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Moon Patrol
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U.S. arcade flyer of Moon Patrol. |
| Developer(s) |
Irem |
| Publisher(s) |
Williams Electronics |
| Platform(s) |
Arcade, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, Mobile Phone, MSX, TI-99/4A, TRS-80 |
| Release date(s) |
1982 |
| Genre(s) |
Run and gun/Vehicular combat game |
| Mode(s) |
Up to 2 players, alternating turns |
| Input methods |
Joystick (2-way); 2 buttons |
| Cabinet |
Upright |
| Arcade system |
Irem M-52 hardware
Main CPU: Z80 (@ 3.072 MHz)
Sound CPU: M6803 (@ 894.886 kHz)
Sound Chips: (2x) AY8910 (@ 894.886 kHz), (2x) MSM5205 (@ 384 kHz) |
| Display |
Raster resolution 240×248 (Horizontal) Palette Colors 576 |
Moon Patrol is a classic arcade game by Irem that was first released in 1982. It was licensed to Williams for United States of America (U.S.) distribution.
The player controls a moon buggy, viewing it from the side, that travels over the moon's surface. While driving it, obstacles such as craters and mines must be avoided. The buggy is also attacked by UFOs from above and tanks on the ground. Moon Patrol was one of the earliest linear side-scrolling shoot'em ups and the first arcade game to feature parallax scrolling.[1]
Story
The player takes the role of a Luna City police officer assigned to Sector Nine, the home of the "toughest thugs in the galaxy."
Gameplay
The top portion of the screen shows a timeline-style map of the current course, and three indicator lights. The top light indicates upcoming enemy aerial attacks, the middle one indicates an upcoming minefield, and the bottom one indicates enemies approaching from behind.
The map shows five different checkpoints labeled E, J, O, T and Z. Similar to racing games, the time spent during between each checkpoint is compared to the average which determines the amount of bonus points allocated to the player.
Ports
There have been many ports of Moon Patrol to home computers and console game systems, including:
Clones
- There is a bootleg version of this game called Moon Ranger. This is not related to the unlicensed NES game by the same name developed by Bunch Games.
References
External links
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