by Ryan Lambie
WhenDefenderarrived in arcade back in 1980 , nothing looked or sounded quite like it . The controls had a steep learning curve , and its shooting military action was intense and relentlessly difficult . YetDefender ’s boldness made it stand out in arcades full ofSpace Invadersclones , and gamers quickly fell in love with it .
create by a designer advertize the boundaries of early ' 80s technology , Defender ’s growing was n’t without its drama . Here ’s a look atDefender ’s making and its lasting effect on the games industry .
1.DEFENDERWAS WILLIAMS’S FIRST PROPER, ORIGINAL ARCADE GAME.
With its foundation tracing back to the 1940s , American company Williams specialized in making pinball simple machine . WhenPongushered in a Modern age of electronic games in the 1970s , Williams knew it had to break into the same market , but itsfirst attemptwas tentative , to say the least : 1973’sPaddle Ballwas , for the most part , a straight replication ofPong ’s at-bat - and - lump activity . as luck would have it , a young programmer named Eugene Jarvis had a more pioneering spirit .
2. IT WAS INSPIRED BYSPACE INVADERSAND CHESS.
Jarvis link up Williams in the late seventies , where he initially worked on the software for the company ’s pinball game machine — title includedAirborne Avenger , Gorgar , andLaser Ball . But even as those political machine were making their way into arcade , they were being roundly upstaged by a young game on the stoppage — the coin - guzzling shooter , Space Invaders . The game immediately inspire Jarvis to make his own sci - fi shooter , though one which also get in the vector graphics of the seminalSpacewar(a secret plan he ’d represent while in college ) and a lead of chess . He wanted his game , he latertoldWIRED , to be a " rich , tactical and strategic experience . "
3. THE TITLE CAME FROM A 1960s TV SHOW.
As Jarvis ’s ideas for his biz began to grow — and it move further and further aside from the full-strength " blast the aliens " scenario generalise bySpace Invaders — he set about to opine about an objective that call for rescue and United States Department of Defense rather than straight - up shot . And early on , he adopted the nameDefender , derived from the ' 60s court dramatic play series , The Defenders .
" I kind of liked that show , " Jarvissaid inSteven Kent ’s book , The Ultimate story Of Video Games . " You make out , if you ’re maintain something , you ’re being attacked , and you’re able to do whatever you want . "
4. IT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST SIDE-SCROLLING GAMES.
Jarvis and his diminished team of programmers and designers , which included Larry DeMar and Sam Dicker , worked up agame designwhich , for its time , was tremendously ambitious . Back then , most game took property on a individual , static screen . What Jarvis proposed was a plot which scrolled swimmingly and rapidly along a map that was far large than the display . At the top of the screen , a humble mini map showed the player ’s current office . Both ideas were groundbreaking , and the mini map is a ubiquitous design feature in the games of today .
5. IT WAS COMPLETED JUST IN TIME FOR AN IMPORTANT TRADE SHOW.
As months of growth make it , Jarvis was put under increasing pressure to getDefenderfinished in time for a patronage show called the Amusement and Music Operators Association Expo . Jarvis worked feverishly to assemble the deadline , but on the even before the patronage show , he had a horrifying realization : the game lack an attract modality — the demonstration design to show would - be customers how the game looks in action . An all - nightcoding sessionbegan , which , follow another terror - induce second where the gamerefusedto lade up properly , the finishedDefenderwas quick on the morning of the expo .
6. PLAYERS WERE INITIALLY INTIMIDATED.
Defendercut a strange and unnerving anatomy at the AMOA trade show . Where most games of the time had a stick and one button , Defenderhad a joystick and five buttons — something which , Jarvis after suggested , leave some multitude wary of even trying it . At first , though , Jarvis was n’t interest , sayingin an interviewon theWilliams Arcade ’s Greatest Hitsgame record that the team was " majestic that it intimidated everyone . "
7. IT BECAME ONE OF THE HIGHEST-GROSSING GAMES OF THE GOLDEN AGE.
Everything transfer whenDefenderappeared in arcades . Williams ’s first biz of the ' eighty was also its biggest , selling 55,000 console and reportedly form more than$1 billionin tax income . Players , it seems , could n’t get enough ofDefender ’s speed , color , and sheer challenge .
8. A STRANGE BUG OCCURS WHEN YOU SCORE 990,000 POINTS
WhileDefenderbecame famous for its vertical difficulty stage , a certain breed of gamer rise to the challenge . The plot ’s most dedicated players even discovered a glitch : reach 990,000 points , and an error in the game ’s algorithm resolution in a sudden shower of extra aliveness and wise bomb calorimeter . Yet even the bug bestow toDefender ’s absorbing challenge ; as Jarvis toldUS Gamer , " Some of the robust elements ofDefender [ … ] were glitch , things that I never even in my wildest imagination could have ride . "
9. IT’S STILL INFLUENTIAL TODAY.
Defender ’s groundbreaking design paved the means for an entire generation of scrolling shooters , including Jarvis ’s 1981 sequelStargate , Konami’sGradiusseries , and many more . Even today , Defendercontinues to inhale 21st - 100 biz clothes designer . Finnish developer Housemarque ’s side - scrolling shooterResogundraws directly on the mechanics inDefender . In 2017 , Jarvis teamed up with Housemarque to develop the gameNex Machina , which released to overwhelminglypositive reviews .
More than 30 yr after , Defender ’s insolent aim is still making an impact .
