Six months after its release, the game was one of the top earners in the United States

video game
industry.[11] On the 1981 arcade game charts, it topped the Play Meter arcade chart in August,[19] and
the RePlay arcade charts for most months between April[20] and November.[21] The annual Cash
Box and RePlay arcade charts listed Defender as the second highest-grossing arcade game of
1981 in the United States, just below Pac-Man.[22] The Amusement & Music Operators Association
(AMOA) later listed Defender among America's six highest-grossing arcade games of 1982.[23]
Co-designer Larry Demar was surprised by the game's popularity. [5] At the time of its release, Stan
Jarocki, director of marketing at then-competitor Midway Manufacturing,[Note 1] described the game as
"amazing".[11]
In Japan, Defender was not as highly successful, but was a moderate success. It was tied
with Turbo and Galaxian as Japan's 18th highest-grossing arcade video game of 1981.[24]
The Atari VCS port sold over 3 million copies, becoming the second best-selling Atari home video
game of 1982 (just below the Atari version of Pac-Man). However, at least 68,993 copies
of Defender were returned in 1983.[25]

Reviews
Reviews[edit]
Softline in 1983 wrote that it "remains one of the hardest arcade games ever developed. Initial
attempts lasting less than ten seconds are not uncommon for novices". [26]
Ed Driscoll reviewed the Atari 2600 version of Defender (where, due to its storage limitations, was
reformatted to a city setting, rather than the planet setting of the original arcade version) in The
Space Gamer No. 57.[27] Driscoll commented that "all in all, if you want a good game for your Atari,
this qualifies. Defender lovers have a few gripes, but I would recommend this one to any VCS
owner".[27] The port won the "Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Videogame" category in the 1983 Arcade
Awards.[28] Computer and Video Games later reviewed the game, giving it a 90% rating. [29]
In 1983 Softline readers named the Atari 8-bit version fifth on the magazine's Top Thirty list of Atari
programs by popularity.[30] The magazine was more critical, stating that "the game's appeal does not
justify its unreasonable cost" of being shipped on ROM cartridges.[26] David H. Ahl of Creative
Computing Video & Arcade Games said in 1983 that the Atari 5200 version was "a substantial
challenge to the most seasoned space gamers". [31] Computer Games magazine reviewed the IBM PC
conversion, giving it a mixed review. They said the "action is very fast" but "it becomes boring after a
short time."[32]

Retrospective
Next Generation ranked the arcade version as number 13 on their 1996 "Top 100 Games of All
Time", saying that its balanced difficulty makes gamers keep coming back for more instead of giving
up.[33] In 1999, Next Generation listed Defender as number 23 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time",
commenting that "despite exceptionally complicated controls, gamers fell in love at first sight. The
difficulty is high but fair - when you die, it's always your fault, and that leaves you wanting one more
chance to beat the game".[34] In 2004, Defender was inducted into GameSpot's list of the greatest
games of all time.[35] In 2008, Guinness World Records listed it as the number six arcade game in
technical, creative, and cultural impact.[6] That same year, Retro Gamer rated the game number ten
on their list of "Top 25 Arcade Games", citing it as a technical achievement and a difficult title with
addictive gameplay.[36] Also in 2008, Edge ranked Defender the sixth best game from the 1980s. The
editors described its design as very "elegant" despite a lack of narrative and characters. [37]
GameSpy's David Cuciz lauded Defender's challenging gameplay, commenting that it is
representative of what other games should be. He described the graphics as "beautiful", citing the
varied sprites and flashing explosions.[14] Matt Barton and Bill Loguidice of Gamasutra stated the
audio-visuals and gameplay's depth balanced the excessive difficulty. They praised the game's
"catch and rescue" feature, as well as the mini-map. [10] Cuciz also praised the mini-map, stating that
the game is impossible without it and that it allows players to plan strategies. [14] Author John Sellers
praised the audio-visuals and the connection between the game's plot and gameplay. [8]