What is the Best Defender clone you have seen

[vectrexer]

I am looking for opinions on what the best Defender clone is out there.

By best I want to know a blend of three things:
+ Playability. A faithful reproduction is always good.
+ Graphics.
+ Sound.

The first two are the most important.

Some things I consider unimportant:
Super-duper controller. Captain spacement cokpit controll not required. The machine just has to have a realatively full control set for the game play.

- Color. Hey, I know color was a cool quality of the original. But don't you think it would have been just as good without color? I do.

- Stereo sound.

- Photo realistic art.

- Extra glitz above the original games.


As an example: I think the game Protector on the Vectrex is a superb reproduction of Defender on that console. A great blend of of all the qualities I want in a Defender clone. Even without color.

[NoahsMyBro]

I've only played the 2600, 5200, Jag ports, and Protector on the Jag.

I think the 5200 version is good, the Jag version is terrific, and Protector is fantastic.

[le geek]

I'm a big fan of Anarchy on the Amiga. a very nice UPDATE

Cheers,
Ben

[NE146]

Mayday (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=8646)was a pure clone in the arcade.. last I checked though, the control wasn't working in mame (the reverse button didn't work).

Aside from that... I guess 5200 Defender is a good translation. It gets flickery though when the action gets fast and furious. Also Chopper Command for the 2600 is great.

I know you don't care about control.. but to me the original Defender is only fully playable when you have the original control panel (or a facsimile of). Reverse and thrust is this way to go! :D I'm not totally against playing it with just a joystick though in emulators.. but when the difficulty gets up it often chokes on fast reversals. But if it's a Defender clone though.. then yeah, any control scheme works :P

[Scoots]

+1 for Protector.

[rxd]

I have always been a big fan of the 5200 Defender also. It just doesn't seem to work out as well on the newer versions. I'm not sure why...

[Mayhem]

Dropzone. Best home version of Defender/Stargate, period ;)

And Protector comes damn close afterwards...

[Aswald]

The 5200 version is quite good.

I also like Imagic's Nova Blast for the ColecoVision.

[ManekiNeko]

Dropzone. Best home version of Defender/Stargate, period ;)

Athur Maclean's Dropzone, you mean? I want to like that one, but it's got some oddball quirks that keep me from enjoying the game. The characters are too large, and the play mechanics are slightly askew... I think you've got to rescue these weird little rolling things and drop them off at a home base, making it a little more like Choplifter than Defender. I've played it on both Game Gear and Game Boy Advance, and wasn't especially impressed despite the big, bright explosions.

Strike Force was an interesting experiment on Midway's part, although the game was too complex for its own good... there were dozens of planets, each with their own mission objectives, and an overabundance of both weapons and enemies. It all got a little too overwhelming for my tastes.

JR