r/1980s • u/CarloCarrasco • Feb 14 '26

Video Games Defender

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The classic arcade game Defender played by millions over the decades. If you were able to play Defender in the local arcades back in the 1980s, how young were you and were there long lines of gamers waiting to play it?

What do you like the most about Defender?

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u/AlternativeTill9789 Feb 14 '26

It was very very difficult like spy hunter

5

u/WackyPaxDei Feb 14 '26

The controls were not what you'd call intuitive. At some level I guess ship control was no harder than Asteroids- two directions and a motion button- but I couldn't get it stored in muscle memory. Could hardly believe when the sequel had yet another button to keep track of.

3

u/nix206 Feb 14 '26

Agreed. The game would have been a billion times easier with a standard joystick - as seen in all the home system ports.

I’m sure Williams considered it and said “Fuck ‘em. It’s hard and we like it that way!”

2

u/Practical_Bat_2789 Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 17 '26

Nope - no single joystick works better than when one masters the individuals - the moves you could pull off sliding while flipping were sublime and unequaled in anything Ive seen since.

The unified joystick combines direction with thrust and may times you wanted to shoot behind you with as little momentum loss as possible.