Arcade Game: Lunar Lander (1979 Atari)

A landing simulation game taking place on the moon.
For a very similar game check out Gravitar:
• Arcade Game: Gravitar ...
Note: Re-uploaded for better quality as MAME's internal AVI is not recording this game properly. I had to record with fraps. Hopefully, this the last time I'm re-uploading this.

[@yetidynamics]

one of the coolest parts of this game, was the really loud, large speaker they put at the bottom of it

[@andreahoffman8152]

I love this game. I always crushed, but I played it anyway. It was kind of hard and challenging, really difficult to master.

[@TaliZVasTyria]

i'm listening to the soundtrack "the landing" from the movie First man while playing this game, sounds awesome

[@billymac72]

I usually listen to music when playing arcade games too, but if I remember First Man correctly, that scene was incredibly suspenseful! I think that may add too much stress for me! I'll go with a little Simon & Garfunkel, perhaps.

[@michaelmize1155]

One of my all time favorite games and I have been the World Record Champion since 1982. That was kind of odd as in 1988 I went to work at KSC on the Space Shuttle System.

[@KulisO4RS]

I found this game's remake on smart TVs :)

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

And recall that the lunar lander game used more computing power than the actual Lunar Lander - with lives on the line: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3PHqq2Kq6ZmpaM

[@brentsmediacorner5976]

I'd always heard that space exploration started with a simple dream of one bus driver he would tell his wife about his dream "one of these days Alice, Pow, right to the moon"

[@literallyunderrated]

Not kind of odd, REALLY odd

[@skylerwarner1561]

Dudevthats awesome

[@unblessedcoffee1457]

The best part of this game was the little messages about your landing. "You just destroyed a hundred megabucks lander" haha.

[@MichelCastonguay]

this game had one of the most impressive trust controls of any arcade game, loved it back in 1980

[@chrisnizer1885]

There was always a line of quarters across the cabinet from people waiting to play this game. No other game was as challenging or had as many parameters to monitor. I'm sure they made a mint off it. It consumed quite a bit of my allowance at the time. Thank goodness there weren't real people inside that lander because I crashed it many, many, many times!

[@lukessummerguitar]

I just remember how bloody hard that game was!

[@greg55666]

My experience with this game when I was 10 years old has been hugely helpful in landing on Minimus.

[@nicksterspad]

KSP reference for the win! Lol

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

LOVE That sound - the original cabinet games had a huge speaker turned up full volume...

[@deoglemnaco7025]

My dad was a huge fan of the Apollo missions, and was actually in the Air Force for a bit. He wanted to be an astronaut but he was enlisted, and was never really considered. Anyway when this game came out, he got all sad and somber. We were to the video game (at a pizza place) and he played it, taking about how if you *#%+‘ed up the landing , you were dead. I laughed at him, and then he pulled out a pistol and held it to his head. “If I don’t land this, I’m going to blow my %*#ing brains out”. Thankfully the pizza guy came over and stopped it.

[@queenvanagon]

WOOWWWWW

[@mattleanio8534]

You stole that from the “color, purple… The book not the movie”

[@deoglemnaco7025]

@@mattleanio8534 yes. But why all the oddly placed quotation marks?

[@PiotrBarcz]

Why did you destroy the lander so many times when you could have done it right?

[@pigknickers2975]

Damn this game was tricky. How was a 10 year old really going to do it without putting in hundreds of coins? Ah, I see their plan. :D

[@NeilRoy]

I used to love this game! It had a nice lever for the thrust control which was quite unique that made this fun to play. There was an abort button which helps you line up (that's how he instantly lines up in this). The audio was nice as you felt that rumbling. This was one of my favourites when it first came out. Loved vector style games like this and Battlezone.

[@justingreenfeld]

Abort button! That’s why my setup (no labeled buttons) made this even harder. Thanks for the insight!

[@pgesparky]

I came here after watching SpaceX land thier ship.

[@TheInkPitOx]

Kids, this is what video games looked like forty years ago. This was the latest technology. It may be extremely simple by modern standards, but it was crazily addictive back then.

[@aidanmoore2547]

Wish I was born in that era

[@TheInkPitOx]

@@aidanmoore2547 Me too.

[@SuchitaBhattacharya]

I was given this game as a science assignment-

[@queenvanagon]

Used to play this at our local pizzeria. I feel nostalgia...

[@kg4boj]

50 years ago... this was 1979 40 years ago was into the 80s

[@RPRsChannel]

*_There's another "Lunar lander video game" that was immensely complex, at least for me as a child: it used the entire keyboard + hundreds of shortcuts. Does anyone remember this game?_*

[@kg4boj]

Eagle lander 3d maybe?

[@MaxAcceleration]

The impressive rumbling sound of this game is what made it! Whoever choose the sound system made the game. You could feel the cabinet rumbling as you gave it thrust. If you blew up you really felt the explosion. It was force feedback before there was force feedback! :)

[@michaellandry2227]

In my late 30s I'd take my boys to the shopping mall arcade and we blew a lot of quarters on this game. It was great!

[@ewan.cartwright]

The fundamental physics of how this spacecraft flies are 100% accurate to a real moon landing (albeit in 2D). I’m very impressed, never seen this game before

[@jamesgardner3720]

Not even close. I'm no physicist, but even I can see the inaccuracies here. For instance, thrusting upwards should not kill vertical speed, and the vertical speed drops passively as if there is thick atmosphere on the moon causing drag. But considering the time they did a great job, I'm sure there were loads of limiting factors.

[@Delo997]

@@jamesgardner3720 I think most of these had parameters that could be set, as I've seen footage of the setup where you can choose atmosphere thickness, gravity pull, fuel quantities and so on to better tweak the difficulty to an arcade place's playerbase (and pockets)

[@jeanyvesfraiche8063]

Does anyone know how to add fuel on the PC version? Downloaded it, but comes with only 1,760 units of fuel, which is basically two tries. Thanks

[@bleirdo_dude]

The real experience for this classic game are the original controls.

[@bleirdo_dude]

N stuffed I remember buttons for control that was like Asteroids. The thrust looked like an authentic thrust control.

[@4kdemoscene]

Yeah playing oh the real deal was amazing... The thrust controller design and artwork really set the mood. I still find play these games on "the real deal" is a much better experience than using an EMU like MAME, etc...

[@MarkDavidBlack]

I just set this game up on my Steam Deck. I love this game!

[@ikagura]

that are pretty good physics for a 1979 game

[@oldwestern123]

This game will always have a place in my heart

[@Antiwindowscatalog]

Kerbal Space Program 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.1...

[@thatblackkat1926]

Unity games remade this as Arcade Moonlander which is currently free on Steam. Do iiiiiit

[@glennvogt1194]

I absolutely loved this game. It ate alot of quarters but it was still fun to play.

[@patrickbarnes9462]

Thank you for sharing! I fondly remember playing this as a kid. There was nothing quite like the arcade version, with the control buttons, and huge thrust lever. Not to mention, the bass rumble of the ship, or firing thrusters. Now I play this on my tablet. Not the same, though.

[@petemoss8522]

I have a Samsung Galaxy tablet, and could you please tell me where I can get this game, and how the controls work? Is there a free version?

[@patrickbarnes9462]

+Pete Moss Atari's Greatest Hits ReMaster on Google Play Store. There is a free download, but I believe it is $10 for the full version. Worth every penny.

[@juanantonionoguez7916]

The reason why i get close to that game is the very best of the design of it.: the sound. It has a pair of very strong baffles or bass stuff that had a very realistic design of efect trust. I stayed hours when i was a child waching games.

[@blackmamba24_84]

I got an arcade for Christmas and this game came with it

[@philsurtees]

This is fake news. No game called Lunar Lander ever happened. This KZbin video was just a film made by Stanley Kubrick...

[@4kdemoscene]

lol, Good one Yukek Hunt... lol (Cracked me up) peace...

[@MattJohno2]

@Limo Chen It's a joke! Lighten tf up!

[@JoeHinkle11]

@Yurek Underrated comment

[@sporeolegy]

It’s a metaphor lunar lander thinks he has free will but he doesn’t it’s only an illusion of free world

[@sporeolegy]

Will*

[@LoneTiger]

This was my very first arcade game, when I stepped inside the arcade and got my tokens this was the one that got my attention, never managed to get it right though. Then again I was 5 or 6. :) Ahhh thankfully we have MAME now.

[@jeanyvesfraiche8063]

Loved that game and spent a fortune on it, never managed to win though... I would love to install it on my PC to be able to play it again... Do you know if it's downloadable? I know there's a link and we can play it directly from the browser, but I am not always connected. What is MAME btw? Thanks

[@LoneTiger]

@@jeanyvesfraiche8063 MAME is an arcade emulator for Windows, you download it, install it and just need to get the game ROM's to play the original arcade game on your computer, sadly can't post links through here but its easy to find. ^.^

[@jakubkrcma]

Although I find the physics flawed to some extent, this is still pure gaming gold. ❤❤❤

[@TheKeenTribe]

Can you play this anywhere online

[@cameronpickard7456]

this game was euphoric as a 11 year old

[@extrabonus4840]

めちゃくちゃ簡単そうに見えるけど、めちゃくちゃ難しかった。１面すらクリアすることはなかったなぁ。

[@atari]

Cool game. I heard there's a new one coming out

[@WaybackGuy]

Eerily quiet like the void of space. If they had added the Earth in the background that would have been awesome (overview effect). The first time I played this game was in a science museum. There is also a clone game of Lunar Lander in the LucasArts adventure game The Dig that is very fun!

[@mikethebigman]

Back when I used to always fly Roblox airlines and would play this game waiting for takeoff.. lemonde, flykutos, American, South Pacific. So many memories

[@Tony-1971]

How is this compared to Gravitar ? Gravitar is a god game in my view. Is this anywhere near as good ?

[@oldclassicgame]

In Gravitar, some of the elements was taken from Lunar Landing, especially the ship landing safely on the cliff of the mountains.

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

The Original. The ONE.

[@ricksantana1016]

I so used totally suck at this game!

[@marknestbox]

IF YOU WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME IN 2020 THEN ITS HERE; my.ign.com/atari/lunar-lander I have played it for 40 years, and still do most evenings and have made 1950 more than once! Get in touch if you want a challenger. Regs. Mark.

[@thegreatwhitesnark36]

It's a flying, short tentacled jellyfish!

[@jeffbrousseau5363]

moonlander.seb.ly/ is better than IGN if you want a quick blast from the past on your PC ( BTY I got 1350 on my 11th attempt)

[@Meige24]

who from jablinski games?

[@sonic_tailsakadaniel]

I found this game through block tales😭(a roblox game a npc talked abt it)

[@AReallyLongAndUnremakableUser]

This is where the original ATARI were ahead of every other arcade game development company at the time.

[@yeagsntoastable]

Not gonna lie before I clicked the link I thought you were r worded for thinking it was real. But you got me. 😂😂

[@AReallyLongAndUnremakableUser]

I wonder if they used the physics engine that Ed Logg spent many restless nights and dreamt about from asteroids on this??

[@RaiderChampion34]

Tough game

[@illegalquantity]

The game looks fine, the sound is good, but the lander is faster up than sideways just because this way is harder to control the landing.

[@noelht1]

My local arcade had this. Eight year old maid loved it. I have the handle that used for the thrust. And the Dial for the pitch attitude

[@αλώβητοςκανένας]

this game is ass.

[@salessupport1604]

You must be playing a different game. I call BS!

[@dougmclaren7993]

4:05 : So much for our 100 megabuck lander!

[@jeffreyrichardson]

mike and doug french kiss jodys christmas club swiss miss dougs garter snake hiss

[@fergus247]

what happens if you try to land in a slight incline

[@MrSaxahornist]

You're a Rock Star on this one

[@ArjunTheRageGuy]

The landing part is what I hate. Even a fall that is slow is still a fail to me.

[@cpe1704tks.]

The algorithm is clearly flawed.

[@michaelquintana678]

i want one..

[@brenditagamers2205]

2019???

[@ffmax55]

Simulateur de vol en graphisme vectoriel qui se veut assez sérieux

[@losgaba]

I looked up Eagle Lander but saw Lunar Lander instead. I wondered why I called it Eagle Lander...till I saw the "The eagle has landed!" message. I was like eight when I first played this.

[@kg4boj]

Each of the lunar modules had a radio callsign as well as the command modules. For apollo 11 the lm was called eagle, and the csm was called Columbia,

[@weedmanwestvancouverbc9266]

too bad there was no version for the Vectrex

[@dertythegrower]

Elon Musk and team just made this in real life recently. #spacex

[@rockmanharbinger3622]

C'MON MAN YOU GOTTA HAVE ASTEROIDS IN YOUR LINE UP MAN..THIS GAME REQUIRED REAL HAND EYE & PROCESSING ABILITY & COORDINATION..😎ROCKMAN.

[@godschild5587]

Nasa cgi didn't improve much compare with this video game

[@DylansPen]

Great fun, it ate a lot of quarters.

[@JohnJones-oy3md]

I didn't remember there being a star field in the background. Wait, turns out that was just the sun hitting dust on my monitor, lit up against the black background. Doh!

[@roxieearly9484]

Who are they kidding😂

[@AxelWerner]

weird ship controll. horizontal speed drops suddenly to zero if firing 0deg vertically ?! wtf .

[@robi6317]

for me this was on some kind of desktop computer around 1980, so you controlled the ship with Ctrl & arrow keys

[@itrstt66]

is there a windows version?

[@robertlipsett2535]

you can play it on a computer in mame

[@brianbagnall3029]

100 megabuck is a lot of money.

[@RomShalfey]

I don't know how, but I remember all those classic Atari games. That's history now. I think that every gamer got to know about them.

[@MichaelJohnson-mt4jn]

Fiendishly difficult

[@hermes_logios]

I have next game

[@akinnon2000]

and this is my son is actual footage of how we landed on the moon.

[@chaos120]

still looks fun

[@michaelquintana678]

i didn think that guy knew what he was doing at the first...

[@queenvanagon]

Vectrexxxxx!

[@Make_Boxing_Great_Again]

Is there an asci version of this?

[@senorbones1869]

How you record?

[@edgarmunier3191]

waow !

[@pahasuscenko3375]

mega

[@ipissed]

This takes me back to when I invented the first video game, and drew up the plans for the internet. Later on I was top advisor on the ISS development team. I turned down the administrator role of the space shuttle program because it seemed too dangerous. These days I am semi retired though I still dabble in quantum computers. 👁‍

[@Danny7618]

Wasted too much fuel unnecessarily

[@LifeIsGay1]

25¢ per 750 gal of gas hell yeah.