Lunar Lander

released on Aug 01, 1979

A port of Moonlander

Lunar Lander is an arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1979, which uses a vector monitor to display vector graphics. The object is to pilot a lunar landing module to a safe touchdown on the moon.


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It's a solid time, definitely is a more interesting use of physics than stuff like asteroids imo, especially since it gives you the direct info on how fast you are going in each axis so you know how to adjust and land safely. I don't know if the emulated versions I've played are just simplified in controls or if I'm just cracked at lunar lander, but I always felt like the game is either too easy to land on the high-scoring targets. The main objective is to score as much as possible, but since the game lets you add extra fuel at any time simply by throwing more quarters at the machine getting a high score is trivial. Truly the first pay-to-win video game. But I guess the real fun comes from the simple act of moving the lander and playing the game, so really who cares about score. If you find it at an arcade, I'd suggest throwing a quarter into the machine, it's def worth a few plays.

Played as part of Atari 50.

Perfectly fine for a little while, but higher difficulties are a total crapshoot, lower difficulties make it so you can level out near the top and then just have to slowly inch your way down, which is pretty boring. And all of them ask you to dump a silly amount of quarters into the machine, lol. It's like one of those "skill game" type things like a claw machine or stacker (which were preceded by carnival games like ring toss) except you don't get a prize if you win (aside from self-satisfaction).

Now this is a great early arcade game. Easily one of my favorites even if I'm not very good at it. Decently challenging and has a great gameplay loop that gets you to keep trying to improve.

Well-thought out in its design and mechanics overall, simulating the complexity and fragility of an actual spacecraft landing under certain conditions. Feels like a blueprint for something much greater.

A game that required more finesse than most of its contemporaries. I think the use of inertia in this is more fun than in something like Computer Space.

Holds up very well. As with a lot of the Atari arcade games from the 70s, the most impressive thing about it is the feeling of momentum. I think there's still an element of psychological mystery as to how the feeling of gravity is communicated so well with so little. There is something charming about the simplicity of the vector graphics and they're complimented with numerical readouts for speed and direction. There's also the snark and satisfaction of the text messages that display after landings, both successful and attempted. It's very satisfying to nudge the lander into a 5x score multiplying landing spot and see "The Eagle Has Landed."