Moon Buggy

Moon Buggy is a side-scrolling shooter inspired by Atari’s arcade classic Moon Patrol. You are the moon base commander, patrolling the lunar surface in an All Terrain Moon Buggy. The outer defences have been breached, and enemy forces from a distant star cruiser are attacking. Your buggy can accelerate, decelerate, fire forward lasers, and jump to clear obstacles. As you drive from left to right across a scrolling alien landscape, you must shoot flying saucers and incoming missiles, blast or jump over boulders, jump craters and land mines, and avoid enemy tanks. The alien helicopter attempts to bomb you from above. Your score is based on survival time and enemies destroyed. The game is divided into five zones, each indicated by a different ground colour. Clearing all five zones awards a 2500-point bonus before the game loops with increased difficulty.

Commodore 16

Released in 1985 by Anirog Software and ported by Jeff Gamon, the Commodore 16 version was described by Home Computing Weekly as “both challenging and entertaining,” awarding 80% . The port features smooth scrolling with parallax depth: two mountain ranges scroll at different rates to simulate distance. The buggy’s suspension animation is a nice touch, and the wheels split from the chassis when you crash . A particularly welcome feature is the turbo loader, easing the C16’s slow loading times . Critics have noted that the graphics make good use of the C16’s colour abilities, though the sound effects are described as “zappy and noisy” . The game lacks background music but the core gameplay is addictive and faithful to the arcade original. You begin with five lives. An extra life is awarded after completing each zone .