[Module 1] Lunar Lander (1979) | Review

'Lunar Lander' start screen

The year of 1979 was full of excitements for the gaming universe, it represented the early stages of the Golden Age of arcades, where titles as Galaxian, Adventure and Alakabeth marked the history of gaming. And it was also in this year that Atari released Lunar Lander, the most known variation of all concepts, dating back to ten years before the Atari game.

Lunar Lander is a space flight simulator which features a little spaceship with limited fuel and a 2D lunar landscape. The objective is to make the spaceship land safely on the Moon using a propeller located at its bottom. The game ends when the fuel tank is empty and the spaceship crashes.

History

‘Lunar Landing Game’, from 1969 

(released months after the Apollo 11 mission)

Even if the Atari’s Lunar Lander has an important place in gaming history, it is not the first version of the game. The prime concept was developed by Jim Stores in 1969 on a PDP-8 minicomputer, the so called ‘Lunar Landing Game’. Later, the game was re-written in the BASIC programming language by David H. Ahl [1], resulting in an increased popularity and a defined identity of the “lunar lander” genre.

In 1973, ‘Moonlander’[2] was produced to showcase the capabilities of the new DEC GT40 computer, being the first graphical variation of the series. Finally, on 1979 Atari published Lunar Lander, setting the standard for its genre, and many clones of the game were created shortly after:

"Sometimes it seems as though every company capable of copying a cassette is trying to sell a game on this theme.” (Electronic Games, 1981)

By the end of the decade, Lunar Lander was one of the most popular games amongst arcades (probably helped by the space race in the Cold War), and was target of uncountable clones.

Gameplay

The reason why the game was so innovative by 1979, is because it was the first product release by Atari which used vector graphics, a technology also used in ‘Tempest’ (with colors) and ‘Asteroids’ (Atari’s most successful game ever).

‘Lunar Lander’ gameplay (accurate clone) [3]

Original arcade controls

And as most of the arcade games of that time, Lunar Lander does not provide any form of tutorial, and it begins as soon the first button is pushed (or coin inserted). The only elements on screen are a black background with some stars, the spaceship, and a silhouette of the terrain on a side 2D point of view. As soon as the game begins, the craft is moving with some powerful momentum, and the player must control the ship’s trajectory by pointing the thruster in the right angle.

The focus of the gameplay is on the controls, where the challenge resides, and so it is important that the spaceship’s movements feels realistic and accurate, and Lunar Lander delivers an intuitive experience on that point. The game uses our unconscious memory of physics to its own advantage, implementing a mechanic based on vectors to push the spacecraft in the wanted direction, accelerating or decelerating it.

As a simulator, Lunar Lander also makes use of the ‘fuel’ mechanic, to limit the length of the gameplay to a few minutes (as an arcade it is perfect). The ship has a finite amount of fuel to work with, and if it lands successfully, another ship spawns with the remaining fuel, and when the tank is empty, the game ends.

Demonstration of camera zoom and multipliers (x2, x3, x4, x5)

The player is given points for landing, and those can be multiplied by landing on random spots on the Moon. After the landing (or crash), the locations are randomized again. Furthermore, when the ship approaches land, the camera zooms in to grant more detail.

Overall the physics are impressive, and learning how gently the ship should land and managing the fuel create a very addicting experience, despite the simplicity of the game elements.

As far as content density goes, arcades were never designed to have long gameplays to begin with, but Lunar Lander feels like a single level game, looped over and over. Luckily for the players, a classic high score system gives the game a little more longevity to it, making friendly competition worthwhile.

Visuals & Sound

Original arcade

To fairly analyse the aesthetics of Lunar Lander, it is important to keep in mind how old the game is and the historical background of that time, to understand why an apparently simplistic game turned out to be as successful as it was. By 1979, vector displays were a brand-new feature in videogames, and the ship was very accurate both in visuals and motion.

Another factor to remember about retro games is that most of the artwork was displayed outside of video graphics, whether in the arcade cabinets or in the cartridge covers, forcing the players to enrich the visual scenario with their own imagination.

And it is impressive how Lunar Lander still delivers the experience of an adventure on the Moon by simply displaying lines and a spaceship on the screen, and that is thanks to the ambience the game has: the black screen and the absence of soundtrack simulate the emptiness of space in a remarkable elegance.

Regarding music, no background track was available, and the only elements with sound were the thrust and the shipwreck. At first it makes for a monotonous gameplay, but when the controls start demanding more focus from the players, the fact that there is no music being played creates that extra tension to build up a real challenge, and whenever the spacecraft lands, it feels like a bigger accomplishment.

Legacy

“Lunar lander” clone as a mini-game in LucasArts’ “The Dig”

After Atari’s success with Lunar Lander, a great legacy of an inspiring history and innovation was left to be explored in alternative ways. The game was re-worked many times, increasing its complexity as more modern consoles and computers were being produced.

The “lunar lander” clones were still very popular decades later, making ‘cameo’ appearances in other games such as The Dig (1995).

The classic simulator from 1979 also became the main protagonist in the Lunar Trails Art Project [4] in Dublin (2012/13), where the original arcade cabinet was used synchronized with a drawing robot which kept trace of all trajectories of the matches to make a canvas.

The robot reproduces the path that the ship takes in the videogame [5]

Conclusion + Rating

On a general note, Lunar Lander deserves its spot as a timeless game. The way Atari presented the visual and sound elements truly gave a touch of realism to the gameplay, with an innovative design. If Lunar Lander had some sort of lore to accompany the levels (space race and Apollo 11 were great starting points), the game would have certainly achieved a 10/10 score, but it can still hit the mark of 9.8/10 as a gem of the arcade history, showcasing what can be achieved with simple white lines and a little spaceship.

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[1] 101 BASIC Computer Games, 1973

[2] Written by Jack Burness, 1973

[3] Lunar Trails Project, 2012/13 (game clone)

[4] Designed by Seb Lee-Delisle

[5] Lunar Trails Project, website


Review by Arthur Fostier - 10 November 2017