Moon Lander - Beebug - BBC Micro - Emulated, BeebEm - Level 1 - 227 points - Level 2 - 367 points

Moon Lander is a very early simulation game for the BBC Microcomputer. It runs in less than 16K so will work on both the Model A and Model B. It was written by Dr David Graham and appeared in the very first issue of Beebug magazine (actually a newsletter at the time) in April 1982. Dr Graham was one of the editors and publishers of Beebug at the time. The game was released later by Beebugsoft as Beebug Games 2, which also featured 3D Noughts and Crosses.
The game requires you to land you craft safely in a crater. You have three controls, left thrust, right thrust and down thrust. This will allow you to line up your craft and arrest your descent. You must land in the crater with a velocity below 16, otherwise you will crash. A successful landing is rewarded with a points score. There are two skill levels, 1 and 2.
Quite a fast-paced game for a type-in, that is also a very basic simulation. It seems easy, but you can lose control quite quickly if you don't concentrate. The addition of a score, based on your remaining score and how well you landed encourages repeat plays. An interesting insight into the begins of home gaming in the UK, though I can understand it has little interest to people today beyond its historical value.
This run was made on the 2nd July 2024 using the BeebEm emulator on PC. Two runs are made, the first at Level 1 where the score was 227 points and the second on Level 2 where the score was 367 points.
Time stamps:
00:30 Title screen.
00:34 Level 1 and colour selected.
00:40 Instructions.
00:44 Game start - several failed attempts begin here - shown because I don't know how to get back to the menu to show this is level 1.
03:34 Start of succesful run.
03:54 Successful landing in the crater, 227 points awarded.
04:04 Level 2 video starts here.
04:06 Title screen, level 2 and colour selected.
04:18 Game starts.
04:37 Landed in crater, 367 points awarded.
Intro Music:
Music by: Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
Title: Legend
/ @whitebataudio