Defender Atari 2600 Review - The No Swear Gamer Ep 256
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- Опубликовано: 31 окт 2024
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Today’s episode covers Defender for the Atari 2600 VCS system published by Atari and based on the arcade hit by Williams. How does it hold up today? Let’s play Defender and find out!
Family friendly, informative and entertaining, Retro Reviews with The No Swear Gamer contains plenty of retro goodness. I’ve reviewed games for the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari Jaguar, NES, Nintendo GameCube, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis (Mega Drive), Sega CD, Sega 32x, Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation 1 as well as covering plug n play systems, retro toys and other cool retro stuff. Check it out and subscribe today!
I really liked Defender out in the arcades, even though I really was quite horrible at it so when it came out for Atari 2600 I wanted it SOOOO bad and finally got it and even though I knew that I couldn't practice at home on the 2600 because they were so different, I still loved this game !
I'm in the minority but I loved this game!
It was VERY good for its time.
I’d have to disagree with how you ranked/rated this game, as I think it holds up pretty well for a classic game!
I agree; it's very good for a 1981 2600 title. Yes, the later Stargate cart outclassed it but with 3 times the RAM, it ought to!
Defender is one of the absolute best Atari 2600 games. I own 16 cartridges of the game , and I'm still gonna buy more lmao
You own 16 cartridges of Defender? You REALLY love the game! I think that's going a tad overboard with redundancy, however.
@@RagShop1 I'm gonna buy 16 more! HAHAHHAHAAHAAA... Happy new year man!
@@machinegun3133 Well, it's your money. Good game but personally, I'd resell most of them and keep just 3; with 2 as backups.
Yes there is some flicker (albeit less than in Pac-Man), but they managed to capture the original gameplay quite well and graphics are not bad for the 2600 and the game is highly playable. I'd choose this everyday over the much overrated Yar's revenge.
Also they squeezed this into a 4k cartridge (yeah, not 40Gig as today), while the better port Defender II (Stargate) had 12k ... so incredibly more memory
It was certainly one of the better pre-silver-era ports.
I'll agree to just put what you said, especially how impressive this port was when you consider the number of buttons on the original arcade... But I still prefer Yars' Revenge. 😁
I agree. So much fun, even today
Yeah I kinda wondered whether the flickering was due to some problem in the recording or the limitations of the Atari 2600 while I was watching. It just happens to be one of those ports that does not do the arcade classic justice.
The flickering is worse in on a real TV. Some games that have a lot of flicker, well have missing sprites when I port the video for my review. So I have to downgrade the video so show everything for my reviews. No flicker, but more lines in the sprites.
🥺😥😭😭 can’t believe it didn’t do as good as I thought it do on your rankings lol, but it’s understandable for THE NO SWEAR GAMER HAS SPOKENNNNN!
Defender 1 and 2 are brilliant, having played them both on an emulator I can fully understand why Atari games are rendered as classic. Yes I admit I was once a huge PlayStation and XBOX gamer but since I've now retired from that line of gaming I actually enjoy these oldies better.. I think in my opinion is that they're more fun and with it's own single objective and a score which makes it competitive especially when you're having a score match with friends..
I Preferred "Chopper Command" due to the flickering on Defender
There's more to do, lots more on defender
That was my favourite game wit Asteroids next followed by Maze Craze.
Defender? I 'ardly know 'er!
Myself from the future says: Wow, I thought ahead.
I think this game is a matter of appreciating it more when It was all that was available but now that we have better versions at home it just doesn't hold up well. Doesn't mean its bad it just means there are better ways to play it than this version. Good review as always Phil
Yeah. It was something when it came out. I remember liking it. But it has not aged well.
I remember wanting Stargate in 1984, because it was supposed to be better (and still do, but was outbid 2 years ago) but I don't think I bought any new Atari games that year. My feeling is similar: it's not so bad you should have returned it in 1982, but I don't want to play it now. Maybe if Atari came out with a logbook of challenges including this game in 1983, like they did after Pac-Man in 1982, then I'd have a reason to play the hardest game and try to improve my score. Why didn't they put the score challenge in the instruction manual?
I remember when the game came out, one reviewer said that it felt like he was playing the arcade game. I always thought that this was a stretch. No way I want to play this version. The arcade can be a blast.
I wasn't very good at the arcade game, but I still liked it.
Completely agree with your ranking. The way the ship disappears when you fire is pretty distracting. Compared to the graphics of "Chopper Command" for example, and this game really looks bad.
Thanks! Chopper Command is a big leap over this game.
Funny, he doesn't rate Chopper Command very well, saying he's not a fan of defender-style games and it's boringly repetitive. I think I prefer The Empire Strikes Back.
I think that it was a better port than pacman, and donkey kong, I think defender 2 fixed the flickering
Also fixed having to go to the top of the screen to use hyperspace (which can now even destroy your ship just like the arcade) or to the surface to trigger smart bombs. Using two joysticks to play the game seemed to rectify that, even if it is a bit clumsy. It is also a much more challenging game than Defender was.
I agree with both of you that Defender 2 was a big step up, although for me I liked the single joystick method better than the 2 joystick method for smart bombs.
@@SNARC15 I read that too. I wonder how many people got the game without the instructions that didn't know that? There's a limit on what you can do with a joystick and only one button, like Defender and sports games. I read Commodore could have upgraded their system ports to allow two-button joysticks, but didn't.
2:04 Ann Landers? :)
Was with you until I noticed you have E.T. ranked at 37. Your credibility disappeared like the Defender ship while shooting.
That's ok. Others lose credibility in my eyes too when they claim E.T. is the worse game ever made, lol. At least E.T. doesn't hurt my eye to play!
I think opinions on that game have shifted over time. It's interesting that you, the AVGN and John from John's Arcade (among others, but that's who I watch) all admit to actually liking the game. I had it as a kid and, while I didn't fully understand how to play, I did enjoy it. I had the same reaction to Raiders of the Lost Ark. No idea what was going on, but I still liked it (and in that case, had I simply read the manual, I would have had an easier time).
As for Defender, my friends and I were dying for this one to be released. It was a pretty big let-down even then, though it was certainly playable when you couldn't get to the arcade.
I didn't see E.T. at the movies in 1982, so wasn't excited about the video game which I played at a friend's house in 1983. What did kids expect? I can only think of a bicycle chase; perhaps something like Paperboy? But it was defective; it's inexcusable for it to make you fall into the hole immediately upon exiting; better to put you on a clear spot. They say the pixel-checker was too unforgiving, which is what's said about a bad Odyssey² game too. If they had fixed that before release it wouldn't make it a great game, but might have stopped some returns. Maybe they didn't test it or take into account kids' reactions? I think there are variations where the scientist and FBI agents don't come for you, so little kids would be less frustrated if it didn't have the repeat pit falls (Pitfall! was one of the Christmas 1982 best-selling games).
Now, if you know how to get out of the pits, it is playable and winnable. I think I got E.T. home 5x the last time I played it before running out of energy.
@@sandal_thong8631 E.T. was flawed because Howard Scott Warshaw was tasked to develop and program it in just over 5 weeks, a near impossible job. It was bad but playable and Steven Spielberg approved of it after seeing it demoed so it made it to store shelves for the Christmas, 1982 buying season. Later, after selling far fewer copies than expected, many copies were buried in a landfill in New Mexico along with a bunch if other non-salable games. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial_(video_game)
Loved the arcade version of Defender, but not this home version. Just like Pacman, Atari went and put out a subpar home version for the 2600. Any more flicker and I wouldn't be able to see anything on the screen! If Atari could put out an awesome home version of Defender 2 (Stargate), then Defender was just one more lazy money grab on their part. And everyone wants to blame the video game crash on ET! Tell that to a kid in 1982 who spent $37 of his paper route money on Defender for the 2600! 🤪
I actually liked this one when I was a kid but it's not the best side scrolling space shooter. I'll probably catch a whole bunch of flack for this, but I actually prefer Space Jockey. I do remember my copy of Defender (maybe all of them) came with an Atari Force comic back in the day. That was always a cool bonus.
I think he said that Space Jockey doesn't get tougher the longer you play. And where's the jockey?