mutants. Surviving the waves of mutants results in the restoration of the planet. A ship is lost if it is hit by an enemy or its projectiles, or if a hyperspace jump goes wrong (as they randomly do). After exhausting all ships, the game ends.

Defender was Williams Electronics' first attempt at developing a new video game; the company's earlier game was a Pong clone. The popularity of coin-operated arcade games in 1979 spurred the company to shift its focus from pinball games to arcade games. The company chose Eugene Jarvis, who had a successful record of Williams pinball games, to head development. Larry DeMar, Sam Dicker, and Paul Dussault assisted Jarvis. At the time, Williams had a small staff and the management was unfamiliar with technology used for its electronic games. As a result, the staff was afforded a large amount of creative freedom.

Space was a popular setting for video games at the time, and Jarvis felt the abstract setting would help obscure simple graphics that lacked realism. Initially, Jarvis spent 3–4 months developing color variations of Taito's Space Invaders and Atari, Inc.'s Asteroids. First inspired by Space Invaders, he created a similar game with new gameplay mechanics. After spending a few weeks on the design, however, the team abandoned the idea, believing it lacked enjoyment. Development then shifted to emulating Atari's Asteroids, but hardware differences between Asteroids and Defender's proposed specifications were problematic. Asteroids displays vector graphics on a special monitor, while the staff planned to use pixel graphics on a conventional monitor. The team experimented with recreating the game with pixel graphics, but also abandoned it because they felt the gameplay lacked enjoyment and visual appeal.