Moon Patrol 5-12-83 (136)

 

This is the earliest version of Moon Patrol that been found to date.  What's interesting about this version is that it seems to be fully playable and is only lacking sounds and some small additions to make it complete.  However GCC decided to tweak many of the gameplay elements for months trying to make it 'just right'.  Perhaps they really wanted to impress Atari with one of their first ports?

There are two interesting features in this version that were taken out of the final.  This first is the checkpoint system uses letters instead of just x's to denote the current area.  Second, a continue feature which was removed from the final for unknown reasons.  This can be disabled with the right difficulty switch.

 

Prototype Differences
There is no title screen
There is no demo
The game starts automatically
There are no game level options
There is no two player option
The option for three speeds has not been implemented yet.
Your rover is shaped different (sort of like a tank)
The ground is sightly taller.  This may be to accommodate the checkpoint letters.
The life counter symbol is shaped differently (like the tank shaped rover)
There are checkpoint letters instead of little "x" in the ground.
The death explosion is different (less detailed)
There is a continue feature
The right difficulty switch enables/disables the automatic continue feature.
The music is slightly different and much louder
There is a constant 'percussion beat'
The status display is different and shows the game stats in a different order
The status text  is green
The status display includes a checkpoint counter instead of a distance meter
There is no sound
All the flying enemies are orange
The three ball enemy's shots do not make holes
Sometimes rocks will appear to be blowing up for a split second as they come into view
The course is different.  Land mines appear very early in the game (starting in area D).
There is no bonus tally screen or pause, the game just continues
The screen jumps very slightly at times
After area Y the game resets.  There is no Z checkpoint
There is no Champion Course
A small chunk of the ground is missing on the right hand side of the screen.  This can sometimes turn red depending on what is on the screen.
The rover jerks back and forth when moving at normal speed (not pushing forward or backwards on the stick).
More enemies appear on the screen at once than in the final version
The rock explosions are different
A glitch can occur when jumping that causes to graphics for the rover to wrap around underneath.  This tends to happen at the start of the game but fixes itself after dying.

 

That's a different looking rover!

A checkpoint letter!

All the enemies are orange in this version

The rover explosion is a bit rough

Mines at checkpoint D?

That's a lot of enemies...

Continue?

The game resets after checkpoint Y

 

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