Lunar Lander Walkthrough

Lunar Lander is a classic arcade game that was released by Atari in 1979, ten years after the Apollo 11 moon landing. Although Lunar Lander was not extremely successful, its vector graphics were used in Atari's later arcade hit, Asteroids. This Flash version of Lunar Lander does a great job emulating the basic gameplay of the classic game but uses different graphics and music by Daft Punk rather than the original audio.

The objective of Lunar Lander is to land safely on the landing pad. The force of gravity is always in action, and you must use your thrusters to counteract this force. Your fuel supply is limited, however, and when you run out of fuel you will not longer be able to fire your thrusters. Luckily, you can pick up fuel canisters to replenish your fuel supply, but these are often placed in dangerous areas, so be careful!

Unlike the original version of this classic game, the Flash version of Lunar Lander does not reward points after crashing. The arcade game would reward points for crashes that were not severe and allow players to proceed to the next level for landing on any flat ground that they could find. This Flash version of Lunar Lander requires players to land on the blinking landing pad in order to score and proceed to the next level.

Like the classic game, this Flash version of Lunar Lander can be very frustrating. Fine movements are required to bring your craft in for a soft, safe landing. Patience will help here. This Flash rendition of the arcade game seems even less forgiving, however, and rotational movements are not as precise as they were in the arcade version, making it harder to land your capsule. If the bottom of the capsule is not perfectly parallel to the ground when you touch down, you will lose a life! It should also be noted that speed indicators are not present to help you gauge your descent.

Lunar Lander was always a game that required tons of patience, but this Flash version can be even more frustrating than the arcade game. If you have fond memories of the original Lunar Lander and tons of patience, give this Flash version a try. At least you won't have to spend tons of quarters trying to set your ship down!