Moon Patrol ColecoVision (Unreleased Atarisoft Game) – Retro Gaming History

Moon Patrol is a classic side-scrolling action game originally released in arcades and later adapted to multiple home consoles.

Developed by Irem and published by Atarisoft, the game tasked players with guiding a futuristic moon buggy across hazardous lunar terrain while fending off enemy attacks. The ColecoVision version, however, never saw an official release, making it one of the more intriguing pieces of retro gaming history.

The gameplay focuses on survival and precision. Players must navigate from one lunar station to another, with the buggy in constant forward motion. Along the journey, 25 checkpoints labeled A through Z serve as progress markers and respawn points. Every five checkpoints form a distinct stage, and completing these stages within a set par time rewards players with significant score bonuses.

Challenges come in many forms: craters that must be jumped, rocks that can be blasted apart or avoided, and alien UFOs that either fire at the player or create new hazards by bombarding the ground. As the game progresses, the difficulty ramps up with the introduction of stationary tanks, missile fire, underground carnivorous plants, and fast-moving rocket cars. Each obstacle requires quick reflexes and tactical use of the buggy’s dual-firing system, which shoots both forward and upward simultaneously.

Once players complete the initial "Beginner Course," they can test their skills on the more demanding "Champion Course," where hazards appear more frequently and timing becomes critical.

Although the ColecoVision port of Moon Patrol was never officially released, its planned existence highlights the popularity of arcade-to-console adaptations during the early 1980s. Today, Moon Patrol is remembered as a pioneering side-scrolling shooter that influenced many action and platform games that followed.

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VoxOdyssey | Retro and Classic COnsoles | ColecoVision | Catalogue Games: 1-50 | 51-100 | 101-150 | 151-200 | 201-250 | all