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Lunar Lander on Steroids ...


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Back in the early-mid 1980's (in my mid-late teens), I used to spend a lot of time in Byron Bay (on the northern NSW coast of Australia). At the time, there was a little arcade near the beach front, and my family used to go there (usually after having a great dinner at the local Mexican Micks restaurant, and after spending the day surfing). They were very happy days ....

 

Anyway, the little arcade had a small selection of pinball and video games, but, as it has since turned out, one of the video games was extremely rare, and inspite of extensive searching, I have not been able to find anyone else who has seen this game, let alone played it.

 

Let me explain further ... In the little Byron Bay video arcade, there was a Lunar Lander type of game (vector graphics, black and white) which had you trying to control a space craft that you had to land at the bottom af a very deep canyon. Cliff walls would race past (for what seemed like minutes), and your fuel was very limited, so you had to time your landings perfectly or be smashed to pieces on the canyon floor. I played the game quite a few times, but it was extremely difficult. I don't remember landing correctly much at all. The view was very much zoomed in - not a zoomed out out distant view.

 

Unfortunately, I don't remember ever seeing a Title screen for this game, so I never actually found out what it was called. I believed that this game was called "Lunar Lander", because it featured lunar landings. However, when the real Lunar Lander game was added to MAME (amny years ago now), I realized that the real Lunar Lander game (now supported in MAME) was a very tame game compared to the lunar lander style game from the local Byron Bay arcade.

 

In fact, I have nick-named the Byron Bay game "Lunar Lander on Steroids" because it is so fast paced, zoomed in, and difficult compared to the real Lunar Lander.

 

So, I immediately set-out to try and find out more about the lunar lander game from Byron Bay. Over the past 5-6 years, I have extensively searched the net and repeatedly posted on r.g.v.a.c, the MAME forums, etc, and all to no avail.

 

I am trying to prove that this "Lunar Lander on Steroids" does (or did) exist, and I am fully prepared to buy the whole machine or just the PCB.

 

1. If you live in Australia and are selling the whole arcade machine or just the PCB, please let me know ASAP !!!

 

2. If you are not in Australia (USA, UK, etc) and are selling the PCB, please let me know ASAP !!!. (I don't want to ship entire arcade machines to Australia at this stage - but I may be prepared to do this in the future).

 

3. If you know about this machine (who made it, etc), or have any photographs of it, or screen shots, or a brochure, or know where one of the machines is, or have any other information, please let me know ASAP !!!

 

4. If you are 100% certain that "Lunar Lander on Steroids" will be at at a partricular location in the future (such as the next California Extreme) - then please let me know.

 

I hope someone can help.

 

Moose

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g'day mate

I cant help you with the game, but im pretty sure that arcade is where i spent alot of my youth in the late 80's early 90's.

Was it opposite the famous curry house and just around the corner from the beach pub? :)

If so thats where i fell in love with neo geo

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g'day mate

I cant help you with the game, but im pretty sure that arcade is where i spent alot of my youth in the late 80's early 90's.

Was it opposite the famous curry house and just around the corner from the beach pub? :)

If so thats where i fell in love with neo geo

 

Yes indeed - that is the place. Although, back when I used to go there a lot, Neo Geo wasn't out yet. ;)

 

Some time around 1999, I travelled back to Byron Bay specifically to try and track down the particular "Lunar Lander" machine that was in the arcade, with the purpose of buying it, getting the ROMs dumped, and getting it preserved in MAME. I live in Central Queensland, so this was a 7+ hour drive for me each way - LOL ;)

 

However, sadly it turned out that the guy behind the counter there (who was the manager) was not not a game fanatic or interested in the games in his arcade. His concern was with making money. I cannot blame him for this, after all, if he doesn't make money, then life and business is pretty miserable.

 

He said that he had never seen or heard of the machine, and he thought I was absolutely f***ing crazy and/or high on drugs for being so interested in a game that was in his arcade 15+ years ago. (I can still see the incredulous expressions on his face when he spoke to me). Anyway, he couldn't help me or suggest where the machine might have gone or been sold to, or if the machine was sitting in a garage some where. He had no idea where the game might have gone, and he had no suggestions as to who I might contact to find out more about the machine.

 

Very disappointing. I hate to say it, but my guess is that the game probably broke down one too many times, and ended up at the local rubbish dump.

 

Hi Moose,

 

Welcome to the forum, I cant help you with the games but I must say your first posts make for great reading.

 

Awesome, thanks Virgil. :)

 

Hopefully, one day, "Lunar Lander on Steroids" and "Choplifter 1987" will be tracked down, their ROMs dumped, and the games preserved in MAME.

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I admire your dedication Moose - great to see

 

couldn't you have fallen in love with Street Fighter - would makes things a lot easier on you

 

ROFL !! ;) Yes, a shame it wasn't at the arcade instead .... life would be so much easier ... ;)

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Hi Moose,

 

I also played Lunar Lander back in the day, but not that often as although I liked the game I found it very hard to play. As such, I didn't spend many of my limited 20 cent coins on it. I have also played it in MAME and was surprised that I found it was a lot easier then I remember, but came to the conclusion it was due to a more responsive keyboard compared to the control on the machine. That and the fact I was only 12 when I first played it :) I also plan to add this game to my collection one day and have a few pcb's and a control panel, but finding an original cab here in Australia will be a major challenge.

 

Good luck with your search.

 

Regards,

 

Johns-Arcade.

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  • 7 months later...

Yes I remember the game.

I thought I was only dreaming it, but now that you mension it, I played it in Perth.

I never landed it either, but emptied my wallet trying. It was so hard to control.

 

You are not dreaming, I played and loved it.

 

I will join in the quest, now that I know it really exists.

Dezbaz

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Forgive the stupid question guys... but could this be a regular lunar lander with 'difficulty' dip switches changed? I seem to recall playing Lunar Lander in MAME at such a cracking pace it was impossible to land.

 

Its either that or a bootleg of it... because I'm SURE I've played a super-speed version somewhere in MAME.

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hey moose

ive got an original upright atari lunar lander (not for sale sorry), and used to love playing the game when new as well

i believe the game you played was called lunar lander part 2

i used to play it here in adelaide but there was only 1 around (i went to ALL the arcades back then), was similar to the original but you could land on a platform inside a cave on this game as levels got higher, much harder to do

and the big thing was you could shoot at enemy craft

now i have also been looking for this game for years to no avail and consensus seems it was probably a prototype

also have a local mate who remembers playing it and he clearly said it was titled lunar lander part 2

from memory it was in a standard LL cab (long time ago) but mustve had a fire button added

had the same cool thrust controller and definetely used a lunar module as per the original

everytime i post looking for this game in the states the answer comes back it mustve been a GRAVITAR

definetely not :D

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  • 1 year later...

.

Sorry for the massive delay in replying guys - I kept popping back here for a week or so after I posted my last message but then I haven't had a chance to come back until now. Sorry ...

 

 

Forgive the stupid question guys... but could this be a regular lunar lander with 'difficulty' dip switches changed? I seem to recall playing Lunar Lander in MAME at such a cracking pace it was impossible to land.

 

Its either that or a bootleg of it... because I'm SURE I've played a super-speed version somewhere in MAME.

 

No, I've messed around with the dip switches in MAME, and "Lunar Lander on Steroids" is definitely a different game.

 

 

hi Moose,

 

Did your game look like the Atari Lunar Lander? Was it an upright or cocktail?

 

It wasn't Taito Lunar Rescue were you first have to land then fly up again?

 

If it was a proper Atari game, you could try Andy of http://www.Andysarcade.net. If Atari made it he will probably know about it.

 

It was 2D vector game like Atari Lunar Lander, and it involved landing a space ship like Atari Lunar Lander, but it was much harder and much more "zoomed in" so the space ship filled up much more of the screen and where the canyon walls were zooming past you on both sides and you had to try and land on a landing pad that wasn't visible until you were *very* near the bottom of the crater.

 

It definitely was not Lunar Rescue.

 

The game involved Landing only - not taking off or fighting enemies.

 

hey moose

ive got an original upright atari lunar lander (not for sale sorry), and used to love playing the game when new as well

i believe the game you played was called lunar lander part 2

i used to play it here in adelaide but there was only 1 around (i went to ALL the arcades back then), was similar to the original but you could land on a platform inside a cave on this game as levels got higher, much harder to do

and the big thing was you could shoot at enemy craft

now i have also been looking for this game for years to no avail and consensus seems it was probably a prototype

also have a local mate who remembers playing it and he clearly said it was titled lunar lander part 2

from memory it was in a standard LL cab (long time ago) but mustve had a fire button added

had the same cool thrust controller and definetely used a lunar module as per the original

everytime i post looking for this game in the states the answer comes back it mustve been a GRAVITAR

definetely not :D

 

The game I remember had no enemy craft and no shooting. The game involved Landing only - not taking off or fighting enemies.

 

Thanks for the helpful replies and suggestions, and sorry again for the massive delay in my replies.

 

 

Hey, is this moose from moose's software valley?

 

Yes, that's me. Still alive and kicking (and still searching for 2 long lost games - choplifter 1987 and Lunar lander on Steroids).

Edited by moose
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Yes I remember the game.

I thought I was only dreaming it, but now that you mension it, I played it in Perth.

I never landed it either, but emptied my wallet trying. It was so hard to control.

 

You are not dreaming, I played and loved it.

 

I will join in the quest, now that I know it really exists.

Dezbaz

 

WOW, that's great to hear. There's now at least 3 people who remember this game. (Another guy replied to me 5+ years ago saying he remembered it also).

 

Yes, I emptied my pocket money pouch on it and never landed.

 

In fact, I don't think that I saw anyone ever land the ship - it was truly difficult.

 

If you track down any information on the game, please let me know.

 

Lucky we weren't holding our breath for a response LOL

 

Yes, very sorry Debaz.

 

I'll check back more often - promise !! :)

Edited by moose
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WOW, that's great to hear. There's now at least 3 people who remember this game. (Another guy replied to me 5+ years ago saying he remembered it also).

 

Yes, I emptied my pocket money pouch on it and never landed.

 

In fact, I don't think that I saw anyone ever land the ship - it was truly difficult.

 

If you track down any information on the game, please let me know.

 

 

 

Yes, very sorry Debaz.

 

I'll check back more often - promise !! :)

 

Joking (of course) LOL

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Hi Moose,

I assume the screen shot I have attached is Lunar Lander (Not on steroids).

Thanks for confirming this.

Ian

 

Yes - the screen shot in your post is Lunar Lander. Sadly, not the game I'm looking for.

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Some interesting news courtesy of Gatinho on the MAME Chat Forums:

 

 

http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=172086&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&vc=1

 

http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=177299&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=&fpart=2&vc=1&new=#Post177299

 

 

To save you following these links, here are the relevant parts (so far) of Gatinho and my reply to him:

 

> No where near Australia, but the point of the following link is to say others were

> building Lunar Landers at the time other than Atari and Taito, so good luck on your

> search. The moon landing was just over a decade old at the time, so it was a pretty

> ketchy topic to engage public suport for NASA.

>

> NASA's Lunar Lander Prototype

>

> To add to that post, to track spacecraft continuously, a network of deep space

> stations must have at least three equidistant receiving points on the Earth’s

> surface. The other two stations would have to be one-third of the globe (120°

> longitude) either side of NASA in California. Australia was the first one.

>

> NASA was building deep space station posts in Australia in the late 50's, 60's and

> 70's, and closing them in the 70's and 80's. I have no specific knowledge of an

> Australian Lunar Lander arcade demo like the one I played in Alabama, but it wouldn't

> surprise me, and if they closed the NASA port, it wouldn't be a far stretch to see

> that arcade demo sold off or tossed to some small town arcade buyer.

>

> If you wanna go all hard core looking for it, try looking into the history of Woomera

> Island Lagoon site, operated by the Australian Department of Supply; and Carnarvon is

> Western Australia too. More specifically their Open House projects with computer

> demos, showing off what computers can do for NASA.

>

> There were other Deep Space posts, but they were closed prior to the NASA computer PR

> program, so not likely relevant.

>

> I'm not trying to send you on a wild goose chase, but at least it's a lead you

> haven't likely heard of yet.

 

 

>I played the prototype Lunar Lander at NASA's Marshal Space Flight

>Center in Huntzville Alabama when I was a kid in the mid 1970's. They

>had four of them fitted into a straight black cabinet with no art at

>all except for the illuminated indicator panel and a museum style

>engraved plaque explaining what it was. At the time, it was a

>prototype, called Moon Landing (no, not the 1980 Taito Moon Lander,

>and not the 1973 Jack Burness version, this one had the buttons and

>throttle lever of the later Atari Lunar Lander). My Dad has a picture

>of me playing it at the center's open house. Yeah, he wore the black

>rimmed geek glasses, but they were kewl at the time, trust me. My Dad

>was on the team of NASA dudes developing computers for NASA, and they

>thought the video game would help the public understand how helpful

>computers were to NASA. Don't forget, they put a man on the moon

>using slide rulers and rooms full of men with pencils ready to crunch

>calculations upon request.

 

 

WOW, this is indeed very interesting. This is the best lead I've had for the game in the last 10 years !!!

 

The cabinet I recall was just black - I am almost certain there were no graphics on the sides, etc. (I just put this down to being a prototype or home made or small production run cabinet). So, maybe this game was indeed one of these NASA Lunar Lander Prototypes ....

 

You have played one of these NASA Lunar Lander Prototypes. Can you tell me what the game play was like ? Was it a 2D, vector, black and white game ? Did your ship race down into a canyon with walls rushing past on each side of the screen ? Was the landing pad at the bottom only visible when you were virtually at the bottom of the crater ?

 

Do you know where I can track down any screen shots or video of any of these NASA Lunar Lander Prototypes ?

 

Now the $FA00 question (err, sorry that's $64,000 in Hex) - do you know of anyone who might have or be selling one of these ?

 

>Woomera

> Island Lagoon site, operated by the Australian Department of Supply; and Carnarvon is

> Western Australia too. More specifically their Open House projects with computer

> demos, showing off what computers can do for NASA.

 

If the game is at any of these places, then I'm going to have to do a road trip around Australia and visit these places .... Followed by NASA's Marshal Space Flight Center in Huntzville Alabama.

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