The Last Defender (C64)

This game runs perfectly on both PAL and NTSC models of the Commodore 64.

Background

The year is 2073. A hostile alien race has arrived on earth, after crossing countless star systems, with the aim of taking over the planet. Initially taken by surprise, humanity managed to react and organize a resistance that made it possible to fend off various enemy attacks. However, this was not enough to repel the alien invader who is now about to carry out his plans for conquest. Only one last brave hero is left to fight. The entire human species is now counting on him to defeat the enemy and regain their freedom.

Gameplay

Use the laser gun at your disposal to hit the enemy. However, keep in mind that with each shot, the gun temporarily loses energy. So use it in moderation if you don't want to risk being defenseless in the most critical moments of the battle.

For their part, the aliens will certainly not stand idly by. They will try to attack you by dashing towards the ground, being totally immune to your blows for the duration of the attack. They will make use of a floating mine as a deterrent to prevent you from freely shooting at them. So avoid hitting the mine, otherwise you will be killed along with all the aliens on the screen.

The enemies will throw missiles at you that you have to destroy and steel balls that you have to avoid.

Occasionally, another hopping alien with an energy shield will spawn from the sides of the screen.

At 10000 points and then every 20000 points, you earn an extra life, for a maximum of 6 lives.

Options

There are 3 difficulty levels to choose from: Recruit, Veteran, Champion.

The "21 stages" option will allow you to play 21 stages after which the game will end, considering the mission completed. With the "Endless game" option, on the other hand, the game will proceed indefinitely beyond the 21st stage, on maximum difficulty.

There are 3 fire modes:
A = Press fire to shoot sideways. Move the joystick up to shoot upwards.
B = Press fire to shoot sideways. Hold the joystick up and press fire to shoot upwards.
C = Move the joystick down to shoot sideways. Press fire to shoot upwards.

Controls

Joystick left/right	Move the soldier
Fire + Joystick (see Options)	Shoot
F7	Pause
F1	Stop game and return to title screen
F1	Reset ranking (while the top scores are displayed)

Joystick in port 2.