Controls[edit]
- Joystick: Use the 2-way joystick (some models use two additional buttons instead) to direct your lander left and right once it's out of the mothership.
- Deceleration Button: Use this button to slow the descent of your lander; it starts out with 800 in fuel, which will decrease each time you press it. On the asteroids transforming into saucers this button will be used to fire bullets up at the saucers and accelerate your ship (which will not use any fuel).
- 1 or 2 Player Buttons: Push these buttons to begin a 1 or 2 player game.
Characters[edit]
Lander[edit]
You control the lander, which starts out in the mothership at the top of the screen; after a press of the Deceleration Button (or a preset period of time), it will be ejected, and must descend around six rows of asteroids, in order to land on one of the six landing platforms on the Moon surface at the bottom of the screen. One of the six stranded astronauts waiting to be rescued will now run over to the lander and get into it - and all the asteroids shall then transform into flying saucers, which can fire bullets down at your lander, as it starts flying back up to the mother ship. However, the lander can also fire bullets at the saucers to destroy them, with a press of the Deceleration Button; once you fly back into the mothership, the rescued astronaut will appear in that top-right corner of the screen (however, if you are killed on the way back up, the rescued astronaut shall perish in the explosion). It is also advisable to watch out for shooting stars, that fly diagonally downwards across the screen - and once you have rescued all six astronauts (regardless of death toll) you will receive a 500-point bonus, along with the points for every rescued astronaut and your remaining fuel, then proceed to the next stage.
Asteroids[edit]
Six rows of asteroids will be flying across the screen, for the start of each rescue; the lander must descend around them in order to land on one of the six landing platforms, and once it does so (and one of the six stranded astronauts runs over to it and gets inside), they will transform into saucers.
Astronauts[edit]
Six stranded astronauts will be waiting at the bottom of the screen on each stage, as the text of "HELP" appears above them; once the lander has landed on one of the six landing platforms, one of them shall run over to it and get inside. All the asteroids shall then transform into flying saucers.
Saucers[edit]
Once your lander has landed on one of the six landing platforms (and one of the astronauts has run over to it and got inside), all the asteroids will transform into saucers, which can fire bullets down at it; however, the lander can also fire its own bullets at the saucers to destroy them for 30-50 points. There will either be three or six rows of them - depending on whether there will be shooting stars (see the section below) appearing or not.
Shooting stars[edit]
When all the asteroids transform into saucers, shooting stars may occasionally appear to fly diagonally downwards across the screen if there are only three rows of them; getting hit by one of them is just as lethal as landing on an asteroid, not landing on a landing platform, getting hit by a saucer's bullet, flying into an actual saucer, and flying into the side of the mothership. They cannot be destroyed by your lander's bullets.