Williams Electronics‘ iconic Defender is one of the highest-grossing arcade games of all time.

It was first released in 1981 and was designed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, drawing inspiration from Taito‘s Space Invaders and Atari‘s Asteroids. Defender was Williams Electronics‘ first game onto the market, so it really set them up as a company.

As anyone who has played it will know: Defender is a fast-paced, side-scrolling, bullet hell-type shooter, although that hardly describes quite how good it is. You have to be razor sharp to get the big scores in Defender, but the refined controls allow you to do just that. And any play session will undoubtedly leave you sweating.

More: Defender on Wikipedia