Stargate (1981 video game)

Stargate
North American arcade flyer
Developer(s)Vid Kidz (arcade)
HAL Laboratory (NES)
Publisher(s)Williams Electronics (arcade)
HAL Laboratory (NES)
Designer(s)Eugene Jarvis
Larry DeMar
Platform(s)Arcade, Apple II, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, IBM PC, NES
Release
  • NA: October 21, 1981
Genre(s)Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)Up to 2 players, alternating turns

Stargate is a horizontally scrolling shooter released as an arcade video game in 1981 by Williams Electronics. Created by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, it is a sequel to Defender which was released earlier in the year. It was the first of only three productions from Vid Kidz, an independent development house formed by Jarvis and DeMar. Some home ports of Stargate were renamed to Defender II for legal reasons.

This sequel adds new ships to the alien fleet, including Firebombers, Yllabian Space Guppies, Dynamos, Phreds, Big Reds, Munchies and Space Hums. The Defender ship is now equipped with an Inviso cloaking device, which renders the ship invulnerable when activated, but has a limited charge. A Stargate transports the ship to any humanoid in trouble. There are two special stages: the Yllabian Dogfight, first appearing at wave 5 and recurring every 10 waves; and the Firebomber Showdown, first appearing at wave 10 and also recurring every 10 waves.