Atari 2600 Game
Produced by: Apollo
Model Number: AP2008
Rarity: 8 Very Rare+
Year of Release: 1982
Programmer: Uncredited

It is your duty to protect the planets from nuclear destruction. The teeming billions of the Sandrian Galaxy are counting on you as their only line of defense. Don't let them down.

Guardian is a paddle game. You control a spaceship that can move back and forth at the bottom of the screen (sound familiar). Your opponent is a huge flying saucer. Underneath you is a force field protecting 3 planets that move from right to left across the screen. (You must have a huge ship, because it is the same size as the planets are). The enemy saucers shots will poke holes in the field, and eventually destroy the planets (unless you can stop him). Killing the big saucer starts everything over again at a higher level of difficulty.

This game doesn't really cover any new ground, but it is pretty fun to play at least. Unfortunately it is really hard to find, and emulation doesn't do this game justice, because PCs don't have paddle controllers.

From the manual

It's been a long war. and you know this will be the last battle Androsian pirates have reduced all nearby galaxies to arid orbs of scorched cosmic rubble.

As Chief Lord of the Sandrian Galactic Council, you are in command of Guardian. Although a powerful weapon. Guardian has protected the children of your worlds for generations and has come to possess almost a mystical aura You are scanning a monitor on Apollo. your chief planet. staring at the image of the gigantic Androsian strategic starship "Dromeda". The warning sirens shrill through the cites of ail three lush green worlds of your galaxy as magnetized ion machines forge protective force fields across the atmosphere.

Dromeda hovers out of range of Guardian's lasers. If her thermo-molecular detonators blast through your force fields your fertile plants will disintegrate into cosmic dust. Guardian's laser commanders report all batteries ready. You prepare to defend your galaxy, the last hope of all our worlds...

Collectors Information

Guardian has long been a collector's favorite because it is one of the few really rare games that is actually fun. Making it worth a bit more than other games of the same rarity. This game is valued at around $150 USD. As always, games with boxes and manuals are worth more.

A hero appearing in Marvel Comics. Guardian first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #109.

James MacDonald Hudson was a scientist working for the Am-Can Corporation in their research division. While in their employment, Hudson designed and constructed a suit capable of allowing the wearer to bore through solid rock to be used to aid in oil exploration. After perfecting the suit and its key component, the cybernetic helmet that allowed an ease of use never seen before, Hudson learned that the suit was to be sold to the U.S. government as a weapon prototype. Hudson would not allow his work to be used to such ends and so stole the suit and destroyed it after taking the cybernetic helmet.

During this time, Hudson fell in love with and married a woman named Heather McNeil. Hudson was approached by the Canadian government who asked Hudson to head a program to create a state funded superhero team for the Canadian goverment. The program was called Department H and Hudson soon became its leader.

Hudson's first candidate for his new department showed up during his honeymoon. Logan, the mutant who would later be known as Wolverine, encountered the Hudson's at a cabin in the Canadian wilderness. Unbeknownst to the Hudson's, Logan had recently been the subject of an extensive set of experiments during which the unbreakable metal Adamantium had been bonded to his bones. Logan had been driven to a near feral state by the experiments and only through the efforts of Hudson and his wife, who adopted Logan in many ways, was he able to come through it.

Over the next few years, other heroes were brought into Hudson's group: the mystic hero Shaman, the shape-changing demi-goddess Snowbird, the hirsute powerhouse Sasquatch and the superfast twins Aurora and Northstar. Others were also brought in and they were divided into different groups or flights according to their experience and skill. The best of these was known as Alpha Flight.

Hudson's plans soon hit a major snag. Logan who had taken the name Wolverine left Department H after he was approached by Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men to be part of his team. Hudson's intention to have Logan lead Alpha Flight came apart and Hudson felt betrayed by Wolverine. He soon adapted his original suit design to create a battle suit and began to train in the battle suit intending to pursue Wolverine and bring him back.

Hudson eventually confronted his friend in Westchester, NY at the home of the X-Men using the codename Weapon Alpha. He came into conflict with not only Wolverine but also his other mutant teammates. A novice in battle, Hudson miscalculates during the ensuing conflict and injures Moira MacTaggert, a friend of the X-Men and innocent bystander to their battle. Eventually forced to retreat, Hudson was overwhelmed with guilt for injuring an innocent and adopted the name Vindicator, feeling he had to vindicate himself for his mistakes.

Hudson went on to lead Alpha Flight as a regular superhero team eventually coming to terms with his past errors and adopting a new codename Guardian. Hudson's past caught up to him, when Jerome Jaxon, his former boss at Am-Can Corporation kidnapped Hudson's wife. Jaxon's career and personal life were ruined after Hudson stole his prototype suit and destroyed it. Jaxon attempted to commit suicide, but only ended up crippling himself. He then organized former members of Hudson's decommissioned Department H teams Beta Flight and Gamma Flight into a force to battle Alpha Flight. The fight took place in New York, during which Jaxon controlling the metal construct Box beat Hudson nearly to death. Hudson was able to defeat Jaxon, but his battle suit was seriously damaged and threatened to explode. Trying to effect repairs, Hudson had nearly succeeded when he was distracted by his wife entering the room. The suit exploded and Hudson was seemingly disintergrated.

Hudson was in fact not destroyed, but instead was able to configure the explosion to open a gateway that would allow him to escape. Badly injured and with no time to determine where the explosion would take him, Hudson awoke to find himself on one of Jupiter's moons, Io. He would have surely died if not for the timely intervention of an advanced native species called the Qu'wrlln. They were able to save Hudson's life, but having never seen a human, they did their best to repair him, incorporating elements of the battlesuit into Hudson himself. As if this were not enough, Hudson also found that his gateway had hurled him into the past. The Qu'wrllns put Hudson in suspended animation and would wake him when it was nearer to his own era. When Hudson awoke, he found that something had happened to the Qu'wrlln, but that a ship had been left for him to return to Earth. Using the ship, Hudson flew to earth and crashed into the ocean. He was discovered by agents of the oil company Roxxon (Put a Puma in Your Tank - Roxxon). (Note: Part of this same story was used as a robot named Delphine Courtney to mascarade as Hudson and to battle Alpha Flight, but was ultimately destroyed by Madison Jefferies).

Hudson was taken to a Roxxon facility in Denver where the mechanical bits of him intergrated with their computer network, taking it over to defend himself. Members of Alpha Flight along with a Roxxon agent called Windshear battled the computer system and discovered Hudson. He was reunited with his former teammates and his wife. The work of the Qu'wrlln left Hudson out of touch with his emotions and very mechanical and distant. This caused strain between he and his wife, but eventually he was restored to his normal self and continued to lead Alpha Flight.

Guard"i*an (?), n. [OF. guardain, gardien, F. gardien, LL. guardianus. See Guard, v. t., and cf. Wasden.]

1.

One who guards, preserves, or secures; one to whom any person or thing is committed for protection, security, or preservation from injury; a warden.

2. Law

One who has, or is entitled to, the custody of the person or property of an infant, a minor without living parents, or a person incapable of managing his own affairs.

Of the several species of guardians, the first are guardians by nature. -- viz., the father and (in some cases) the mother of the child. Blockstone.

Guardian ad litem () Law, a guardian appointed by a court of justice to conduct a particular suit. -- Guardians of the poor, the members of a board appointed or elected to care for the relief of the poor within a township, or district.

 

© Webster 1913.


Guard"i*an (?), a.

Performing, or appropriate to, the office of a protector; as, a guardian care.

Feast of Guardian Angels R. C. Ch. a church festival instituted by Pope Paul V., and celebrated on October 2d. -- Guardian angel. (a) The particular spiritual being believed in some branches of the Christian church to have guardianship and protection of each human being from birth. (b) Hence, a protector or defender in general. O. W. Holmes. -- Guardian spirit, in the belief of many pagan nations, a spirit, often of a deceased relative or friend, that presides over the interests of a household, a city, or a region.

 

© Webster 1913.

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