Any good Defender player can easily roll the game
The real trick is to come as close to 1mil without rolling it - which is not easy as every kill from 990,000 to 999,999 yields an extra ship. The only way to kill yourself off is by running into the enemy shots (which are worth 50 points as I recall).
I was never as good on Stargate, but some say it's easier than Defender once you get good.
It's tough to simulate the control layout on a MAME cab - mostly because of the joystick. It must be very short with a short throw and the reverse button needs to be directly under your thumb while using the joystick.
Defender is my favorite game of all time!
I remember when I first ran into a Defender. It was July 1st, 1982 and I was in Monroe Michigan for my older sister's wedding (I can remember the date since it was the day of the bachelor party). I found Defender to be tough to play but very difficult to resist. The thing that I liked best about it was that it was physically difficult to coordinate all the controls. I played it a pretty good bit over the next few months but never got all that good at it (I know I didn't break 100K during that period of time).
Then I ran into Stargate and it was love. I played it to the point where it kinda got in the way of relationships. But I did attain rather lofty skills at it. My best game on Stargate was Valentine's day, 1984 - I played for 9 hours and 5 minutes, stopping at 8 million exactly (having to jump through the "blow up ships as you get close and then hyperspace until you blow up for no points" hoops). I don't recall for sure how many levels that was, but I *think* I stopped in the 417th level. (Note: If I recall correctly the levels went from level 254 to level 0 (which was still hard difficulty) and then started over at level 1 which was suddenly at initial difficulty (<edit> NOTE: See my correction note below </edit>). After going so fast for so many hours, going to back initial difficulty always felt like you slammed into a mountain.) I remember that it was Valentine's day since I, um... didn't pay as much attention to my girlfriend as I should've.
Anyways, after getting so good at Stargate I decided to try out Defender again, but found it frustrating. The timing is just different enough that if you're very very good at one you probably won't like the other. I think the best I ever did on Defender was in the 300,000 range, which felt SO disappointing after being so good at Stargate.
I've long since lost the "Stargate callouses" on my fingers and thumbs, but I did purchase a Stargate from eBay about 8 or 9 years ago ago that I'd had mostly working, but then it developed major problems and has sat semi-dismantled for years (Real Life(tm) got in the way). I gave another shot at fixing it about a year ago (I've got 2 full sets of boards, and upgraded to the better RAM and a switching power supply, resoldered all parts on both mainboards that I've got, etc.) but it's still not working. Rather than fuss with it any more I'm planning to commit heresy by putting a PC into it to run MAME on it. I know that many of you will shudder at that, but I'm at the point where I don't care. I want to PLAY it not tinker with it. And it'll NEVER be sold for as long as I'm capable of playing it. But if it makes you feel better, I am keeping the original boards in place and wiring around them, so after I die if someone wants to do a proper restore they can have at it.
And if any of you were at the University of Houston during the 83-84 school year and saw the couple of Stargates on campus, yeah, that was me.
Actually, there was this other guy who was awesome as well, and there's no way I would've gone through those marathon sessions if it hadn't been for him beating my scores. It was back and forth for several months, but once I got several games in the 6 to 8 million point range he faded away.
I'll give some of my tips for those 2 games a little later (gotta get back to work for now). BTW - I have NO idea how good I'd be at Defender if someone put a quarter in my hand right now. I'm pretty sure that Tim's score would remain safely on top. But if you gave me a roll of quarters...
Bunsen
<edit>
I found this information about the levels at MAWS:
>>>>>>
Stargate attack waves 'roll over' at wave 100, which is displayed, when started and after being completed, as Wave 0. The game keeps track of the actual number of waves, even though they are not shown properly. For example, the next wave will be counted as Wave 101, even though it shows being completed as Wave 1. The game will 'roll over' again at Wave 200, which is displayed, when started and after being completed, as Wave 0 as well. The next 'roll over' occurs at Wave 256. Upon completion of Wave 255, the next wave is a wave very similar to the very first wave, except that the Firebombers shoot. This level is counted and displayed as Wave 0, and the player is awarded a bonus of Humanoids left X 0 points (the bonus for this wave is always 0 points). The next is Wave 1, and the game now plays just as if the player had started a new game (warps are now again possible up to wave 10), except the player gets to keep his score and all of his bonus ships and Smart Bombs.
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After reading that I can remember that they're correct about the levels going from 255 to 0 (which was slow but with shooting Firebombers). However, I thought that the levels did go from 99 to 100 and 199 to 200. It's been a quarter century since I was good enough to do that, so I won't argue against them. I'll just rebuild my box and see if I can dedicate some time to getting good again and correct MAWS if they're wrong.
Also, there are some different sets of ROMs for Stargate. It may be that some ROMs went like they reported and some how I remembered.
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