A Review of Arcade Classic vol. 4 | Defender and Joust

It has been a while since I looked at a Game Boy game. I left off on the Arcade Classics collections. There are four of them, and the last one is probably the worst.

This collection has Joust and Defender on it. They were classic arcade games from the early 80s and were the products of Chicago’s growing arcade developers. While both are historically significant, they didn’t have the staying power that other games from this era would have.

There were no mascot characters to license, and there wasn’t much to them. Both games had their fair share of clones over the years, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for some revival of either game.

TLDR: Two Bad Ports of Classic 80s Arcade Games.

Defender

Defender is an interesting arcade game. You have a map and roam around it, killing enemies and saving people. This creates a few problems for the Game Boy Version.

There is too much crap on the screen. The Game Boy has a small screen, and how quickly you accelerate makes things very difficult. It is also hard to see what is an enemy and the people you can save.

If there was ever a time when slowdown would’ve helped a game it is the Game Boy version of Defender. Aside from the game’s speed, the graphics aren’t all bad. It almost looks like vector graphics until something blows up.

This is a rough port of a classic arcade game. It isn’t a bad game, but it is a bad port of Defender. There was also nothing added to the game to add some value to the game. This is a recurring problem with these compilation cartridges.

Joust

Once you figure out which character you are, the game is fine. It is very difficult to gain momentum when you’re trying to fly. This makes movement difficult, and it is very hard to regain altitude when you lose it.

For those who haven’t played Joust, here is a quick rundown. You play as a knight riding an ostrich. You fight other knights who are also riding ostriches. If this sounds ridiculous, it is, but not any more ridiculous than other video games.

Joust is a single-screen arcade game with a simple premise. Your goal is to defeat all the enemy knights on the screen. You need to drop down on them or run into them from a higher altitude to do this.

When you hit an enemy once, it turns into an egg. Then, you’ll have to hit the egg again to eliminate that enemy from the game. Once all the enemies are eliminated, you win and advance to the next level.

This sounds easy at first. However, the controls on this version don’t make things easy for the player. In the arcade game, you need to mash a button to flap your ostriches wings while controlling your movement. The same thing happens here, but gaining and maintaining momentum is painful.

This becomes a huge problem when more hazards are at the bottom of the screen. This is when the troubles with gaining momentum become problematic. You already have one hit death, and having the hazards at the bottom of the screen makes everything harder.

For the first few screens, I thought the game was easy. Once the floor gets turned to lava, it gets much harder. It isn’t impossible, but it has a big difficulty spike.

For an easy-to-learn game, the developers made it a little frustrating to play. The graphics don’t help you out much, as every sprite looks the same on the Game Boy’s small screen. You need to deal with this if you’re playing on a Game Boy.  

N/A. I’m not going to give this a score because it is a compilation cart. Both of the ports on this cartridge could’ve been better. These are straight ports, and it doesn’t look like anything was changed to add value to the game.

Pros

• Pick-up and Play
• Two games for the price of one

Cons

• Controls aren’t good
• Poor Graphics
• Gameplay Suffers from Game Boy Screen

Conclusion

Williams made some very good arcade games in the early 80s. They were unique and fun to play. They weren’t easy games, but they were different enough to stand out from a crowded field.

Joust and Defender aren’t my favorite arcade games. They can be fun for a short period, but I would rather play something like Q*bert, BurgerTime, or Galaga. The ports on this cartridge don’t do the games justice.

I don’t think these are bad games. I think the versions on this cartridge are bad versions of those games. It is also disappointing that there wasn’t anything added to them to better make them fit on the Game Boy.