Moon Patrol
shoot'em up game for Commodore 64, 1983
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PATROL MISSION
When you signed up with the Luna City
Police Department, who could have
thought that you'd be assigned to Sector
Nine? (It's home to the toughest thugs
in the galaxy!) Sure, you've got the
finest car on the force, complete with
anti-gravity jump buttons and laser
bullets, but in the rough terrain of
Sector Nine, you need more than fancy
equipment to survive. Just hopping over
huge craters and moon rocks is bad
enough without having to deal with
hostile UFO's and enemy land mines and
tanks. Getting through your patrol in
one piece is almost impossible.
STARTING THE PATROL
Plug a joystick into Port #1.
Press the [F1] key or FIRE BUTTON to
enter the Options Screen.
OPTIONS SCREEN
Press the [F5] key to select the
difficulty level. Each level can be
played by one or two players.
Press the [F3] key to select a
two-player game. Press [F3] again to
return to a one-player game.
Once you have chosen the options you
desire, press the [F1] key or FIRE
BUTTON to initate play. Be careful not
to press any other keys on the keyboard
once the game has begun or game play
will be affected.
INGAME KEYS
[F5] aborts game play and returns you
to the Options Screen.
[SPACE] pauses the game. Press the FIRE
BUTTON to continue.
PATROL DETAILS
Your beat is divided into two courses.
BEGINNER (for rookies) and CHAMPION
(for experienced cops). Each course is
divided into 26 segments, marked by
points A-Z. A gauge at the bottom of the
screen indicates your location. The
gauge is divided into five sections:
A-E, E-J, J-O, O-T and T-Z.
At the end of each section, you're
awarded bonus points based on your
travel time. The faster you complete a
section, the more points you'll score.
As you travel your beat, the number of
obstacles you encounter increases, and
it becomes harder to avoid enemy
attacks.
HINTS FOR ROOKIES
* Play the BEGINNER game variation
first, to learn how to control your
patrol car.
* You'll jump farther when your patrol
car is moving fast; be sure you're
driving fast enough to jump over an
obstacle.
* Try taking one long jump over two
closely positioned obstacles.
* Your laser bullets are only effective
a short distance in front of you.
Don't fire too early or you might
miss your target.
* Some UFOs drop missiles that form new
craters. Learn to recognize these UFOs
and eliminate them quickly.
* When an enemy car appears from behind,
jump over it, then blast it when it's
in front of you.
SCORING
OBSTACLES: JUMPING: DESTROYING:
Crater 100 ---
Stationary Rock 50 100
Rolling Rock 100 50
Space Plant 100 500
Mine 50 ---
Tank 100 200
Flying Objects --- 100
Enemy Car --- 800
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Some useful keyboard shortcuts
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[PAUSE] - stop/continue game
[F9] - quick load game state
[F12] - quick save game state (still stored after leaving the site)
[F11] - toggle fullscreen mode
[ScrollLock] - quick switch control ports
[PageDown] - make a screenshot (320x200)