Anyone know the real history behind Avenger? I think it was an un-licensed clone made somewhere in Canada. Defender was my absolute favourite vid when I was a kid and I would like to know more about the Avenger's that were around. Seems like there might be some dirt to dig up on this one.

I don't think that ANYBODY knows. I knew of Defence Command, and I know that I have played Avenger (oddly enough, in a Defender cab!!!), but I have never actually seen a dedicated Avenger cab.

Do they exist?

I don't believe it was a conversion. It was out and about at the same time Defender was hot. Looked like a clone and from what I remember had substandard processing capability so it generally ran slow.

I pretty sure it was a pirated unit built in Canada from scatch. If not it might of had some licensing to replicate Defender and just did a shitty job of doing that.

On the note of Defender. It was not like Pacman. You either played Defender or it was just too many buttons and required too much coordination for some. I would like to know if folks on here were a player or just couldn't get into it. There seems to be no middle ground for this machine.

Looking for a reasonably good challenger for my Stargate.

Have you tried posting this question on the newsgroup  
rec.games.video.arcade.collecting ?