there are kinda two ways to look at this one now: first off, unless you own a cabinet yourself, the only way you're likely to get a genuine hands on experience with lunar lander is in an arcade. likely a very noisy place. so you'll get to check out the unique controls of the game, including what looks and feels like an actual thruster. really cool. that aside, though, i think there's an upside to playing this one at home, in the quiet, whether you're someone fortunate enough to have the cabinet or you're playing it on mame or something. ideally with a decent pair of headphones or some nice, bassy speakers. point being, there's an eerie serenity to this vector game in which you ever so gently land your craft on the surface of the moon. the only sound is the deep, gentle, very muffled roar of your rockets. and for me, even without that super cool cabinet, that's an experience worth revisiting now and then.

a weird one to try and rate over 20 years later. is it a timeless video game? ...maybe? being completely honest, there was a solid decade or so where i felt this had aged poorly, and that other games were becoming more refined with their controls, had greater scope, better ideas, etc. none of that really matters to me now—it no longer needs to be all the things that i feel were eventually surpassed by other games—and in a full circle kinda way i love this one now almost as much as i did in 1998. almost.