Pico Defender

Pico Defender

A remake of the Williams classic.

Controls

• Up/Down
• X to fire
• Right to thrust in the current facing direction
• Left to reverse the facing direction
• Z for smart bomb
• Up+Down+Z for hyperspace

How to play

Blast Alien Ships

Blast landers carrying humanoids before they mutate. Catch falling humanoids - 500 points; Return them to surface - 500 points. Bonus for surviving humanoids after each alien wave. If all the humanoids are successfully abducted, the entire planet will explode in a blinding flash!

Hyperspace - Warp To Another Quadrant - Caution

Smart Bomb - Destroys Enemies On Screen

Bonus Ship and Smart Bomb every 10,000 Points

Tips

The Defender arcade machine had an up/down joystick and a 'thrust' button to move in the ship's facing direction. A separate 'reverse' button flipped the ship's direction. In this version, the right-key is thrust and the left-key is used for the reverse button, which might take some getting used to, but gives a more authentic experience. Think of up/down/right for moving your ship along and treat the left-key separately, for the occasional direction flip.

For hyperspace, press up and down together and then press the smart bomb key.

To stop the screen flashing during effects and turn off the rapid colour cycling, go to the pause menu and use the "toggle flashing" option.

Credits

Code: Greg Gaughan

Audio: Martha