Stargate

Stargate (also known Defender II) is a sequel to the 1980 game Defender. The game starts with ten Humanoids inhabiting the planet. Landers will attempt to capture and fuse with them during play. To rescue a Humanoid from capture, the player must kill the Lander holding it while it is in the air, causing the Humanoid to drop. At low height Humanoids can survive the drop on their own, but if the Lander is killed at too high an altitude, the player must catch the Humanoid with their ship and return him to the ground, otherwise he will not survive the drop. A player’s ship can carry as many Humanoids as are alive on that level. The Humanoids can be killed by the player’s weapon just as easily as the aliens can, so careful aim is required when firing near them. If all Humanoids are killed, the entire planet explodes, leaving the player in empty space. This also has the unfortunate effect of turning every Lander into a Mutant, making the player’s job very difficult.

Every time the player completes 5 waves of enemies (i.e. at wave 6, 11, 16 and so forth), the planet (and all its 10 Humanoids) is restored.

As well as the points gained by killing aliens, scores are also awarded for the following:

• Humanoid falling back to the ground without dying: 250 points
• Catching a falling humanoid: 500, 1000, 1500, and 2000 points, depending on number of humanoids carried at the time.
• Returning a humanoid to the ground: 500 points
• Humanoid surviving the level: 100 points per humanoid for 1st wave, 200 per humanoid on 2nd wave up to a maximum of 500 points from 5th wave onwards
• End-of-wave humanoid bonus: If all enemies are destroyed and a humanoid is falling to the ground, the player receives a 2,000 point bonus if the ship is positioned at ground level directly under the humanoid so as to simultaneously catch the humanoid and place it back on the ground. If the player simply catches the humanoid in mid-air while above the ground, the wave ends with the player only receiving the 500 points for catching the humanoid.

The control system of Stargate expands on that of the Defender arcade game. It has a joystick to move up and down, a ‘Reverse’ button to toggle the player’s horizontal direction, and a ‘Thrust’ button to move in that direction. There is also a Fire button for shooting, a button to activate a smart bomb, a button to turn on the Inviso cloaking device, and a hyperspace button which teleports the player to a random position in the level, at a risk of either exploding upon rematerialization, or materializing onto an enemy or enemy projectile.