Stargate (1981 video game)

Williams Electronics
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video games
Founded	1974
Headquarters	Chicago, United States
Products	Arcade games, including Stargate

Stargate is a side-scrolling shooter arcade title launched in 1981 by Williams Electronics. Created by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, it acts as the follow-up to Defender. This game marked the debut of Vid Kidz, an independent development team established by Jarvis and DeMar, producing three games in total. Certain home editions were renamed Defender II due to legal constraints.

This sequel brings a variety of new extraterrestrial adversaries, including Firebombers, Yllabian Space Guppies, Dynamos, Phreds, Big Reds, Munchies, and Space Hums. The player's Defender craft is equipped with an Inviso cloaking mechanism that grants temporary immunity. Moreover, a Stargate feature enables instant teleportation to any endangered humanoid. Two unique bonus stages—the Yllabian Dogfight and Firebomber Showdown—occur periodically starting from waves 5 and 10 respectively.

Gameplay

The player controls a spacecraft navigating a horizontally scrolling, wraparound mountainous terrain. The mission is to eliminate hostile alien forces threatening the humanoid population scattered across the landscape.

Equipped with a beam weapon and a limited supply of smart bombs that clear all enemies on screen, players must also manage a restricted Inviso cloaking energy for stealth and tactical advantage. A radar display at the screen's top shows the locations of all aliens and humanoids.

Aliens

Fifteen distinct alien species challenge the player:

Lander – Primary enemy that arrives in waves to abduct humanoids; captured victims are converted into Mutants.
Mutant – Aggressive homing attackers firing erratic projectiles.
Baiter – Swift, shimmering ships that appear if the player hesitates; their speed and small size make them hard to target.
Bomber – Stationary box-shaped foes that release airborne mines.
Pod – Star-shaped enemies that explode into multiple Swarmers upon destruction.
Swarmer – Small, fast-moving teardrop-shaped attackers.
Firebomber – Rotating Bomber variants firing rapid fireballs.
Yllabian Space Guppie – Swarming enemies that home in on the player’s ship.
Phreds and Big Reds – Square-shaped aliens deploying smaller Munchies.
Dynamos – Diamond-formed clusters of Space Hums that separate to attack independently.

Progression advances after all alien types are defeated except for Fireballs, Space Hums, Baiters, Phreds, Big Reds, and Munchies.

Humanoids

The game starts with ten Humanoids inhabiting the planet, targeted by Landers for capture and fusion. Players rescue a Humanoid by destroying the Lander carrying it mid-air, causing the captive to fall. At low altitudes, Humanoids survive the drop; at higher levels, players must catch them with their ship to prevent fatal impact. The player's craft can carry all surviving Humanoids during each level.

Humanoids are vulnerable to the player’s weapon just like aliens, so precise shooting is essential. If all Humanoids perish, the planet detonates, leaving the player isolated in space while every Lander transforms into a Mutant—dramatically increasing difficulty.

Every fifth wave (waves 6, 11, 16, etc.), both the planet and its ten Humanoids are restored.

Scoring

Points accumulate through defeating aliens and performing particular Humanoid-related tasks:

Safely landing a Humanoid: 250 points
Catching a falling Humanoid: between 500 and 2,000 points, based on the number carried
Bringing a Humanoid back to the ground: 500 points
Each surviving Humanoid per wave: starts at 100 points on wave 1 and rises to 500 points from wave 5 onward
Wave completion bonus: 2,000 points awarded for catching and returning a falling Humanoid to the ground; otherwise, 500 points for a catch made mid-air

When the player hits 999 ships and gains an additional life, the ship count resets back to one.

Typically, extra lives, smart bombs, and Inviso energy are granted every 10,000 points; this setting can be modified via maintenance mode. After surpassing 9,990,000 points, bonuses are earned for every enemy eliminated.

Controls

Stargate expands upon Defender's control layout by incorporating a joystick for vertical movement, a Reverse button that switches horizontal direction, and a Thrust button to move sideways. Other controls include Fire to shoot, Smart Bomb activation, toggling the Inviso cloaking device, and Hyperspace teleportation—which carries the danger of exploding upon rematerialization or appearing directly on enemies or projectiles.

The Stargate

A central feature of the playfield is the Stargate, illustrated as nested rectangles. Its role changes depending on gameplay circumstances.

If a Lander is abducting a Humanoid, entering the Stargate teleports the player’s ship directly to that Humanoid under threat. When multiple Humanoids are captured simultaneously, the ship moves to the Lander closest to the screen’s upper edge. If one Humanoid is falling while another is being carried away, teleportation prioritizes the falling Humanoid. In all other cases, entering the Stargate transports the ship to the planet’s opposite side.

Carrying at least four Humanoids and entering the Stargate triggers a "warp" that advances the game by three levels. This feature allows experienced players to bypass easier stages while earning substantial points along with extra lives, smart bombs, and Inviso energy. Warping is limited to within the first ten levels but can be avoided by entering the Stargate in reverse to continue on the current level.

Ports

Stargate was under development for both the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers by Atari programmer Steve Baker in 1984; however, these versions never reached release. Official ports were made available for Commodore 64, Apple II, Amiga, Atari ST, and IBM PC platforms.

The Family Computer edition, developed by HAL and renamed Star Gate (later released as Defender II in North America), shares characteristics with HAL’s ports of Millipede, Joust, and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, all launched around the same period. Remarkably, title tunes for Milli-Pede, Star Gate, and Joust are nearly identical; additionally, Star Gate’s opening theme derives from Punch-Out!!’s opponent entrance music, while its intermission tune matches that of Punch-Out!!’s post-defeat screen.

Name change

Due to legal reasons—Williams sought trademark control over "Defender"—many home versions adopted the title Defender II. While arcade cabinets retained the original Stargate name, home releases frequently used Defender II. The Atari 2600 port was first released as Stargate but later rebranded. Versions for Amiga and Atari ST developed by Jeff Minter appeared under several titles including Defender, Stargate, and Defender II.

Reception

In 1989, the Atari VCS edition received an 89% rating from Computer and Video Games. Later, in 1996, the arcade version was placed 82nd in GamesMaster magazine's "Top 100 Games of All Time" list.

Legacy

By July 2000, Defender II along with other titles from Williams Electronics were licensed by Midway for inclusion in the Shockwave Arcade Collection, demonstrating the capabilities of the Shockwave platform. This adaptation was developed by Digital Eclipse, but it has since been discontinued.

Similar to Defender II, Stargate is part of the 2012 compilation titled Midway Arcade Origins.

In popular culture

The TV sitcom NewsRadio features a Stargate arcade cabinet in season 3, episode "Arcade," where it is called "Stargate Defender." The game's creator, Eugene Jarvis, makes a guest appearance as "Delivery Guy #3."

Both Stargate and its predecessor Defender are incorporated as narrative elements within the podcast Rabbits.

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