I played Defender on MAME for the first time a few weeks ago when it was included in a high score tournament over at AtariAge, and I had no idea how to set up the controls because I have never had the pleasure of playing the game on an original cabinet. So, what I did was simply map the buttons on my MAME cabinet to a setup that felt “logical” to me. The 5 buttons was extremely confusing at first but once you feel yourself starting to get the hang of it, it’s actually a rewarding experience.
After reading this thread, I looked up the actual Defender CP layout and, predictably, what I had done was not even close. But, last night I switched the controls to match the correct layout as closely as possible and I think it actually works. I have a 2-player CP with 6 buttons each (arranged in two rows of 3 in an “arc” to account for the fact that your index finger is shorter). So, I was able to use the top row player 2 buttons for smart-bomb, thrust, and fire. For reverse, I used the left-most button in the bottom row on the player 1 side. It’s actually close enough that if I grab the joystick like a gear shifter, I can comfortably hit the button with my thumb. I don’t have a button anywhere near where the hyperspace button should be, so I just used the first button in the second row on the player 2 side. I’m not good enough at the game to make use of hyperspace anyway.
Of course, I had to completely re-learn how to play the game (not that I was any good at it to begin with) but I must say this control layout is very cool and fun to use. Coincidentally, also last night, my sister told me she saw a Defender cabinet in the lobby of a local movie theater so I might just have to make a dedicated trip out there to try my hand at it.
