Paladin

Players pilot a spaceship through space inhabited by aliens, and below the spacecraft is terrain where several human prisoners resides. The aliens, who also shoot projectiles at the player, make their way toward the terrain and attempt to kidnap the prisoners by taking them to the top then killing them. The player must prevent this from happening by shooting the aliens down and catching the falling prisoner with their spaceship. If the player fails to catch prisoners before they reach the terrain, that prisoner will be killed.

Like Defender, players need to keep an eye on both the action and the map at the top of the screen, so that they can avoid any dangers approaching them. As well as lasers which the player can use to kill aliens, smart bombs can be activated, wiping all aliens in sight. Once all humans have been saved and all aliens killed, the player proceeds to the next wave where new aliens are introduced and the difficulty level is increased.

If the player comes into contact with any of the aliens or their projectiles, the player loses a life. If the player has no lives left, the game is over.