is a 1982

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...

developed and released by

Irem is a Japanese video game console developer and publisher, and formerly a developer and manufacturer of arcade games as well. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The full name of the company that uses the brand is Irem Softwar ...

. It was licensed to Williams for distribution in North America. The player controls a moon buggy which can jump over and shoot obstacles on a horizontally

scrolling In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

landscape as well as shoot aerial attackers. Designed by

Takashi Nishiyama is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings The name Takashi can have multiple different meanings depending on which kanji is used to write it. Some possible writings of the name include: *江詩 - "estuary , inlet, poem" *隆 - "prospe ...

, ''Moon Patrol'' is often credited with the introduction of full

parallax scrolling Parallax scrolling is a technique in computer graphics where background images move past the camera more slowly than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D scene of distance. The technique grew out of the multiplane camera tec ...

side-scrolling game '' A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller), is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphi ...

s. Most of the home ports were from

Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...

, sometimes under the

Atarisoft Atarisoft was a brand name used by Atari, Inc. in 1983 and 1984 to market video games the company published for home systems made by competitors. Each platform had a specific color attributed by Atarisoft for its game packages. For example, video ...

label.

Gameplay

The player takes the role of a Luna City

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

assigned to Sector Nine, the home of the "toughest thugs in the galaxy". The player controls a Moon buggy that travels over the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

's surface, viewed from the side as it moves toward the right. Craters, mines, and other obstacles on the ground must be shot or jumped over. Three types of flying

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

s attack from above and must be shot down. One of the flying enemies has a weapon which creates a crater when it hits the ground. Gameplay is within a number of courses, each divided into 26 checkpoints named after the letters of the

English alphabet The alphabet for Modern English is a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters, each having an upper- and lower-case form. The word ''alphabet'' is a compound of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, '' alpha'' and '' beta''. ...

. Of these, the five major checkpoints — ''E'', ''J'', ''O'', ''T'' and, ''Z'' — denote a new "stage" with a new background and theme; for example, the third stage starts at J and introduces mines. The top portion of the screen shows a timeline-style map of the course, with the five major checkpoints clearly marked. Above the map is an indicator of the current checkpoint, the time spent in the stage, 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. At the end of a stage, that time spent is compared to the average, and bonus points are awarded accordingly, at 1,000 plus 100 per second bettered; completing an entire course gives an additional 5,000 points plus 100 per second bettered. There are two unique courses: the "Beginner Course" and the "Champion Course". The Champion Course "loops" forever, and each loop is numbered for convenience, up to three. Extra lives are given at 10,000, 30,000, and 50,000 points; thereafter, no more lives are given. The game ends when the last patrol car is destroyed. The game can be continued, but points scored from one game do not carry over. 999,990 points is the maximum high score that can be achieved; players can exceed this score, but it "turns over" if they do.

Ports

released ''Moon Patrol'' for the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...

Atari 5200 The Atari 5200 SuperSystem or simply Atari 5200 is a home video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari, Inc. as a higher-end complement for the popular Atari Video Computer System. The VCS was renamed to the Atari 2600 at the time of the 5200' ...

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PE ...

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...

(as a self-booting disk), and

TI-99/4A The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A are home computers released by Texas Instruments in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Based on the Texas Instruments TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer. ...

. The versions for non-Atari systems were published under the

label. The MSX conversion was published by Irem.

Reception

''Moon Patrol'' was among the five top-grossing arcade games on North America's monthly ''RePlay'' charts by January 1983. ''Moon Patrol'' received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Best Science Fiction/ Fantasy Video Game" at the 5th annual

Arkie Awards An electronic game is a game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as pro ...

. ''Arcade Express'' reviewed the arcade version in January 1983 and scored it 8 out of 10. Scott Mace of ''

InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (abbreviated IW) is an information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a web-only publication. Its parent company today is International Data Group, and its siste ...

'' stated that ''Moon Patrol'' for the Commodore 64 was his favorite Atarisoft game, making good use of the computer's sound. ''Computer Games'' magazine called the Commodore 64 conversion a "very good"

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

and the "thinking man's killing game" while noting it has a continue feature like ''

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

''. They later gave the home computer conversions a B− rating. In March 1985, ''

Computer & Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website w ...

'' rated the Atari 800 version 33 out of 40 and listed it as the third best game of the month. In 1995,

Flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications to physics. For transport ph ...

magazine ranked the arcade version 86th on their "Top 100 Video Games."

Legacy

''Moon Patrol'' was included in the retro compilations ''Arcade Hits: Moon Patrol & Spy Hunter'' for

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

and ''Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Midway Collection 2'' for

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

, and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. In 2006

Bandai is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and Richmond ...

released an enhanced version as ''Moon Patrol EX'' for cell phones. ''Lunar Patrol

J2ME Java Platform, Micro Edition or Java ME is a computing platform for development and deployment of portable code for embedded and mobile devices (micro-controllers, sensors, gateways, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, TV set-top ...

'' was released in 2012 by GRP Software (

Java ME Java Platform, Micro Edition or Java ME is a computing platform for development and deployment of portable code for embedded and mobile devices (micro-controllers, sensors, gateways, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, TV set-top ...

and

Symbian Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typic ...

) with enhanced physics and playability. On March 22, 2018, ''Moon Patrol'' was released for the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

Hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The b ...

as part of the ''

Arcade Archives is a series of emulated arcade games from the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch, published by Hamster Corporation. A sub-series called is focused on rereleasing Neo Geo ...

'' series. A version was announced in 2018 for the

Intellivision Amico The Intellivision Amico is an upcoming home video game console that is being developed and marketed by Intellivision Entertainment. It was originally slated to be released in October 2020, but repeated delays followed, leaving the console with ...

Clones

A bootleg version called ''Moon Ranger'' was released in the arcades the same year as ''Moon Patrol''. Home clones include ''Desert Patrol'' for the

TRS-80 Color Computer The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer and sometimes nicknamed the CoCo, is a line of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Co ...

(1983), ''Gas Hog'' for the

(1983), ''Lunar Rover Patrol'' for the

Dragon 32 The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer, and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., initially in Swansea, Wales before mov ...

(1983), ''Moon Buggy'' for the

(1983), ''Moon Alert'' for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

(1984), ''Luna Rover'' for the

(1985), ''Moon Control'' for the

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...

(1985), ''Moonrider'' for MSX (1986), and ''Overlander'' for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

(1993). '' Battle Through Time'' (1984) for the Commodore 64 re-themed the gameplay to be about major wars of the 20th century. A contemporaneous review for '' B.C.'s Quest for Tires'' (1983) remarked on the game's similarity to ''Moon Patrol''. Open-source clones named ''moon-buggy'' and ''

ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

Patrol'' run in Unix-like terminals.

Impact

''Moon Patrol'' introduced full

. The arcade video game ''

Jump Bug is a 1981 scrolling shooter platform game developed by Alpha Denshi under contract for Hoei Corporation. It was distributed in arcades by Sega in Japan and Europe, and by Rock-Ola in North America. It was the first platform game to include hor ...

'' (1981) had previously used a limited form of parallax scrolling, with the main scene scrolling while the starry night sky is fixed and clouds move slowly. ''Moon Patrol'' has three separate background layers scrolling at different speeds, simulating the distance between them.

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

's '' Jungle King'', also with parallax scrolling, was released a month after ''Moon Patrol''. The game's designer

went on to create the

beat 'em up The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...

game '' Kung-Fu Master'' (1984), which combined a

gameplay rhythm with

fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

elements.

References

External links

*{{KLOV game, id=8747
''Moon Patrol''
at the Arcade History database 1982 video games Arcade video games Apple II games Atari 2600 games Atari 5200 games Atari 8-bit family games Cancelled ZX Spectrum games Commodore 64 games VIC-20 games Irem games Mobile games MSX games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Horizontally scrolling shooters TI-99/4A games Vehicular combat games Video games about police officers Video games developed in Japan Video games set on the Moon Williams video games Hamster Corporation games