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Moon Patrol
Developer(s)	Irem
Publisher(s)	Williams Electronics
Release date(s)	1982
Genre(s)	Run and gun/Vehicular combat game
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Platform(s)	Arcade, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, Mobile Phone, MSX, TI-99/4A, TRS-80
Input	Joystick (2-way); 2 buttons
Arcade cabinet	Upright
Arcade system(s)	Irem M-52 hardware Main CPU: Z80 (@ 3.072 MHz) Sound CPU: M6803 (@ 894.886 kHz) Sound Chips: (2x) AY8910 (@ 894.886 kHz), (2x) MSM5205 (@ 384 kHz)
Arcade display	Raster resolution 240×248 (Horizontal) Palette Colors 576

Moon Patrol is a classic arcade game by Irem that was first released in 1982. It was licensed to Williams for U.S. distribution.

The player controls a moon buggy, viewing it from the side, that travels over the moon's surface. While driving it, obstacles such as craters and mines must be avoided. The buggy is also attacked by UFOs from above and tanks on the ground. Moon Patrol was one of the earliest linear side-scrolling shoot'em ups and the first game to feature parallax scrolling.

Contents 1 Story 2 Gameplay 3 Versions 4 Trivia 5 External links

The player takes the role of a Luna City police officer assigned to Sector Nine, the home of the "toughest thugs in the galaxy."

The top portion of the screen shows a timeline-style map of the current course, and three indicator lights. The top light indicates upcoming enemy aerial attacks, the middle one indicates an upcoming minefield, and the bottom one indicates enemies approaching from behind.

The map shows five different checkpoints labeled E, J, O, T and Z. Similar to racing games, the time spent during between each checkpoint is compared to the average which determines the amount of bonus points allocated to the player.

There have been several ports of Moon Patrol to home computers and console game systems, including:

• Apple II
• Atari 800
• Atari 2600
• Atari 5200
• ColecoVision (in prototype form; never released to the public)
• Commodore 64
• Mobile (Moon Patrol EX)
• MSX
• Nintendo Game Boy Color (Arcade Hits: Moon Patrol & Spy Hunter)
• Sega Dreamcast (included in Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 2)
• Sony PlayStation (included in Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Midway Collection 2)
• Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
• TRS-80 Colour Computer
• ZX Spectrum (completed but never released)

• There is a bootleg version of this game called Moon Ranger. This is not related to the unlicensed NES game by the same name developed by Bunch Games.

• Moon Patrol at the Killer List of Videogames
• Moon Patrol at MobyGames