Welcome to WTF Wednesday, a weekly event for GameTap players and staff to get together and have fun in new and often strange ways!



This week, on WTF Wendesday, it's time once again for...






ROM Raiders is a monthly event during which we explore the uncharted caverns of the GameTap catalog, searching for hidden gems and hoping not to suffer a horrible cave-in related death. GameTap Digital Archaeologists CareyCondor and robotGorilla -- along with whoever else we can sucker in to helping -- dig deep into a different game every episode, with updates throughout the day and a live broadcast so you can follow along with our progress.


Our goal here is to expose you to some of the most underrated games here on our service, and we hope that you'll even play along with us.

For this episode of ROM Raiders we'll be commanding a rapidly expanding, and ever-more destructive base on the surface of the moon. Moonbase Commander is like a futuristic, top-down Worms. The camera is always pointed at the ground, but you still pick a trajectory and a power level for your shot, and you still try to completely annihilate the competition. Just remember to keep yourself protected, because of course your enemy will be shooting right back at you.

How To Participate

ROM Raiders will take place on the third Wednesday of every month, from 12PM to 8PM (maybe even 9PM if we're feeling frisky). If it's a long game or if we're all just loving it we may continue to play more on Thursday or Friday.


The way the event works is that you guys play along or just watch us play (on our Justin.tv channel) and give us feedback. Post in the forums or chat with us in the Justin.tv chat room and let us know what you think. Are we doing it right? Do you have a better solution? Don't be afraid to tell us how much you love us or hate us, how much you love the game or hate the game, how much you love cheeseburgers or hate people who talk on their cell phones like they're talking into a walkie-talkie...

Come check out ROM Raiders live at Justin.tv

...and make fun of us in the chat room!


(Of course, outside of the event hours of operation you can just make fun of a funny lookin' GameTap logo. But that's still fun, right?)

ROM Raiders new command center is almost ready and we will be starting shortly.

So the raiding of today's ROM is in full effect. Moonbase Commander is live on our Justin.tv channel. We're playing through some of the single player challenges right now and we'll try to do some multiplayer in a bit. We'll also be posting some info about the game and how it works in a while, too.

Moonbase Commander is definitely a greatly under-appreciated game and I recommend checking it out if you haven't played it.

Here is a little breakdown of all the bases and items at your disposal.

+[b]1 Point Items:[/b]+
[b]Bomb-[/b] Fires one projectile that hits for good damage. Will destroy anti-air in one shot.
[b]Cluster Bomb-[/b] Splits into 3 smaller bombs a little over halfway to the target. These bombs do less damage but are great for making anti-air fire their ammo.
[b]Repair-[/b] Repairs a structure if you hit it with this. Repairs about 1/4 of a bomb.
[b]Antiair-[/b] Will shoot down 1 object that comes into range. Takes 1 turn to recharge.
[b]Bridge-[/b] Covers a square area of water in order for you to be able to build across it.
[b]Tower-[/b] Provides visibility in a very large area.

+[b]3 Point Items:[/b]+
[b]Missile-[/b] Fires its rockets about halfway after launch and homes in on nearest target. Does about 2/3 the damage of a bomb.
[b]EMP-[/b] Sends out an electromagnetic pulse in a moderate area that disable all buildings in the blast. This is great counter for shields.
[b]Spike-[/b] Sends an attack in both directions down a chain. good way to attack buildings behind defenses.
[b]Reclaim-[/b] Destroys a unit or structure and gives you the points it cost on your next round.
[b]Balloon-[/b] Reveals a large area and does not connect to your hubs.
[b]Mine-[/b] splits into 3 mines when launched that will explode when anything contacts them.

+[b]7 Point Items:[/b]+
[b]Crawler-[/b] Can land on flat ground, even in water. Crawls in a straight line until it hits something (base, chain, shield) at which point it causes a massive explosion.
[b]Virus-[/b] Infects its target and other adjacent bases. Does gradual damage for a number of turns.
[b]Energy-[/b] Collector that can be placed on an energy pool. Provides 3 bonus energy points per round.
[b]Shield-[/b] Generates a shield in a moderate area that stops all incoming objects. EMP blast can go through to stop it. A crawler exploding on the perimeter of a shield will take the shield generator out.
[b]Offense-[/b] Specialized base dedicated to offense. Can only fire weapons, but has a much longer range than the hub.
[b]Hub-[/b] This base is literally the +hub+ of your forces. All other bases and units originate from your starting hub, which acts as your staging ground for all expansion and attack. More hubs can be launched from this central hub as you progress through the battle, but be careful not to let your main hub be destroyed. Everything that a hub has launched is destroyed when the hub goes up, and so every single base you've placed will be destroyed if you lose your main hub.

Yeah... hub.

This is probably one of the funnest of the budget titles I've played on GameTap so far. The Worms comparison is spot on (without the banana bombs, though).

Man, Banana Bombs in this game would be super cool. I guess the cluster bombs in this game are just like the cluster grenades of worms. Break apart before they hit and do less damage.

Glad you're a fan of MC, though. It's truly a great game. And, as we were discussing a minute ago on the live feed, it truly still stands up today, despite being 6 years old.