Stargate (video game)

Stargate
North American arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Vid Kidz
Publisher(s)	Williams Electronics
Designer(s)	Eugene Jarvis Larry DeMar
Platform(s)	Arcade (original) Apple II, Atari 2600, C64, MS-DOS, NES
Release date(s)	October 21, 1981
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Cabinet	Upright, cabaret, cocktail
Display	Horizontal orientation, Raster, standard resolution (Used: 292×240)

Stargate (also known Defender II) is an arcade game released in 1981 by Williams Electronics. Created by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, it is a sequel to the 1980 game Defender, and was the first of only three productions from Vid Kidz, an independent development house formed by Jarvis and DeMar.

This sequel adds new ships to the alien fleet, including Firebombers, Yllabian Space Guppies, Dynamos, and Space Hums. The Defender ship is now equipped with an Inviso cloaking device, which renders the ship invulnerable when activated, but has a limited charge. A Stargate transports the ship to any humanoid in trouble. There are two special stages: the Yllabian Dogfight, first appearing at wave 5 and recurring every 10 waves; and the Firebomber Showdown, first appearing at wave 10 and also recurring every 10 waves.

The Defender II name was used in home video game releases, due to legal issues (according to the bonus material for Midway Arcade Treasures, Williams wanted to "make sure they could own the trademark" on the Defender name). The name Defender II has been used on all of its home ports, and game compilation appearances; however, there were never any Defender II arcade units. To complicate matters, the Atari 2600 port was originally sold under the Stargate moniker but was renamed to Defender II for a later re-release.

The player flies a small spaceship above a long, mountainous landscape. The land is inhabited by a small number of humanoids. The landscape wraps around, so flying constantly in one direction will eventually bring the player back to their starting point. The players ship can fly through the landscape without being destroyed.

A number of enemy ships fly over the landscape. The player's responsibilities are to destroy all Landers and protect the humans from being captured

The player is armed with a beam-like weapon which can be fired rapidly in a long horizontal line ahead of the spaceship, and also has a limited supply of smart bombs, which can destroy every enemy on the screen. The player also has a limited supply of "Inviso" cloaking energy, which makes the ship invisible, and able to destroy any ships it comes in contact with.