Moon Patrol
Moon Patrol is a 1982 horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Irem for arcades. It was released by Williams Electronics in North America. The player controls a lunar rover which continually drives forward across a scrolling landscape while jumping over or shooting obstacles such as holes and rocks. Shooting sends one bullet forward along the buggy's path and, simultaneously, another straight up for defense against aerial attack saucers. The goal is to reach the next checkpoint and eventually the end of the course.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 1982
- Developer
- Irem
- Platforms
- 1 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 1 January 1982 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Irem |
| Publisher | WMS Industries |
| Platforms | Arcade |
| Genres | vehicular combat game |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q1665781, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Moon Patrol? How long to beat it
Total play time for Moon Patrol is about 4.3 hours to do everything, and around 0.5 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 0.5h | 9 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 0.6h | 2 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 4.3h | 2 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Moon Patrol sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Moon Patrol lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 31ahead of 0% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 27ahead of 70% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Moon Patrol
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Common questions about Moon Patrol
What platforms is Moon Patrol on?
Moon Patrol is available on Arcade. It first released in 1982.
Who made Moon Patrol?
Moon Patrol was developed by Irem and published by WMS Industries.
How long does it take to beat Moon Patrol?
about 0.5 hours for the main story, 0.6 hours with the main extras, 4.3 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.