school me on stargate vs defender

Mizzou

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Which is your preference and why? Ive got pretty limited experience on both and am trying to decide between the two..pretty comparable in price and availability? How is game play/strategy diffrent etc..
 
Which is your preference and why? Ive got pretty limited experience on both and am trying to decide between the two..pretty comparable in price and availability? How is game play/strategy diffrent etc..

I guess Defender is the more iconic, but feels a little empty to me after playing Stargate. I suggest doing a JROK setup in a Stargate to play both. I'd ditch my Defender cab if I wasn't so sentimentally attached to it.
 
One kicks your ass really really quickly, while the other one kicks your ass really really really quickly.

Nuff said.

:eek:

I would say the difference is similar to Centipede/Millipede. Where the first one is a classic and the second one has more enemies and is harder.

If you are going to have one you might as well have the other.

:D
 
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My Stargate has an original boardset.
I used to swap in a Defender boardset.
Now I have a JROK that only boots to either Stargate or Defender.
I play Defender and it seems simpler but still kicks my butt.
I then play Stargate, its flashier, perhaps better graphics, and comes with more options, but also kicks my butt.
Both compliment each other. I like both. I would recommend having both. They are different. But they both kick butt. LOL :)

As for cabinets, I prefer the style of the original Defender cab to the Stargate one.

EDIT: and yes, the DFNDR/SG question is like asking differences/preferences between Centi/Milli and Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe, Joust and Joust 2 (LOL) etc. The sequels are always more flashy and more difficult ... but not necessarily "better".
 
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EDIT: and yes, the DFNDR/SG question is like asking differences/preferences between Centi/Milli and Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe, Joust and Joust 2 (LOL) etc. The sequels are always more flashy and more difficult ... but not necessarily "better".

^^^ This
I have a Stargate but wish I had a Defender, would probably play Defender more than Stargate as I can rarely get past wave 5, and I agree with the sequels not being better except Asteroids Deluxe.
 
Defender is the classic, more recognized, but Stargate has the cabinet more in line with the design of the other Williams cabinets, so you need both. Either game is hell on your hands as far as carpal tunnel goes.
 
Dang . I've been thinking about trading one or the other away but you guys just talked me out of it . I'll NEVER get any space back 😩 .
 
One game sucks... the other sucks even worse...

YES! I SAID IT! DEFENDER SUCKS! I really don't like the game... at all and damnit, I'm not afraid to speak my mind!

SO THERE!

PS: I have a LONG HISTORY of really not liking Defender. The ole man LOVED Defender on the 2600. I hated it. HATED it.
 
One game sucks... the other sucks even worse...

YES! I SAID IT! DEFENDER SUCKS! I really don't like the game... at all and damnit, I'm not afraid to speak my mind!

SO THERE!

PS: I have a LONG HISTORY of really not liking Defender. The ole man LOVED Defender on the 2600. I hated it. HATED it.

Difficulty really turns a lot of people off. To me, there is nothing cooler than getting on a roll in Stargate. It's also really awesome to watch another good player, casually Inviso'ing through enemies right when you think they're dead. It's almost disorienting to watch.

2600 Defender was garbage. The Atari 400/800 version was pretty solid. Plays at mostly the correct speed (a little slow) and lets you use the Spacebar and keyboard for Smart and Hyperspace.
 
Being good at Defender and/or Stargate is like being good at the speed bag in a boxing gym, you get instant respect. Owning both and playing both, Stargate being a fave from childhood, I would say the game play is different. In Defender you are just trying to obliterate the enemies. Because of that is seems like a faster paced, simpler game. In Stargate the strategy is to collect 4 humans and hit the Stargate to warp ahead four levels, at least the first ten levels, so there is a lot more evading and strategy to it until you get good. I prefer Stargate, but I do agree that the Defender cab looks better and Defender is a more iconic game. I've had friends over who were self proclaimed Defender 'experts' who didn't even know that Stargate was the sequel and very similar. Either getting a machine that can boot to either or setting one up that way would be ideal. You honestly can't go wrong with either one though. Stargate was the first game I got over 15 years ago and still one of my favorites.
 
One game sucks... the other sucks even worse...

YES! I SAID IT! DEFENDER SUCKS! I really don't like the game... at all and damnit, I'm not afraid to speak my mind!

SO THERE!

PS: I have a LONG HISTORY of really not liking Defender. The ole man LOVED Defender on the 2600. I hated it. HATED it.

haha... I actually love the game even though I suck at it (stargate in my case).
 
One game sucks... the other sucks even worse...

YES! I SAID IT! DEFENDER SUCKS! I really don't like the game... at all and damnit, I'm not afraid to speak my mind!

SO THERE!

PS: I have a LONG HISTORY of really not liking Defender. The ole man LOVED Defender on the 2600. I hated it. HATED it.

Well, you're an Asshat, so your opinion doesn't count.
tongue21.gif


Difficulty really turns a lot of people off. To me, there is nothing cooler than getting on a roll in Stargate. It's also really awesome to watch another good player, casually Inviso'ing through enemies right when you think they're dead. It's almost disorienting to watch.

2600 Defender was garbage. The Atari 400/800 version was pretty solid. Plays at mostly the correct speed (a little slow) and lets you use the Spacebar and keyboard for Smart and Hyperspace.

Odyssey had a Stargate... I became very good at it(if I hit 300k points, I was almost guaranteed to hit 400k)... but the pacing of Defender was different enough that I literally sucked at it.

Man, I wish the owners still had that cabinet when I got Pole Position from them. Oh well.
 
Stargate is an improvement on Defender. Anyone complaining about Stargate difficulty is a puss!!! I played for over 9 hrs on one qtr when I was 15 so suck it!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
 
Seriously though, Stargate adds a little more. Both cabs are just ok but I lean towards Stargate cab being a little cooler.
 
Stargate is an improvement on Defender. Anyone complaining about Stargate difficulty is a puss!!! I played for over 9 hrs on one qtr when I was 15 so suck it!!!! 🤣🤣🤣

I think thats one of those left brain vs. right brain things... some people can hang with the extra buttons and some cant.

for me I always fuck up and hit the wrong button at some point.
 
I love Stargate! I'm restoring one right now. It will be great to have my own machine.

Actually, I just recently got a Defender (cocktail) too. Non-working presently tho.

Stargate is a little better IMHO.
 
I think thats one of those left brain vs. right brain things... some people can hang with the extra buttons and some cant.

for me I always fuck up and hit the wrong button at some point.


It's amazing they even considered a game with so many controls. "Hey 5 buttons & a joystick will be cool!!" Then add another button to Stargate.
 
It's amazing they even considered a game with so many controls. "Hey 5 buttons & a joystick will be cool!!" Then add another button to Stargate.

I've posted this before, but I showed my Stargate to my bro in law a few years ago, he was just in his late 20s. His impression was that it looked way too hard and ridiculous controls.
 
I owned both at the same time for a while. Very hard games as others have said but personally that's what makes them great for home use, my best on Defender is 117k and was around 106k on Stargate. Both are great, but I ended up keeping Defender and selling Stargate. Defender is just more classic hence why I kept that one. Stargate is clearly the more polished of the two and has a nice attract mode.

Honestly though I don't think it's possible to keep both games if you actually play them regularly, at least I wasn't able to. The problem is using inviso is a must on Stargate and after you play it for a while using it becomes second nature. That makes going back to playing Defender extremely tough because you keep trying to hit that now not present inviso button by habit, something you now have to unlearn and you will suck until you do. But then when you unlearn that you now can't play Stargate because using inviso is a must. Rinse and repeat.

So for me I wasn't able to keep both games with the intent on playing both. They are very much reflex games to me and when I would get good at one I would suck at the other until I unlearned one and remolded myself again to the other. Made more sense to just keep one of the two. Really though you are good with either one, just go for whichever one has more nostalgia for you, or whichever one has the more pleasing cabinet.
 
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