Is my CV Defender defective?

[Mister VCS]

The Defender cartridge arrived in the mail today (new in box). The game works, but the scanner on the top of the screen is empty! I can see the hills but no enemys or "humanoids" on the scanner.

I use a PAL CBS Colecovision. The Defender cart must be NTSC - but this can't be the problem.

[ed1475]

I noticed the same problem playing the rom image on the AdamEm Emulator. I would guess the cart is ok and it plays that way on all PAL CV's.

 

I know of a couple of problems with CV Defender. If the controller is plugged into the roller controller, the left fire button will fire all the smart bombs first then the lasers. (The left fire button should fire the lasers and the right fire button should fire the smart bombs.)

CV Defender also doesn't work right in a stand alone ADAM. You can only move down, left, right and the press the left fire button (up and the right fire button don't work).

Edited March 7, 2010 by ed1475

[Mister VCS]

Thank you ed!

 

BTW I think Atarisofts Defender is a good game, but it could have done better. The sound effects are nothing special and the game needs a "few colors more".

On the other hand the scrolling is good.

Overall, Stargate / Defender II on the Atari 2600 ist the better choice IMO!

[Ikrananka]

The Defender cartridge arrived in the mail today (new in box). The game works, but the scanner on the top of the screen is empty! I can see the hills but no enemys or "humanoids" on the scanner.

I use a PAL CBS Colecovision. The Defender cart must be NTSC - but this can't be the problem.

This is down to a bug in Defender that is only apparent on PAL (50Hz) ColecoVisions. I used to play Defender on my UK PAL CV and was always frustrated by the scanner not working. This bug can be seen under emulation - try it in blueMSX and change the video frequency between 50Hz and 60Hz. The scanner only works when the video mode is set to 60Hz (NTSC).

 

BTW - Regardless of where the game was sold, with ColecoVision cartridges there were absolutely no differences in the game ROM. There were no NTSC or PAL specific versions - they were all the same.