We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. It's been 50 years now since we first landed on the Moon, opening up a new era of exploration for humanity. If you love space like me, you probably know the Apollo 11 story by heart—and you'll hear it again and again as the media celebrates this important anniversary. But what you might not know is that in the fall of 1969—just a few months after Armstrong and Aldrin set foot on that rocky sphere—a Massachusetts high school student created the ancestor of one of the most iconic video and computer games of all time: the first-known game simulation of the moon-landing experience. That means Lunar Lander, as a genre, is now 50 years old. If you've been around computers long enough, it's likely you've played a variation of Lunar Lander yourself. You must manage your fuel levels and thrust as you maneuver your craft in a realistic or semi-realistic physics environment to a safe and gentle landing on the Moon. Thrust too far or come in too fast, and you crash. Since that original 1969 version (which we'll learn more about ahead), hundreds of game developers have tried their hand at a physics-based spacecraft landing simulation. The clones have appeared on dozens of platforms with many variations in theme and setting. With so many similar games out there, Lunar Lander has become a gaming archetype as traditional as Tetris or Pong. Ten years ago, I wrote an in-depth history of Lunar Lander that uncovered the early history of the game and some of its descendants. This anniversary is as good a reason as any to dive into the fish barrel of history and scoop out a handful of interesting and influential Lunar Lander games to examine, tracing the evolution of the genre from 1969 up to the present. Let's take a look.

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