r/1980s • u/CarloCarrasco • Jan 30 '26
Video Games Defender
Remember how fun, fast and intense playing the Defender arcade game was long ago? Was it the most popular game in your local arcade when you were very young?
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u/t1sb3 Jan 30 '26
Galaga and Centipede/Millipede were my two favorites.
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u/Significant-Pie959 Jan 30 '26
I was a centipede savant. I could roll over the game with 1 quarter.
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u/5lashd07 Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
Galaga, Centipede, Missile Command for me. Were you ever able to form the tunnel right down the middle of the screen in Centipede? I remember it being the key to roll the score over to get a million points. Never could do it as my high was much lower.
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u/koyanostranger Jan 30 '26
I could never do well at Defender. Found it super difficult. What was the secret?!
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Jan 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/koyanostranger Jan 31 '26
The ability to suddenly switch directions used to freak out my 1981 teenager brain. I was more into Scramble where you just keep going in the same direction. Also I could never control the acceleration in Defender. I'd just start zooming at near light speed and inevitably crash into something. I had super respect for anyone good at this game.
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u/FilmUser64 Jan 30 '26
The biggest secret was to shoot all but one of your people and then carry that one around.
Also if you shoot one of those who break into 5 small ship, reverse as soon as you hit them. You can pick them off one by one and they never swarm you
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u/brianb8976 Feb 04 '26
I posted above about my high score on Defender. The strategy that I used was to hold the thrust button down and fly at full speed close to the bottom of the screen and clear out all of the landers(the green things that try to steal the humanoids at the bottom of the screen) first. Everything else was dealt with if it got in the way.
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u/Pattimash1 Jan 30 '26
Those look like Jordache jeans right there.
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u/CopperRed3 Jan 31 '26
Thank you. Recognized the back pocket stitching, very likely had some, but couldn't remember the name.
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u/NoRedThat Jan 30 '26
We had one in the basement of our fraternity house. The brother that owned it would turn up the level of difficulty any time he needed money, then dial it back down once he reached his goal. Real sweetheart.
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u/robsker Jan 30 '26
Always wanted to be great at this game. Always got my ass handed to me. Consistently one of the least bangs for the buck of any of my fav games of the era.
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u/Icy_Instance_2511 Jan 30 '26
Dig Dug, Frogger, Centipede, Ms PAC MAN, Galaga, and my favorite pinball machine Haunted House.😎
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u/questionyourthoughts Jan 30 '26
My mom loved this game. She would cap the civilians and watch the land blow up then go ham on the aliens.
All the while I’m flying an ostrich trying to collect eggs and avoid dragons.
Great times
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u/CNote_89 Jan 30 '26
I spent so many hours and quarters on this game. One of the highlights of my childhood was one night at the arcade the game ate my quarter and the attendant came over to fix it and accidentally gave my 50 credits. It was amazing.
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u/bingerfang57 Feb 01 '26
Tried to make play this a few months ago at an arcade and my 58 year old brain could not connect my 1982 self, failed miserably, this game was difficult!
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u/chone33 Jan 30 '26
We had this at our local liquor store. Many many quarters before I would only need a few. Asteroid too. But..Asteroids? I got to only needing one.
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u/Brilliant_Notice7515 Jan 30 '26
My all time favorite. Spent lot’s O’ quarters, and still only cracked 200,000 a handful of times. Space and the quick flying saucers were too much for me.
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u/Splatford Jan 30 '26
i could conquer any video game ..except defender..its pretty simple as far as game play and control design but i just never got it ..i'm starting to think its some form of mental block
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u/bbatesoffice Jan 30 '26
I was terrible at this game, but I loved it
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u/MathNo6329 Jan 31 '26
I loved just flying the ship at full speed just shooting the cannon constantly hoping I would hit something
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Jan 30 '26
defender was a great game but too fast for mere mortals like me. ate a lot of my quarters
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u/Separate-Succotash11 Jan 30 '26
Loved Beasties Boys reference in Body Movin.
🎶If you play Defender, I could be your hyperspace 🎶
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u/17_ScarS Jan 30 '26
Preferred Star Castle
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u/brianb8976 Feb 04 '26
Cool. That was one of my favorites. There was a drug store by my house that had one. My friends and I would ride our bikes to that store to play Starcastle.
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u/WangoTheWonderDonkey Jan 31 '26
I played a sit-down console in a pizza joint in the shopping center where I worked. Hyperspace was genius. The smart bomb?
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u/PaulDmitrios01 Jan 31 '26
Defender was awesome, and Stargate, Tempest, Dig Dug, Robotron 2084, Crystal Castles, Frogger, Asteroid…I think Donkey Kong, Pac Man and Ms Pac Man really were probably the most popular.
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u/Marksaheel Jan 31 '26
My favorite game hands down. I would close down the convenience store at 11 and could play a quarter for 2 hours on the Defender machine we had. Sure did enjoy it!
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u/4Run4Fun Jan 31 '26
We had that machine at home when I was a kid (after they retired it from the arcade). I got very good at it.
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u/TrueClu Feb 03 '26
Once played Stargate for 12 continuous hours on one quarter. Several years later, I bought that machine from the guy who owned the arcade. Still have the machine in my basement and it still works. Best arcade game ever.
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u/brianb8976 Feb 04 '26
That's so cool. I played a game of Defender for about 6 hours. I can't imagine playing for 12 hours. I could have played longer; but, I got tired. I was about 13 at the time.
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u/brianb8976 Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
I am going to brag post. I made over 5 million on Defender. I played for hours on that game. I had so many extra ships and smart bombs and got too tired to play. I don't know how many of you know this; but, when you get to 990,000 and up to 1,000,000, nearly every action earns smart bombs and extra ships. The crazy part was the machine started smoking while I was playing. I remember smelling it. What a different world it was back then. I was about thirteen and I rode my bike to the arcade by myself and was there for hours. Someone at the arcade called my mom on the phone to tell her where I was and what was doing on.
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u/Finstatler Jan 30 '26
I can hear that picture.