Randomly Rolled: Stargate (Defender II)

On 03/20/2022 at 10:29 PM by KnightDriver

I rolled "arcade" on my consoles list and then Stargate (Defender II). I played it within Midway Arcade Origins on Xbox Series S.

To me, it seemed nearly the same as Defender but there are some new things about it. I just didn't use the Inviso button or transport any humans through the stargate because I didn't read the instructions and didn't know I could do that. I did know that I could get an achievement for saving three humans, so I went for that. I got two but not three.

I find this game really difficult. You can really only move your ship up and down. You hit a button to turn around and the screen adjusts to show more that's ahead of you, a shift that really disorients me. You can thrust forward but not adjust your speed. Without thrust, you just coast and eventually stop. So both of these mechanics really hamper your ability to make fine adjustments.

I also found that many enemies can dodge your shots. You actually have to shoot above or below them and move down or up as if to surprise them. Shooting directly ahead at an enemy only makes them bob and weave around your shot. Also, your plasma blasts are slower than the enemy's single pixel-size bullets. All this makes it a very frustrating game for me.

I think I'm going to remove this game from my list. I don't enjoy it even though I love the concept, sound, and graphics.

SanAndreas

03/20/2022 at 11:24 PM

I played the Atari 2600 version of Stargate, which has more straightforward controls but requires the second controller to be plugged in to activate hyperspace/smart bombs. Defender was one of the rare cases where I enjoyed the home games more than the arcade because the arcade controls were too convoluted. I had the Atari 8-bit version of the first game, and then I also have both games on Midway Arcade Treasures for Gamecube. I really wish Warner Media would release a Midway/Atari Games collection for Switch. We have Atari, Capcom, Konami, Taito, Nichibutsu, Sega, SNK, and even Nintendo arcade games on Switch, it's kind of odd that Midway is completely absent and that Warner has no interest in reissuing its old arcade games.

KnightDriver

03/21/2022 at 06:58 PM

I can see that. Now I want to try the 2600 version. Looks like that version isn't on any collection but there is a NES version I could try. I'll put it on the list.

I was wondering what collections are on the Switch. Too bad for Midway but there is a lot of stuff there not on the other consoles. I can't wait to dig into all that.

Cary Woodham

03/22/2022 at 08:24 AM

I like the colorful graphics the Defender games have, but yeah they're way too hard! I'm with SanAndreas on this one, I actually like the 2600 versions better. Mainly because I'm better at them. :) By the way, NES Defender was programmed by Satoru Iwata. Cool, huh?

03/25/2022 at 08:35 PM

That is cool. I'm looking into the Atari Flashback 2 for the 2600 version of Defender. It's not very expensive and it's small, which will keep my closet space from exploding.

PixlBit