Mechanic · structure & scoring · shoot 'em up

Minimap

A small map on the screen that shows the positions of things beyond the player's view.

stubAlso: radar, scanner, mini-map, overview mapUpdated 2026-10-22
On this page
  1. Related
  2. Games
  3. References
  4. Sources

A minimap shows what the screen can’t. Defender’s scanner draws every object on the planet as a dot, with the view always at its center1.

  • Whole worldDefender (1981). The scanner shows every object on the planet, with the view at its center.1

See also

Games

GameYearHowNote
Defender1981Whole worldthe scanner shows every object on the planet, with the view at its center
Every claim about this mechanic, by game (1)
Defender 1981Defender's scanner draws every object, on the active and the inactive list alike, as a blip. Its left edge sits half the world (less 150 pixels) behind the screen's left edge, so the view stays at the scanner's middle. An object's offset from that edge, cut to its top 6 bits, and its row divided by 8 give the blip's screen address: 64 places across the whole world (computed).Code

References

  1. ^ abDefender's scanner draws every object, on the active and the inactive list alike, as a blip. Its left edge sits half the world (less 150 pixels) behind the screen's left edge, so the view stays at the scanner's middle. An object's offset from that edge, cut to its top 6 bits, and its row divided by 8 give the blip's screen address: 64 places across the whole world (computed).Codemwenge/defender
    How we know
    1199MT1     LDD    BGL              ;CALC SCANL
1200        SUBD   #$8000-(150*32)
    src/amode1.src lines 1199–1200 at e740063 · upstream ↗
    1236*OUTPUT BOZOS
1237        LDX    #OPTR
⋮
1240        LDX    #IPTR
    src/amode1.src lines 1236–1242 at e740063 · upstream ↗
    1262SCNR10  LDD    OX16,X           ;FIND OFFSET
1263        SUBD   XTEMP            ;SUBTRACT SCANNER LEFT
1264SCNR2   LSRA                    ;SHIFT DOWN TO 6 BITS
1265        LSRA 
1266        LDB    OY16,X
1267        LSRB 
1268        LSRB 
1269        LSRB 
1270        ADDD   #SCANER-1
1271        STD    ,U
1272        LDD    OBJCOL,X         ;STORE BLIP
    src/amode1.src lines 1262–1275 at e740063 · upstream ↗

    Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-22.

    Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-22.

    In the claim ledger

Sources

Code