game
icon
title Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu, unencrypted)
set name mooncrsu
manufacturer Nichibutsu USA
year 1980
genre Shooter (hof)
category Shooter / Gallery (hof)
driver status good
driver source galdrvr.c
snapshots MW: in game | parent / CT: in game | title | parent / Mr. Do: parent / EJ: parent / PS: in game | title | scores | parent
zoom
rating

58.2% after 16 votes
 
parent Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu)
other clones Eagle (set 1)
Eagle (set 2)
Eagle (set 3)
Fantazia (bootleg?)
Moon Cresta (bootleg set 1)
Moon Cresta (bootleg set 2)
Moon Cresta (bootleg set 3)
Moon Cresta (Galaxian hardware)
Moon Cresta (Gremlin)
Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu, old rev)
Moon War (Moon Cresta bootleg)
Space Dragon (Moon Cresta bootleg, set 1)
Space Dragon (Moon Cresta bootleg, set 2)
Space Thunderbird
Super Moon Cresta
display
colour emulation good
palette 32
display type raster
orientation vertical
resolution 224x768
frequency 60.606061Hz
sound
sound emulation good
channels mono
controls
players 2
nplayers 2P alt
controls 2 way joystick
buttons 1
coin slots 2
hardware
cpu Z80 @ 3.072MHz
audio Samples
data
version added .061
last change(s) none
roms
name size crc set flags sha1
smc1f  2048  389ca0d6  mooncrsu    51cf6d190a0ebf23b70c2bcf1ccaa4705e29cd09 
smc2f  2048  410ab430  mooncrsu    d89abff6ac4afbf69377a1d63043d629a634aab7 
smc3f  2048  a6b4144b  mooncrsu    2b27ad54d716286c0dc9476d47df182ae01bcfd7 
smc4f  2048  4cc046fe  mooncrsu    465eaacd50967d768babadd09ab9cad35380f6bf 
e5  2048  06d378a6  mooncrsu    99dbe9fc7f95f8fdce86eb5c32bd1ca1bea0ca3c 
bepr199  2048  6e84a927  mooncrsu    82e8e825d157c3c947a3a222bca059a735169c7d 
e7  2048  b45af1e8  mooncrsu    d7020774707234acdaef5c655f667d5ee9e54a13 
smc8f  2048  f42164c5  mooncrsu    e0d1680f193889568edf005786e2767d4fb086f4 
mcs_b  2048  fb0f1f81  mooncrst    38a6679a8b69bc1870a0e67e692131c42f9535c8 
mcs_d  2048  13932a15  mooncrst    b8885c555c6ad7021be55c6925a0a0872c1b6abd 
mcs_a  2048  631ebb5a  mooncrst    5bc9493afa76c55858b8c8849524cbc77dc838fc 
mcs_c  2048  24cfd145  mooncrst    08c6599db170dd6ee364c44f70a0f5c0f881b6ef 
mmi6331.6l  32  6a0c7d87  mooncrst    140335d85c67c75b65689d4e76d29863c209cf32 
cabinet art
additional information
info 0.09 [?]

0.05 [Nicola Salmoria, Robert Anschuetz]

NOTE:
  • Clone smooncrs: This set (unlike the other eight clones) does not make use of the keys for player 2. Not a bug, the game ALWAYS checks the inputs from player 1 (even in "cocktail" mode) due to game Z80 code at 0x2b1c and 0x3306. stephh (ID 01299)
Bugs:
  • Clones mooncrgx, mooncrsb, mooncrs2: The demo sequence is way out in left. Fujix (ID 00447)
  • Clones mooncmw, spcdraga, mooncrgx: Corrupt graphics on 3rd and 4th stages. Robbbert (ID 02072)
  • Clone mooncrgx: Sprite cutoff in cocktail mode incorrect. Robbbert (ID 02074)
  • Side-byside test. Gary Walton (01666)
  • Clone smooncrs: In cocktail mode you cant see player 2's shots and enemies bullets go in other direction then your ship but they seem to hit you anyway. Gmitra (ID 00451)
  • Clone smooncrs: From when you start the emulation to when you lose your 1st life, a strange insectoid rumbling noise is heard, does not occur in any of the other clones. Fever (ID 00449)
WIP:
  • 0.127u2: MikeDX fixed duplicated Cabinet dipsetting in clone Moon Cresta (Galaxian hardware).
  • 0.125u7: Couriersud fixed corrupted enemies in 3rd + 4th Wave.
  • 0.118u6: David Haywood added clone Moon War (Moon Cresta bootleg).
  • 0.118u1: Fixed dipswitches in clone Moon Cresta (bootleg set 3), Super Moon Cresta and Space Dragon.
  • 0.117u1: David Haywood added clones Space Dragon (Moon Cresta bootleg, set 1) and (Moon Cresta bootleg, set 2). The boards were marked 'Space Dragon' although this doesn't appear in the games.
  • 0.105u3: Brian Troha added clone Moon Cresta (bootleg set 3). All Moon Cresta versions use now prom mmi6331.6l (same CRC as l06_prom.bin).
  • 0.87u2: Chaneman added clone Eagle (set 3).
  • 22nd January 2004: Pierpaolo Prazzoli added the color PROM to clone Fantazia.
  • 16th January 2004: Pierpaolo Prazzoli fixed the graphics in the later levels in clone Space Thunderbird.
  • 0.78u3: Added clone Space Thunderbird (Fortrek 1981?).
  • 11th January 2004: Pierpaolo Prazzoli added Space Thunderbird (an alternate version of Moon Cresta) to the Galaxian driver.
  • 0.61: MASH added clone Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu, unencrypted).
  • 0.59: Added clone Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu, old rev).
  • 3rd March 2002: Guru added an alternative version of Moon Cresta to the Galaxians driver.
  • 22nd January 2000: Zsolt Vasvari fixed the speed of Moon Cresta.
  • 24th November 1999: Tatsuyuki Satoh added more accurate noise sound to the Moon Cresta sound emulation.
  • 23rd November 1999: Juergen Buchmueller fixed some problems with the new Moon Cresta sound emulation.
  • 22nd November 1999: Juergen Buchmueller modified the way in which mooncrst sound is generated.
  • 0.35: Added clone Super Moon Cresta.
  • 0.35b12: Zsolt Vasvari added clone Moon Cresta (bootleg set 2).
  • 27th April 1999: Zsolt Vasvari added an earlier Moon Cresta romset to the driver.
  • 0.35b11: Marco Cassili added clone Eagle (set 2).
  • 9th April 1999: Marco Cassili added an Eagle clone, a Zaxxon clone and a Mr. Do! Run Run clone.
  • 0.34b8: Barry Rodewald fixed clone Moon Cresta (bootleg on Galaxian hardware).
  • 0.33b7: Nicola Salmoria added clone Moon Cresta (bootleg on Galaxian hardware). Moon Cresta uses the original gfx ROMs, fixing graphics glitches on the title screen.
  • 0.33b5: Nicola Salmoria attempt at making the main Galaxian / Moon Cresta sound channel more accurate.
  • 0.31: Al Kossow added clone Eagle (Centuri 1980).
  • 0.29: Valerio Verrando added clone Moon Cresta (Gremlin).
  • 0.28: Merged mooncrst, moonqsr and scramble vidhrdw into the new Galaxian driver.
  • 0.27: Exchanged the infamous two sprite banks in Moon Cresta.
  • 0.25: Robert Anschuetz provided infos about how to enable a shot sample with Moon Quasar, Moon Cresta, Galaxian and clones. Found the meaning of SW1 in Moon Cresta (Thanks to Mikiya Yadohisa).
  • 0.19: Changed noise_length and noise_rate values in Moon Cresta audio driver, so now noise is much more noisier!
  • 0.18: Nicola added some lousy noise to Moon Cresta.
  • 0.16: Added clone Fantazia (bootleg). The highscore should show Gremlin logo. But probably available rom images are corrupted. Not playable yet!
  • 0.15: Hiscore save in Moon Cresta.
  • 0.12: Gary Walton confirms that the colors in Moon Cresta and Moon Quasar are 100% accurate. Very good!
  • 0.09: Added Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu). These ROMs are encrypted, and slightly different from the other version. This is very likely the version Chuck Cochems remembers (with aliens teleporting right in front of your ship). Nicola renamed the other version (which looks like a mix of the code from a bootleg version and the graphics from the Gremlin original version) "mooncrsb".
  • 0.06: Nicola Salmoria added star background in Galaxians & co. The way Nicola calculate it is probably not correct, anyway it looks reasonable.
  • 0.05: Nicola Salmoria added Moon Cresta (bootleg 1980) (wrong colors, limited sound). Only one sound channel is emulated and the game has no star background. Infos from Robert Anschuetz (Arcade emulator). Some info on Moon Cresta taken from Arcade Emulator by Robert Anschuetz.
LEVELS: 10 (endless)

Other Emulators:
  • GalEMU
  • HiVE
  • Retrocade
  • Sparcade
  • Tickle
  • VAntAGE
Recommended Games (Galaxian):

Cosmic Alien

Cosmo

Galaxian

Destroyer

Mad Alien

Moon Cresta

Moon Quasar

Phoenix

Space Firebird

UniWar S

4 Fun in 1 (Galaxian)

Defend the Terra Attack on the Red UFO

Galaga

Galaga - Namco Classics Collection Vol.1

Galaga '88

Ghostmuncher Galaxian (bootleg)

Gaplus

Pisces

Cosmo Gang the Video

Space Bomber

Romset: 25 kb / 13 files / 16.2 zip
history Moon Cresta [Upright model] (c) 1980 Nichibutsu.


MOON CRESTA is a 1 or 2-player game in which players may compete for highest score against the game computer. Each time a player is hit by an alien, the game switches to his opponent's sequence.


The object is to destroy as many of the descending aliens as possible. To accomplish this the player is given a three stage multi-fire Warship. He begins with the first stage, firing a single laser at the enemy. If he is successful in eliminating the first 4 sets of aliens, he is given an opportunity to dock his first stage onto the second within a specific time limit (the sooner he unites the stages, the higher is his awarded score).


Once docked, the stages combine their firing power, so the first (1 laser) adds to the second (2 lasers) giving the player a total of 3 usable lasers as the game continues.


The player then must face 2 more sets of aliens and a shower of meteors, after which he has a chance to dock again, this time uniting with the third stage for a combined fire power of five lasers. If he is able to defeat the last two sets of aliens intact, the entire sequence begins again. The game continues with increasing difficulty until the entire warship is destroyed. When the warship is hit the player continues with whatever stages remain. If his score reaches 30,000 he is awarded a free game and his score continues to accumulate.


- TECHNICAL -


Main CPU : Z80 (@ 3.072 Mhz)

Sound Chips : Tone generator & discrete circuits


Screen orientation : Vertical

Video resolution : 224 x 256 pixels

Screen refresh : 60.61 Hz

Palette colors : 98


Players : 2

Control : 2-way joystick (RIGHT and LEFT)

Buttons : 1 (FIRE/THRUST)


- TRIVIA -


Released in July 1980.


Also released as "Moon Cresta [Cocktail Table model]".


Licensed to Gremlin (September 1980) as "Moon Cresta (Gremlin)".


This game is known in US as "Eagle" (Licensed to Centuri for manufacture 10/1980).


Bill Awalin holds the official record for this game with 152,100 points.


2 bootlegs of this game are known as "Fantazia" and "Moon War".

A hacked version is known as "Super Moon Cresta".


- SCORING -


Scoring in this game is relatively simple. Each alien (except meteors and arrows) come in two different colors for each screen.

Eyes (Break in half) : 50 points

Eyes (Destroy other half) : 100 points

Flies : 30 points

Birds : 60 points

Fireballs : 200 points

Arrow Ships : 100 points


Docking is a big way to increase your score. You get the time remaining from 30 seconds multiplied by 100 for your docking bonus.


- TIPS AND TRICKS -


* When you start the game, all three stages of your ship will come from the bottom of the screen. After going halfway up, the ship on top separates from the other 2 and it settles onto the bottom of the screen ready for battle.


* Remember, you can only keep one set of shots in the 'air' at one time. This means you need to plan your shots out so you don't end up with a lot of misses when the aliens decided to come after your ship.


* In the later screens, the aliens start moving much quicker and you have to be on your toes to keep up with them and avoid being taken out.


* Although the aliens do not fire, they still can cause a lot of hate and discontent by their wild maneuvering. There is no real safe place on the screen from the aliens since they go into the lower corners of the screen, reappear from the bottom after they have apparently 'left' the screen, or just appear right above your ship.


* In the earlier waves, you have to split apart 2 eyes before the rest automatically split and come after your ship. In the later screens, the eyes automatically split upon entering the screen. That means eight instead of four aliens you have to deal with.


* If you manage to dock all three ships together, you will have a lot of firepower (5 shots at once) to send out. Here are some ways, unfortunately, you can lose ships and what ships are lost :

1) Besides the aliens, docking is the second way people lose a lot of ships. The only ship destroyed is the ship attempting to dock.

2) If an alien hits any part of your ships (if all stages are joined), only the stage hit is lost. This can create an amusing circumstance if you lose stage II and you only have stages I and III to fight with.


* Don't worry if you lose Stage I early in the game. One has to be very skilled to fight four screens with Stage I. Stage II is the best stage to fight with. It is a small target plus it has enough firepower to defend itself. Stage III on the other hand, is just a lumbering junkyard. The lasers are too spread out to do much good plus there is a very wide-open area in the middle for aliens to hit.


* The bird stages present the most challenge of the aliens. They appear and disappear at will. Sometimes they will appear right next to your ship so on these stages, be extra alert. If you see one disappear and don't hear the familiar bird chirp of it reappearing, assume it is on the screen somewhere still.


* The best place to 'hide' during the fireball stage is in the lower right corner. The fireballs will not hit your ship in this corner. You can do hit and runs by moving your ship out, shooting at a fireball, then going back to the corner again.


* During the arrow screen, the aliens will hover around the top, then turn into arrows and attempt to ram your ship. In the later screens, they won't even hover but just try to ram your ship.


* Your goal is to make it to 30,000 points so you can have a fresh ship waiting in case you lose all the stages of your present ship.


* Docking isn't that hard to do. After finishing off a wave just before the docking stage, try to center your ship on the screen. That way, all you have to do is move that ship left or right to successfully dock. You want to avoid using the thrusters unless your ship is in extreme peril. The docking bonus can be the most amount of points you score in the game. If you happen to miss a dock, then you will continue the next set of screens with the ship that failed to dock.


- SERIES -
  1. Moon Cresta [Upright model] (1980)
  2. Moon Cresta [Cocktail Table model] (1980)
  3. Terra Cresta (1985)
  4. Dangar - Ufo Robo (1986)
  5. Terra Force (1987)
  6. Terra Cresta II (1992, NEC PC Engine)
  7. - STAFF -
    • Designed & programmed by : Shigeki Fujiwara
    • - PORTS -
    • * Consoles :
    • Nintendo Super Famicom (1995, "Nichibutsu Arcade Classics")
    • Sony PlayStation 2 ("Oretachi Geasen Zoku Sono 5 - Moon Cresta")
    • * Computers :
    • Microtan 65 (1985)
    • Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1985 - Incentive Software) : written by Philip Taglione and Timothy Walter.
    • Commodore C64 (1985 - Incentive Software) : written by Anthony 'Tag' Taglione, Timothy Walter and Philip Taglione.
    • BBC B (1985, "Moon Cresta" - Incentive Software)
    • Amstrad CPC (1986 - Incentive Software) : written by Timothy Walter and Philip Taglione.
    • Sharp X68000 (Year unknown)
    • Commodore C64 (1992, "Classic Arcadia 3")
    • Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1992, "Classic Arcadia 3")
    • - SOURCES -
    • Game's rom.
    • Machine's picture.
    • F.A.Q. by Kevin Butler A.K.A. War Doc
    • Edit this entry at Arcade-History.com: http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=moon-cresta-upright-model&page=detail&id=1667&o=2
resource links view in MAWS
view in CAESAR
view high score and replay at MARP
view in Progetto EMMA (Italian)
view in arcade-history.com
view in arcade-history.com
cheats
cheats
code comments
20800000:2124:000000C9:FFFFFFFF  Invincibility
20810000:257C:000000C3:FFFFFFFF  Invincibility (2/2):1st = Object, 2nd = Docking
00100000:8230:00000999:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Docking Time
20800100:340B:00000008:FFFFFFFF  Select Bullet Speed
00000000:8234:00000000:FFFFFFFF  Rapid Fire
00000000:8140:00000001:FFFFFFFF  Always Have Full Size Ship:Best used with Invincibility, enable it as the full ship starts to move up the screen at the start of the game for the best effect
00010000:8143:000000C2:FFFFFFFF  Always Have Full Size Ship (2/6)
00010000:8145:00000001:FFFFFFFF  Always Have Full Size Ship (3/6)
00010000:8148:000000C8:FFFFFFFF  Always Have Full Size Ship (4/6)
00010000:814A:00000001:FFFFFFFF  Always Have Full Size Ship (5/6)
00010000:814D:000000D8:FFFFFFFF  Always Have Full Size Ship (6/6)
00000001:823C:00000000:FFFFFFFF  Finish Current Round Now!:Use this with an activation key for best effect
2004-2008 MAWS all copyrights belong to their respective owners