YMMV / Defender

• Awesome Music: C'mon, who didn't feel badass when the game opened with those synth guitar riffs?
• Difficulty Spike: After the first level, the game takes a disproportionate leap in difficulty. Somewhat justified, since it was an arcade game, and it needed to be over at some point so other people could play.
• Goddamned Bats: Baiters and Swarmers.
• It's Hard, So It Sucks!: When Defender was first released, it was panned for having a complex control scheme with too many buttons. The button complaints diminished overtime, but today the game still does receive criticism for its relentless difficulty.
• Porting Disaster: The Atari 2600 cartridge attempted to port a console game with five buttons and an up-down stick to a system with a joystick and one button... poorly.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Most gamers preferred Stargate (aka Defender II) when it was released to vanilla Defender.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: All of the particle and explosion effects in Defender II—especially when the Earth is blown up by every human dying.