Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 11:52 am
Defender 1 – Casual Game Review
Defender 1 is a Casual game from Aroldo Carvalho, first launched in 19th September 2015.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 52+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Defender 1 Stand Out
DEFENDER 1 is a remake of a classic arcade game from the 80's for mobile devices.
Your mission is to defend the astronauts from being abducted by the aliens and obliterate the enemy spaceships, but careful not to kill the astronauts, failing to save them will make the planet explode and the aliens will turn into mutants!
This Casual game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Defender 1 is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 8th November 2020
Recent improvements include:
Updated for iOS12
- New Virtual Joystick
- Destroying enemies bullets scores points.
- New Info panel with social media, mail and website
- New Settings panel
Download & Availability
Defender 1 is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Ive loved this game since we were a kid. It would be awesome if you could add support for controllers like Backbone.
This is a faithful reproduction of the defender we played as a kid. Lots of retro fun to be had! We know some people didn't like the old joystick. We never used that one so we can't say, but the newer 8 direction virtual joystick works great.
Omg! Whoever says this game isnt like the old one and the controls are too hard, they werent good at it in the first place! We LOVE this game! We mean we FREAKING LOVE it! It took us about an hour to start to figure it out. Its probably as close as we will ever get to having the game in our basement. The ONLY thing is its a little hard to go up and down sometimes but what do you expect on a phone screen???? We miss the hyperspace unless you can tell us how to do it. Im up to 100,000 so far and its so fun remembering the old days and the sounds are incredible!!!! Thank you for bringing this back from the past and to the future!!!!!!!!! 5 stars.
Please update this game, its super fun but the sound works intermittently on all our devices. The app is due for an update.
Nt but no sound on our iphone 13. Is there a fix.
Just like we remember except we thought it was possible to rescue survivors on the floor. Not possible here.
The game is fun but the control is lag a little and the lasers dont react properly when you change direction they do not streak across the screen but stop when you move at first.
Bringing back the old school classic was a great idea but a failure in execution. We like the joystick option for right or left hand play but its just not responsive at all. Needs another update to fix it and app shows last update a year ago.
Love this game, thanks for putting it together. Unfortunately it crashes often. Have to unload and reload to get rid of cache. Also little known hack of saving 3 or more astronauts then warping to a star gate isnt included.
Controls are awful, too sensitive for small screens and no way to adjust. Dont waste your money.
Great on iPhone but audio does not work on iPad.
The machine gun doesnt sound like original.
This is literally the worst game Ive ever downloaded. The controls are lackluster and the Audio doesnt even work. Not muted. Just no sound. You are playing in silence.
Slow paced, terrible response, and a huge waste of time and money.
This is awesome, the game we grew up with. Controls a bit clunky like someone said but THATS DEFENDER. Really well done and appreciated.
Needs to be more like the original. They are too unresponsive and too far apart.
This game was literally our teenage years the game graphics are not to bad but the actual controls the up and down buttons are to far apart that and the lack of responsiveness in the middle part of the direction buttons that makes it difficult to play with the vigor this game is famous for. Hopefully the developer may fix the spacing between the direction buttons until then two stars with hope for updates. Its a great game on an arcade mechanic and is difficult to replicate especially without actual buttons.
The authenticity of the game is pretty good, but even on our 8+, the joystick control is terrible. Please update it to be more user friendly! If that were to happen, it would be a 5.
Horrible – ship doesnt continue moving after thrusters stop. Controls are badly spaced.
We were so excited to find Defender. This was our favorite game growing up but THIS Defender is a rip off. Not worth the one star we just gave it.
We read the reviews and still bought it. WHAT WAS we THINKING we played for less then 5 minutes and deleted the game. It was the biggest waste of $$$$ ever.
This game is a total rip off the controls is awful awful awful ! Its also super slow Theres way better defender apps but not on apple Do not buy you will be disappointed we had to give one star or we could not send our warning message but it gets zero star from us.
We really couldnt believe our luck when we found this game for sale after looking for years……Then we made the mistake of buying it!! The controls are absolutely terrible and the game play is both slow and anything but enjoyable. If you want to waste 1.99 on a game youll never play for more than two minutes then go ahead and buy this one. Such a shame that a simple game like this has been ruined by such bad controls :-(.
If we could give this game a less-than-a-star rating we would. We were so excited to see this game in the App Store, but after purchasing it and playing, or should we say trying to play, we realized we just gave away $1.99. This game shouldnt even be for sale. Its hardly responsive and the controller buttons are barely useable. The only good thing is the graphics. They are almost identical. However, in this day and age, this game could be designed with much better non-pixelated graphics like we had back in the 80s. We doubt Ill ever get the money we spent on this game back. So Ill chalk it up as a lesson learned. Buy no games that we cant play first then buy and/or games designed by this company unless they make changes to this game and upgrade everything.
It only lets you shoot in the first scene ant its 1.99 It is scam do not buy.
Loved the original. This game is unplayable.
We guess it was worth $1.99 just for the hope that it would be as enjoyable as the original. The bottom line is that for a paid app, the controls are unacceptably poor.
While you can't have a joystick, this is as close as it gets and still a blast to play. Tap the screen anywhere to fire, that took us an inquiry to figure out. A great flashback play anytime.
Smooth and complete, such an awesome time killer. Hop right into the app.
The behavior (when in auto-thrust mode) and appearance are quite authentic but the translation of the original controls to the touch screen is not working well. If memory serves, the original game had a very direct up-down control and the direction reversal button very close by, within thumb reach we think. As it is on screen, the up-down control is way too slow, it should be a slider or something, and the reverse direction is as far as can be from it, and on the same side, so it isn't even possible to use the other hand for it. Can't play that game like that. We'll be eagerly waiting for an update that has better control.
We love the game as it brings us back but why does it only go up to stage 5!!?? Im paying for a game that we thought went further than stage 5. Not fair! Im eagerly waiting an update ASAP.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 5.1
- Size: 5.87 MB
- iOS: 9.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: [Aroldo Carvalho]()
Last updated: 8th November 2020 | Genre: Casual | Developer: Aroldo Carvalho