What is it?
- A Windows 3.1 version of the popular
simulation, 1990.
- What computer or emulator will it run on?
- Any pre-Pentium computer with Windows 3.x.
- Similar Games
- Graditor.
What is it?
Around 1996 I had a borrowed computer for about a year, a 386 or maybe 286 (it was way too slow for Word 6.0) with Windows 3.1. I used it mainly for writing, which I did in the DOS editor. When I started Windows, it was only to play games. It had a few more than the standard games installed, Tetris of course, Chip's Challenge, but the game that fascinated me most was Lander.
If you google for Lunar Lander
, you will be overwhelmed
by the results. It is a very popular simulation that goes back to
the program that was actually used to train the astronauts. Since
then it was implemented over and over again, 1973 on (what else?)
DEC computers, after the GT40 Graphics Display Terminal had been
introduced, 1979 as an arcade by Atari, soon afterwards as Jupiter
Lander on the VIC 20, and again and again since then. And why not?
The mechanics are easy, and the game, if well done, is a unique
challenge to play.
Basically, you have to land your module safely on the moon. To do this, you must land on a flat space, and your velocity must be under a certain threshold. You have a limited amount of fuel. Everything in the game follows exact physics. Unlike other arcade games, what matters is not so much reaction speed but concentration. And it is, after all, a training program. After a while you have learned it, and then it becomes fairly easy.
This Windows implementation by George Moromisato, who is better known as the creator of the multiplayer strategy game Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021, has a few oddities:
