the cutting room mirror

Jupiter Lander (Commodore VIC-20)

Jupiter Lander, also released as Super Lander, is an unabashed clone of Atari's Lunar Lander. Yours sincerely, Lander.

Regional Differences#

It's not entirely clear how the various releases of this game are connected, but it seems that Super Lander was for the Japanese market while Jupiter Lander was the western release. Several adjustments were made between versions:

Super Lander

Jupiter Lander

On the title screen, Jupiter Lander removes the title from the screen.

Jupiter Lander changes the planet's surface from red to green.

In addition, Jupiter Lander removes the dev credit (see below), which leaves some code and the text for the dev credit itself unused.

Hidden Developer Credit#

Download Jupiter Lander Dev Credit Restoration Patch

File: JupiterLander-VIC20-SuzukiFix.zip (197 B) (info)

Both versions of the game include a dev credit for HAL's Hitoshi Suzuki, but it's been dummied out in the Jupiter Lander release. Changing a single instruction easily restores it to this version, however. The credit can be triggered by pressing the Commodore key, LeftShift and RightShift simultaneously, but unlike similar credits in Radar Rat Race and Star Battle, the effect is not instantaneous.

Super Lander

Jupiter Lander

Once the game has started, the Commodore logo is replaced by text crediting "HAL".

After the game ends and returns to the title screen, Hitoshi Suzuki's credit appears on-screen.

(Source: Original TCRF research)