Earth Attack = Defender?

[Tidus79001]

I saw a picture of a cartridge only the label end that said "Earth Attack".  Upon Googling it I found this is just Defender.  Same game as Defender, but a different name and not relapsed by Atari.  What is the deal with that?   Is there some difference that I am not seeing?

Edited September 9, 2020 by Tidus79001

[+groundtrooper]

Earth Attack was made by Zellers. A Canadian Chain of stores compared to what K-Mart was in the USA.

The produced their own pirated versions of many Atari games. I think there were about 18 games total that they released under their brand. 3 unique titles that weren’t straight out pirated games. What you have is Defender by some Canadian pirates.

Here is a list of all of their games. If you click on a game name it will tell you what the original game was. A few they didn’t change the name on. But a lot of them they did change the name.


https://atariage.com/company_page.php?SystemID=2600&CompanyID=61


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[jhd]

9 hours ago, groundtrooper said:

What you have is Defender by some Canadian pirates.

 

Out of curiosity, is there any evidence that these hacks were actually developed in Canada? I had always assumed that the only Canadian connection was that they were sold here; development and manufacturing occurred elsewhere. I have spoken to archives staff with the Hudson's Bay Company (the parent company of Zellers), but, sadly, routine invoices were not retained, so there are no extant records about who may have supplied these games. 

 

In the early-1980s, the computer game industry in Canada was very small (and it remains poorly documented). Even if the activity involved hacking existing games, it would still be interesting to identify the individuals or firms involved.   

[keithbk]

In the early 1980's, Canadian pirates sailed the shores of the Atlantic AND the Pacific. Operating out of hidden caves on Prince Edward Island, they would harass local fishermen, club invasive baby seals, set fire to the many tourist traps established for Anne of Green Gables fans, and seize any passing Atari freighters, swapping the labels of cartridges for their own scalawag branding.

 

Ancient maritime law was no concern for these brazen pirates, because many local shops appreciated lower-priced games entering the market.