80’s Games I Played Later: Lunar Rescue

On 09/22/2019 at 10:50 PM by KnightDriver

I played 1979 arcade game Lunar Rescue (I'm cheating on the date a little bit) on Taito Legends 2 (PS2) and Taito Legends Power Up (PSP). I was surprised at how much I liked it. There are elements of Space Invaders, Lunar Lander and even Asteroids in this game.

You drop yourself from a parent ship at the top of the screen in what looks like a lunar lander. You avoid space rocks to land at one of three landing sites and pick up a stranded astronaut. The screen is suddenly filled with aliens shooting at you. You maneuver around or shoot them to get back to your parent ship. You score points for landing on certain spots, using less fuel and rescuing the astronaut.

I was quite obsessed with this game for a while a few years ago. I’d love to play it in an actual arcade cabinet.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

09/22/2019 at 11:29 PM

Darn that game looks amazing. I’ve never even heard of it.

KnightDriver

09/23/2019 at 10:26 PM

I guess it didn't take off like Space Invaders but I think it's great. The sound is a bit annoying, though. That's the only criticism I have of it.

Cary Woodham

09/23/2019 at 07:00 AM

Yeah I never played that game either until on Taito Legends. I imagine it was just a by-product of the popularity of Space Invaders.

09/23/2019 at 10:06 PM

I like it better than Space Invaders.

SanAndreas

09/24/2019 at 02:02 PM

I never saw Lunar Rescue, but I played a home computer clone of it: Stellar Shuttle, which was made by Broderbund. In later levels, Stellar Shuttle had a reptilian beast on the ground which would eat the astronauts, though you could kill it by burning it up with the ship's exhaust.

09/25/2019 at 09:57 PM

Stellar Shuttle is interesting. Definitely taken from Lunar Rescue.

PixlBit