Moon Patrol

Moon Patrol was developed by Irem and first released in arcades in 1982. It was one of the earliest side-scrolling action games and later received home ports to platforms like the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and various home computers. The game was notable for popularizing parallax scrolling visuals.

Moon Patrol is widely credited as one of the first games to feature multi-layer parallax scrolling, creating an illusion of depth as background layers moved at different speeds. It also introduced a simultaneous two-axis control scheme—horizontal driving and vertical jumping—that was innovative for its time. These techniques influenced countless side-scrolling games throughout the 1980s.

The player's lunar buggy can move at two speeds and jump over obstacles like rocks and craters using a dedicated jump button. A separate fire button shoots forward at ground obstacles while simultaneously launching bullets upward at aerial enemies. Timing jumps and shots while managing speed is the core challenge.

Moon Patrol has appeared in several Irem retro collections over the years and is available on various digital storefronts as part of arcade anthologies. It has also been re-released on platforms like the PlayStation Network under Irem's classic arcade lineup. Availability has fluctuated as licensing and distribution rights have shifted.