Defender II

First of all, Defender II works well as a fast paced shoot-em up and is a pretty solid arcade conversion which plays well. It's fast and represents the original arcade version well enough. That said I would have expected such an old arcade game to be ported to the Famicom/NES much earlier. When released in 1987/88 the game already showed lots of aging in the audio-visual department. Graphics are very simple and there is not much music. The simple gameplay neglects all the improvements shoot'em ups got in the middle 1980s (bosses, powerups, diversion in level and enemy design). It is a shoot'em up representing the very early 80s and as such it works, but it is a bit dissappointing for a 1987/88 release.

teran01 # 2014-01-12 05:54:08

Star date 7211, the distant planet Ligaras, is being attacked by alien marauders. The residents of Ligaras are being abducted and turned into mutants. You, as the top gun of the Defender team, must save those people. The aliens are mean and vicious. You must fight with Landers, Mutants, Yllabian Space Guppys, and more. There is a special gate in each screen which you can warp into the other side of the planet. You meet more enemies there to fight. You are the only one who can save the planet. Battle with aliens at the speed exceeding the speed of light, in dark, unknown space!

# 2014-02-06 17:14:48 - official description

display: raster

One of 4 prototypes presented by Nintendo to Atari as part of their deal to partner with them to bring the Famicom to North America. The potential deal was forgotten and ignored moments later as Atari began to considered that the 1983-84 video game market crash was possibly the end of videogames rather than a long-term pause in the market. These prototypes are not under copyright but do contain trademarks.


zerothis # 2015-12-24 13:00:42

has influenced
ROM CHECK FAIL (Linux)

port of
Stargate (Arcade)

version of
Stargate (Atari 5200)
Guardian (C64)
Stargate (Apple II E)
Stargate (MS-DOS)
Stargate (Atari 2600)
Stargate (Atari 400/800)