Defender. Defender is a game on which you have a split screen. At the top is a
scanner and at the bottom is a big screen.
The scanner shows your whole playfield while the bottom shows
only one quarter of the playfield.
To play, you watch your scanner and protect your humans.
The object of the game is to protect all ten humans who are on the ground.
The idea is to keep the green alien landing craft from taking your humans from
the ground and changing them into mutants.
When a human is taken to the top of the screen by a
lander, he is changed into a mutant.
A mutant is very dangerous to you because he flies faster than
you do and shoots at you.
It is important to know that saving humans in mid-air gives extra points and also
that humans who survive and are left at the end of each
wave are worth bonus points.
The control panel consists of different buttons and a joystick. You may move
either up and down or left and right.
The thrust button accelerates you. There is a fire button
with which to shoot the landers.
The hyperspace button makes you vanish and
repositions you somewhere else on the screen.
But the hyperspace button is risky. Only use it when you are surrounded and your
destruction is imminent. Then it will save you.
Otherwise, the hyperspace button will cause you to self-destruct.
The button called Smart Bombs is very important and vital to your survival.
The use of a Smart Bomb is to blow up anything that is
around you when you are about to be killed.
Smart Bombs kill only what is on the big screen. They do not
blow up everything that is on the scanner.
You will need to use Smart Bombs to blow up pods when they are close together.
Try to get three or four together at a time.
In Defenders, it is important to be firing very rapidly. However, the trick to
mastering this game is to know where to fly your ship.
You should always fly at the horizon level unless you are about to be shot
and need to avoid being killed.
From this position, you fly up or down, saving humans from the landers.
When a lander comes down from the top of the screen, he will always fly at a
level just above the horizon of the mountains at the bottom of the screen.
And it is from that level they will go down and pick up your humans.
So, it is important for you to always fly at the horizon level, never above or
below, so that you are able to save your humans from the landers.
Keeping this information in mind, you are ready to begin playing. The stages
of the game are called waves.
There are five waves. Each one is harder than the previous one
and adds various things.
Wave 1 is a very slow wave where you can shoot the landers
quickly as they move slowly.
They will slowly pick up your men and carry them to the top. Get lots of practice
at this level, taking back your man and putting him back on the ground.
Do 3 or 4 and then wipe them all out by shooting as fast as you can.
When you get good at this, you will be able to kill the landers more slowly and
rescue your men. You will get more points this way.
However, if you do not kill the landers fast enough, baiters will come out.
Baiters move evasively and shoot rapidly, so they are not only likely to kill you
instantly, but are also most difficult for you to kill.
So, kill the landers quickly at first in order to avoid the baiters coming out.
And as you become more skilled, you will be able to time your shots, so as to
kill the landers slowly enough to rescue your man and get the most points.
But not so slow as to give enough time for a baiter to come out.
In Wave 2, the game adds a pod which is worth 1,000 points and a few bombers.
Shooting landers as fast as possible keeps you going.
When you shoot the pod, it will break up into swimmers who shoot at you. The
swimmers are worth 150 points and there is a trick to getting them.
When they come shooting out at you, right after they pass, try to get right
behind them. This will prevent them from shooting at you, while you will be able
to clearly wipe them out from behind.
Remember, swimmers will come out only if you shoot the pod. Swimmers will not
come out of the pod if you destroy the pod using a smart bomb.
Wave 3 is the same as Wave 2, only faster and with more landers and more pods.
Here is where the pod trick comes in.
Wait for the 3 or 4 pods to all get together and blow them up at one time using a
smart bomb. This is worth about 5,000 points.
From Wave 4 on, the game is hard and you must kill landers as fast as possible.
You must be flying faster and shooting more ferociously because
the game really speeds up.
Also, here is added one more pod which is the limit. There is never more
than 4 pods per wave.
The best way to kill mutants is to fly at the very top of the screen and shoot
forward at them. They will usually walk right into your shots.
If you should lose all your humans, the planet will disappear and you will find
all your men flying around in space.
I call this part space flight because there is no
ground or horizon at this level.
Every lander becomes a mutant and therefore becomes more difficult
to clear them all off the screen.
It is almost impossible to get back to the planet stage once you are in this
space stage, so it should be avoided if at all possible.
If you don't lose all your humans and make it to Wave 5, you get a new set
of humans and play continues.