We need to talk about Lunar Lander

[dudeguy]

I fell in love with this game at a con a few years ago. Had no clue what it was. Once I started playing it I was hooked.

 

Is there any way of playing this on a home console with the throttle? I cant imagine enjoying the game using a standard controller

[Cynicaster]

I agree, it's a fun little game.  It's a pure Newtonian physics demonstration simplified into 2D.  Not for everybody, but intriguing if you're interested in such things.  

 

It's definitely a bit tricky to play at home and have a good arcade-like experience due to the throttle.  There are all kids of ways you can "fake it" using settings in MAME - for example, use button presses for increase and decrease throttle - but that's just not very fun, IMO.  

 

If you're not willing to hunt down a throttle control, buy an original cabinet, or fabricate something custom, then at a minimum, you need some kind of analog control that allows you to finely adjust the input without it springing back to center as soon as you lift your hand (like, for example, an analog thumbstick would do on a modern controller).  

 

I actually use my spinner to play Lunar Lander.  I work the spinner almost like a "volume knob" on a stereo to adjust the thrust on the lander (clockwise = increase).  Not very authentic but it definitely works well enough to make the game fun (for me).  The same could be done using either the Y- or X- axis of a trackball.  

 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Cynicaster

[Zoyous]

At one point the children's science museum in Nashville had a Lunar Lander cabinet set to free play. But they did set it right next to one of those big funnels that you send a coin spiraling down into, so maybe that evened out the coin income!

[Keatah]

On 5/31/2022 at 8:32 AM, Cynicaster said:

It's definitely a bit tricky to play at home and have a good arcade-like experience due to the throttle.  There are all kids of ways you can "fake it" using settings in MAME - for example, use button presses for increase and decrease throttle - but that's just not very fun, IMO.  

When I first got into MAME I turned my mouse sideways and adjusted the sensitivity accordingly.

 

4 hours ago, Zoyous said:

But they did set it right next to one of those big funnels that you send a coin spiraling down into,

I pissed in one of those one time.

[mr_me]

The default Mame controls maps thrust to a single button as well as an analog stick.  The analog stick works fine, although not the most precise. 

 

Using the button to increase thrust works but, by default, it's programmed to go to zero when the button is released; makes it difficult to hold a thrust level.  You have to go into the settings and set "auto center speed" to 0 and then map an analog decrement button; then you can increase thrust by a button press and decrease by a button press.  It works well.

 

I've always mapped thrust to the mouse.  It doesn't go to zero automatically, but I do reverse the analog direction.  Flight simulator controllers include some sort of thrust lever; maybe they work.

 

The other thing people may not realise is that Lunar Lander has four difficulty levels but you can't see how it's set without some of the artwork files.  It's set to easiest by default.

Edited June 7, 2022 by mr_me

[+x=usr(1536)]

On 6/6/2022 at 1:54 PM, Keatah said:

I pissed in one of those one time.

Trade you that story for the one of the time I pissed in a Galaga upright.

[sirlynxalot]

I used to play a lunar lander clone in windows 3.1 

[Keatah]

I loved playing LunarLander on my Pocket Computer and Ti-59 while being buried under the covers in a blanket fort. With little imagination the blankets on the floor looked like the lunar terrain. And the black towels on top looked like space. It was good enough to pretend I was right there beside Neil Armstrong. We envisioned all sorts of missions, like resupply, or rescue, or covert ops.

 

I clearly remember playing LL at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago. They had a cab set up in the flight section. Not far from the full-size cutaway of a 727. It was moody and boomed throughout the whole area. I wasn't any good at it till I practiced on the Apple II with Tranquility Base.

 

[Keatah]

Then there's this from 10  years ago.

 

[+wongojack]

For an alternative, Neptune Lander homebrew for the C64 is pretty good.  There's also a game on Steam called "Blast Lander," but tbh I didn't really like that one all that much.  There are a bunch of other "lander" games on Steam that might scratch the itch.

[+CyranoJ]

 

[Cynicaster]

19 hours ago, Keatah said:

I loved playing LunarLander on my Pocket Computer and Ti-59 while being buried under the covers in a blanket fort. With little imagination the blankets on the floor looked like the lunar terrain. And the black towels on top looked like space. It was good enough to pretend I was right there beside Neil Armstrong. We envisioned all sorts of missions, like resupply, or rescue, or covert ops.

 

I clearly remember playing LL at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago. They had a cab set up in the flight section. Not far from the full-size cutaway of a 727. It was moody and boomed throughout the whole area. I wasn't any good at it till I practiced on the Apple II with Tranquility Base.

 

I was at the Museum of Science and Industry about 5 years ago and they had this really cool simulator for some sort of rendezvous maneuver between 2 spacecraft.  It was sort of like the transposition and docking part of the Apollo missions. I tried it and somehow nailed the docking on the very first attempt.  This other guy was watching me and after I did it I just said “capture” and put my shades on and walked away. ?

[HammR25]

The Kansas Cosmosphere (space museum) had this game so I played it there as a kid. Enjoyed it and it was definitely difficult.  Then again that's what quarter suckers are designed to do.  Seems like a good game for the 5200.

[mr.bill]

the science museum in san francisco also had one. I remember going on field trips and playing it there.

 

I saved mine off an operators loading dock before it was going to get crushed..

 

Its not as fun unless you have the controller.  A guy made a kit to let you play lunar lander, asteroids, and asteroids deluxe on the same board.  They even made reproduction lunar lander controls and even made custom control panel to fit  asteroids and have the buttons on the left and the LL controller on the right.

[Flojomojo]

You could use a flight sim HOTAS (hands on throttle and stick) setup for the arcade version of Lunar Lander. 
 

If you want to try something neat that is related, “Lunar Rescue” on old Macintosh (NOT the primitive Taito arcade game) is a beautiful, elegant take on the game. Runs fine in emulation. https://www.macintoshrepository.org/20012-lunar-rescue
 

I also kinda like Gravitar Recharged on modern consoles. It’s not the same but it hits some of the same notes. 
https://www.atari.com/games/gravitar-recharged/

[Cynicaster]

16 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

You could use a flight sim HOTAS (hands on throttle and stick) setup for the arcade version of Lunar Lander. 
 

If you want to try something neat that is related, “Lunar Rescue” on old Macintosh (NOT the primitive Taito arcade game) is a beautiful, elegant take on the game. Runs fine in emulation. https://www.macintoshrepository.org/20012-lunar-rescue
 

I also kinda like Gravitar Recharged on modern consoles. It’s not the same but it hits some of the same notes. 
https://www.atari.com/games/gravitar-recharged/

 

The Gravitar Recharged game looks neat, but based on what I can glean from the quick trailer, it almost seems like the same thing as Gravity Crash (PS3, 2009).  

 

 

 

[Flojomojo]

Yes, it's similar but not the same. Like OIDS, Subterranea, Thrust, Continuum, and other games in the genre of "there's gravity pulling you towards stuff shooting at you"