Cosmic Defender Walkthrough

Defender is a classic arcade game developed and published by Williams Electronics. It was released in arcades in 1980. Defender was extremely innovative for its time and spawned a variety of ports, sequels, and clones. Cosmic Defender is a Flash shooting game that pays homage to this classic arcade game.

The objective of Cosmic Defender if the same as the original Defender, protect the astronauts from alien invaders. Alien ships will spawn and try to abduct the astronauts. Shoot down the alien ships before they can get to the ground and pick up the astronauts. If an alien picks up one of the astronauts, you will have to carefully shoot down the alien ship to avoid shooting the astronaut (Defender was one of the first video games to feature "friendly fire"). The astronaut will then fall to the ground and you will have to catch them with your ship to prevent them from splatting on the ground.

Aside from protecting the astronauts, you will have to look out for yourself! Aliens are armed and will shoot at you. Getting hit by enemy fire or colliding with an alien ship will cost you one life. You gain an extra life for every 7,500 points that you score. You also have hyperspace, which will teleport you to a random position, and smart bombs, which clear the screen of enemies. You earn an additional smart bomb for every 5,000 points that you score.

Aside from being the game that put horizontal side-scrolling shooters on the map, Defender was one of the first games to include a radar scanner. Cosmic Defender also features a radar display at the top of the screen. Be sure to use this radar to note your position, the positions of astronauts, and the positions of enemies.

Cosmic Defender may not be a carbon copy of the classic game, Defender, but it does a great job at paying homage to the arcade game, and is a fun shooter in its own right. If you enjoy classic arcade game action with the smooth graphics and animations that the Flash platform offers, then give Cosmic Defender a try today!