WILLIAMS DEFENDER 1,000,000 pts (Part 1 of 7) circa 1989.

[andymouse123]

guy's...I love this game and not as good as you lot but where can i get a decent historicaly acurate version for my PC?

[virtualgaz]

@andymouse123 You'll have to set up MAME on your PC mate. Get the windows version, read up on it and I can email you the ROMS if necessary.

[andymouse123]

@andymouse123 thanks gonna read up on what ya mean!!!!...this game to me cant be beaten...ya whatch someone who's good and it's something else

[dar1437]

A joy to watch. Best game ever.

[MPSisback]

Great to watch this, i recognise your gameplay anywhere. Everyone has their own unique style of playing. I remember MAT's style was eccentric movements with fast fire! how about the players with amature thrust control, like pressing the fire button and thrust on and off at the same time Ha Ha. I must admit watching this made me twich abit. i didnt see a lander trying to pick up a humanoid, getting stuck and spitting out loads of bullets, one to keep a distance.

[virtualgaz]

@MPSisback THE RULER'S BACK! Ah yes the 'stuck' Lander spewing out bullets! Probably a no-show here because this million was done on red ROMs @ default or moderate heat settings. But as Mikeville66 points out, the green ROMs (the one's you clocked Dayvilles on at 99-99 (15k & then 20k!)) have nastier Landers. It's going to be quite a while until I'm back to the skill level (if ever) of recording a 'stuck Lander'!

[MPSisback]

@virtualgaz we'll be able to clock Defenders even propped up against our 'zimmers' . Long term ale consumption may have hampered our fire speed, but i don't think we can unlearn the knowledge of this game.

[MPSisback]

what was the name of the old bloke that played pac man at dayvilles. (ROC ruled)?

[virtualgaz]

@MPSisback He also played the sped-up Asteroids very well... name of... nah, it's gone!

[mikeville66]

STARGATE (cont. #3): The 8 new enemies can mostly be characterized as being "more of the same" (including the sounds), the only real exceptions being the Firebombers, and maybe the Dynamos.

A cool game - but not as well balanced as Defender. But I aim to be so good at it, that I can play the default settings indefinitely.

[virtualgaz]

@mikeville66 Mike I love the determination and interest you maintain for our beloved game! You can't fail to make a dent in some records because you have the burning desire! You may even drag me along way back in the distance!

[mikeville66]

@virtualgaz Yeah - I deeply regret all the lost years n o t playing Defender. All the times I've itched to play, but resisted the urge to have it down from the attic. Been playing on a regular basis since last year now, but still not back to mid-80's standard. Progression is slow, but I'm getting there. Best game ever, for me. I'll never forget my first game in early 1981. I crashed into 3 Landers: 450 p. I was completely spellbound ... how could a n y t h i n g be so cool?!

[mikeville66]

STARGATE (cont. #2): So you could say the Inviso makes you solve problems in a way contrary to your Defender instincts. This is all very cool, but I think too much of the Defender qualities are lost at the same time. I also think Stargate suffers from some design choices, like the Stargate itself - skipping a few Waves doesn't add anything to the game, and the rest of the time it works like some Hyperspace variant.

[mikeville66]

STARGATE (cont.): If the "Defender way" is slick manoeuvering into positions as to be able to shoot the enemies, then the "Stargate way" is rather straight into, or rather, t h r o u g h situations. It's maybe at its most spectacular in complicated situations, like when trying to save/snatch a falling humanoid while under attack from all sides. Or in space, when the Inviso makes your ship a black hole that just grinds the Mutants with a crackle.

[mikeville66]

STARGATE: I never took to Stargate bitd, and now - like then - Defender gets all the love. Why? The Inviso is an ingenious idea, and a very cool feature to build a sequel to Defender around. I imagine it was intended as a defensive weapon, but the masters work it frequently, in fragments of seconds at just the right moments, and turns it into an attack weapon. Inviso changes the whole way of dealing with situations.

[virtualgaz]

@mikevill66 - *******APOLOGIES**************­***CORRECTION ***********CORRECTION******** NOT 99/99******

I only clocked it on 30-99/15 extra but MPS did the 20k setting. We'd been used to 15k on 20-20 and 30-30 for years so our gameplay was geared towards only using a smart bomb when 4 pods were guaranteed or if it would save your ship's life. Since 30-99 seemed basically a sped up version of 20-20, there were 3 key factors involved in clocking a 30-99. MY BAD, vg.

[VortexArcade]

I never got very good at Defender back in the 80's because it'd fleece me for a quarter in a couple minutes, at best. Ended up building a MAME cab with a Defender layout and now OK at it but still not great (~200k). Its still the one game I never really get sick of because its so dynamic and different every time.

Awesome vid, I'm gonna watch the whole series!

[virtualgaz]

@VortexArcade - Thanks! Yep, Defender was at its most daunting as a new player - all those controls and weeks of practice (and money) to get to the second Wave! Upon discovering a 1000pt pod, I was hooked! There's a bit about my love affair with Defender on my videogames page:

w w w . v i r t u a l g a z . c o m / v i d e o g a m e s p a g e

[swfcocs1]

@virtualgaz Stylish defender playing my man,especially the "10 man pick up" at the start.I`m curious as to why you immediately put them down as keeping them slowed baiters.Your style seems very similar to mine back then,especially regarding baiters.I think dealing with baiters was the key to really big scores.In later stages I used to be slightly more defensive and kill off all but two of my "pegs"as mutants on a busy level were a real pain! Ah,defender-what a game.Never got stargate in the uk!

[virtualgaz]

@swfcocs1 Cheers mate - glad that the vid is bringing out another past-master! Yep the lack of Stargate in the UK was very frustrating - especially when you had mastered Defender. Anyhow, I did track one down in around '83 at Clacton, Essex which was a real buzz... until of course I tried to play it! My dreams of getting a top ten score soon dimished when I saw a 3million hi score... never saw another one! Robotron and Sinistar were scarce as well - maybe the US market used them all up.

[swfcocs1]

@virtualgaz Was stargate so much harder? Man,we never got it here in Wakefield(or leeds),and trust me I looked! Did you ever get the frustration of killing off all your ships to leave 999,975 and landing on something straight out of hyperspace to leave you with a score of 100 or such? My other fave games were tempest,gyrussand space firebird but nothing topped defender.All the defender "masters" in Wakefield knew each other like some strange clique!! memories,memories!

[virtualgaz]

@swfcocs1 My limited feel of SG then (because I can play it on MAME now) was that it was just as bewildering as DEF was for the first time: smarter old enemies, yet another button (inviso), a mid-screen warp if you have humanoids and a whole host of new enemies who avoided your fire. There seemed to be lots more going on ON the screen but not all of it was a threat. On the whole, yes more difficult but enough practice would've yielded the necessary skills I'd say. WR is 71M (set in 81) I think.

[virtualgaz]

@swfcocs1 Yeah, many-a time in the early days of clocking Def you get too close to the million and then over. On at least 10 occasions it went over wasting an hour's work by landing on an enemy after hyperspace. One time I ended up with a score of zero after re-entering next to a bullet! It's best to 'creep up' to 999,975 using the enemies and then their bullets for 25 each - much less of a risk!

[virtualgaz]

@swfcocs1 About the 10 humanoids (like the 'pegs' term!) : Whilst we used to hang around for baiters with 5+ humanoids on occasionally to push the score up to the next extra perhaps, it was rare because it was basically a foregone conclusion that the game would be clocked no matter the setting, so the emphasis was on keeping the time down to around 53 mins with 15 mins left to kill the surplus ships off. If it was a doubles game then the whole thing would take nearly 3 hours sometimes!

[swfcocs1]

@virtualgazYeah,you`re right about the clocking being nailed on,I used to love just baiter bashing at the end of a level,just for the flashness I suppose.I always found the fast reversing style you used to be the most effective,and the flashiest! Your technique for swarmers was also the most effective,the close following.Too many people let them fly back and forth,fatal rookie error! i enjoyed the way you get out of tight spots by staying still and using subtle movement,a sign of true confidence

[virtualgaz]

NOTES: All ten humanoids picked up W1 & semi-frozen screen on drop-off. 15,000pts end of Wave 1. 26,000 pts end of Wave 2. 39,000 pts end of Wave 3. 50k first man. 53,000 pts end of Wave 4. Taking risk going for the last 500pt humanoid grab (4:45). 7 drop on Wave 5.