Defender

The arcade comes home

The Atari ST boasts a small but brilliant selection of Defender-styled games, including great alternatives like Anarchy and StarRay. Of course, there’s also the classic Defender II by ARC, a favourite of mine with its flash & pizzazz. However, I don’t recall ever playing a proper official port of Williams’ Defender.

Earlier this year, I came across a new thread on Atari-Forum by sark02 for an arcade-perfect version of Defender. He began reverse-engineering the gameplay functions by translating the 6809 assembly and modifying it to work on the ST/e. The original's resolution is similar at 320x256, but instead of losing pixels, he implemented overscan to remove the lower border. Not only that, but he also utilises the DMA audio hardware for 25 kHz playback, while still supporting the STf. Quite remarkable, right? We need to duplicate this guy ASAP!!

This ancient arcade masterpiece deserves a break from my boring text with a lovely screenshot...

Shoot them all; take no prisoners!! (And note the taller image)

What is it?

Nobody is wondering what kind of game Defender is. Of course, if you've been hiding under a rock, then it's a speedy, intense shooter unlike anything else at the time. This horizontally scrolling space-blaster has us killing aliens and rescuing humans from abduction. It is fast-paced with flashy explosions and tough as nails. But it has that special "one more go" factor that keeps dragging you back. Defender is an arcade classic.

The first thing you should do is wait for the authentic but pointless boot intro to finish, then hit the F4 key to access a wide range of options. By default, the keyboard is active; however, you can change this to use the joystick or pad instead. Other options include auto-saving high scores, switching fonts between Defender and Atari, and the credits. Save your options, and we're good to go and blast the alien scumbags!

Now, pick up the joystick, blast aliens, have fun, and blast some more aliens. What more could you ask for? Well, best of all, the game feels completely genuine with the same movement and silky smooth aesthetics. Look out for Landers, Mutants, Bombers, and others as you try to protect those plucky humans.

Have you grasped just how cool this arcade game is? No?? Well, here's another screenshot, then...

Do you have any idea how tough it is to get a screenshot without getting killed?

CryptO'pinion

I can't rate this any differently than I would the arcade. It's the same game, which I find mega-mind-boggling, if I'm honest. In the documentation, sark02 writes, “If it feels like Defender, then that’s because of them. If it doesn’t, then that’s because of me.” By "them", he means the original programmers at Williams, which I fully understand. But come on, credit where it’s due - in my humble opinion, he has done an extraordinary job of morphing everything together to create an exceptional Atari ST/e shooter.

I can’t emphasise enough how great this is on the ST (even better on the STe!). This is a jaw-dropping conversion of Defender, built around the original arcade code and beefed up with overscan visuals, buttery-smooth controls, crisp DMA sounds. The effort sark02 put into it shines through. Where has he been for the last few decades, and what's next? Talk about bringing back those golden childhood memories!!

An authentic classic shooter that I'm pleased to rate a swarmer-busting 95%.

• Download it right away https://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-defender_43677.html
• sark02's original announcement https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=477907#p477907

Don't forget to hit the F4 key for an array of options.

The keyboard doesn't work for me, I need the joystick!

Fonts? How boring!!

Not really! Which one do you prefer?

Well done sark02. This was an easy game to rate, an AtariCrypt SMASH!!

“The ST Can’t Scroll”

Really?

One of the things we have all heard time and time again, both now and even back in the day, is that the Atari ST cannot scroll. But I’ve never really understood where that came from. Because when I unwrapped my ST on Christmas morning back in 1988, I was straight into games like Xenon, Beyond the Ice Palace, Black Lamp, Return to Genesis, Thundercats, Wizball, and Zynaps. All of them scrolled - and they scrolled well. That was just the start as the months passed, I got to play R-Type, Robocop, Baal, Pac-Land, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Custodian, The New Zealand Story, Jug, Blood Money, StarRay. And that list goes on (and on, and on...).

Sure, there were some proper stinkers - lazy ports that got the quick ‘n’ dirty Amiga-to-ST treatment, with zero care and even less optimisation. Especially in the 1990s, and when that happened, some developers shrugged and blamed the hardware. “The ST can’t scroll,” they’d say. More likely: the programmer didn’t have the time or the talent to do the job properly (ouch!). I'm still waiting for someone to Blitterise Cannon Fodder!

However, it's deeper than a handful of poorly converted games. So, where did this myth come from? Well, the standard ST was never going to churn out loads of games running at 50fps because it doesn’t have hardware scrolling, after all. But does that automatically mean anything running slower is rubbish? Not at all, but somehow, that excuse stuck - and even now, decades later, people still repeat it like it’s a fact.

Since I’m clearly not bored of moderating the abusive comments after posting about STDOOM & DOOM8088ST, I figured it was time to put this tired old myth to bed. I’ve made a 'gameplay' video showing several ST games that scroll fine – and yes, I could’ve included many more, but I think the point’s been made.

When the ST is in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing and actually gives a TOS, it delivers. So you might say, a bad workman blames his tools... Just STay Atari, and enjoy my recording! :-)