Raid Over Moscow: Classic C64 Video Game Walkthrough

Reading Time: 10 minutes

Let’s go back in time for a moment. Back to the early 1980s when the Commodore 64 (C64) was the most popular personal computer on the market. At the time, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a bitter Cold War. The video game, Raid Over Moscow, played right off global fears of nuclear war and became one of the best Cold War video games ever made (don’t forget Rush’n Attack too).

RAID OVER MOSCOW is a classic video game which requires different skills and provides new sequences as you progress through the game. As squadron commander of the U.S. Defense Space Station, you will lead your commandos in an attempt to stop a Soviet nuclear attack. If your force is successful in knocking out the Soviet nuclear launch sites, then you must lead the final assault on the Soviet Defense Center in Moscow.

How To Play Raid Over Moscow Online

The easiest way to play the Raid Over Moscow C64 game is to use the embedded game player on this page (see below). It may not work on all mobile devices, so if you don’t see the game embedded below, then come back to this page on a desktop computer.

Another option You can still play this game and other old games thanks to Commodore 64 Emulators. You just need the emulator application and the game ROM file. We have a Commodore 64 gaming tutorial on our site if you are interested. 

Raid Over Moscow is no longer sold in stores or online. The game company is probably more honored that this game still is played than annoyed that they aren’t making money from it anymore.

To play this game you need to do a little searching on the internet. Try Googling “c64 emulation“.

Raid Over Moscow Walkthrough

The plot of Raid Over Moscow is pretty simple. The Russians are about to launch a nuclear attack on the United States. Your mission is to stop the attack by destroying all of the Soviet nuclear launch sites and then lead a final assault on the Soviet Defense Center. Easy. Right?

Here’s a YouTube video of the walkthrough below. Keep reading for more details.

SAC HEADQUARTERS

The opening sequence is a world overview from Strategic Air Command Headquarters (SAC).

The first screen you see in the game is this overview of Earth. Soaring above our home planet in space is the US Space Station with a Space Shuttle Stealth fighter aircraft. The map shows American cities (which are possible targets for Soviet attacks) and Soviet launch sites.

Bad news! The Soviets just launched a cluster of missiles at Atlanta. Bye bye CNN, Atlanta Braves, etc. The missiles look like a small cluster of white dots heading toward the United States.

Floating above the Earth is the U.S. Space Station equipped with a small fleet of stealth fighters.

To stop the attack you need to get inside a stealth fighter and attack the Minsk site, from which the attack was launched.

After the launch has been detected, you can enter the space station by pressing SPACE

EXITING THE HANGER

Once inside the space station, fighter pilots will begin to scramble to their aircraft. Each Pilot must take his plane out of the station. And that can actually be a bit tricky in zero-g.

Because the aircraft is in a semi-weightless condition, control is handled by three thrusters and the main engine. The trick is to press lightly on the thrusters.

• PUSHING LEFT OR RIGHT on the joystick will rotate the aircraft to the left or right, thus controlling the direction that you are facing.
  PUSHING FORWARD on the stick will fire the main engine causing the aircraft to accelerate in the direction it is facing.
  PULLING BACK on the stick has NO EFFECT since there are no brakes. Once moving in a certain direction, the only way to slow your speed is to rotate (by pushing left or right) until you are flying backwards, and then fire the main engine (push forward on the stick).
• OPENING THE HANGER DOORS is accomplished by pressing F7 once your aircraft is off the hanger deck. The door will only stay open for a short period of time!

One of the most searched phrases for this game is “Raid Over Moscow open hangar door”. Just press F7 to open the hanger door. I guess a lot of people found this part confusing. Press F7 and fly out quickly before the door closes on your ship and destroys it.

Once outside the space station, the screen will switch to the overview: Your aircraft will be identified by a flashing white dot near the space station.

GROUND ATTACK: CONTROLS

After your plane leaves the hanger, it will make its decent into Soviet airspace. You will need to make separate attack runs against three Soviet launch sites Saratov, Leningrad and Minsk.

The controls for the ground attack scenes are similar to the controls for a real jet aircraft.

• Push left to bank left, right to bank right.
• Push forward to dive and pull back to climb. (Some people find it helpful when playing this scene, to face the right as if they were actually sitting in the aircraft.) On level 1, you are prevented from crashing into the ground, but not on level’s 2 or 3, also you can crash into the objects on the screen.

GROUND ATTACK RUN

In order to reach the launch sites, you must first make a run through enemy territory to reach the missile silos. To avoid Soviet radar, your craft will have to fly at a low altitude. Unfortunately this also allows Soviet ground defense a chance to shoot you down. Various defense weapons will appear as you approach the launch sites. Each of these are worth points if you destroy them.

Shoot any ground targets you can spot, and generally try to stay alive to reach the launch site.

Beware of Soviet heat seeking missiles, which will come up from behind you. When you see them coming from behind, fly as low as you can to the ground. Once they have flown past you, shoot the missile down for additional points.

After the run through enemy territory is completed, prepare to destroy the launch silos.

ATTACKING THE THE MISSILE SILOS

After you make it past the ground attack, your next mission is to destroy the nuclear missile silos.

Control of your aircraft is the same as the attack run:

• Move joystick left to move left.
• Move joystick right to move right.
• Push forward to dive.
• Pull back to climb.

Each silo has a small window which you must fire a rocket through in order to destroy it. When you are properly lined up at the target, your aircraft will turn BLUE.

As you attempt to line up on a target, the silo defense system will fire at you. You can avoid the enemy rockets by moving left or right or by moving up or down. The elevation of the enemy rocket is set at the same elevation as your aircraft at the time of firing.

Defending the silos are Soviet fighter jets. They will enter from the side and try to shoot you down.

Use your time and aircraft wisely. The center silo is the control silo and you only need to destroy the center silo to disable the launch site. Once the center silo is disabled, your mission is complete and your ship will return to the space base.

If you are short on either time and aircraft, then destroy the center silo first. The smaller silos are worth extra points and aircraft. But if you are out of time, you will lose the game anyways. Try to destroy as many silos as possible without losing too many American aircraft and move on.

REPEAT ATTACK RUNS FOR SARATOV, LENINGRAD & MINIK

You will need to disable all three Soviet launch sites, Saratov, Leningrad and Minsk. The sequence is the same for each site: Exit the hanger, ground attack run, and destroy missile silos.

Be sure to check the control panel to see how much time before the missiles hit the U.S.. You only have 10 minutes to disable the three launch sites and the Soviet Defense Center in Moscow. If possible, try to destroy the launch sites in the first 5 or 6 minutes of the game. That will give you the remaining time to focus on the final battle.

THE SOVIET DEFENSE CENTER: MOSCOW CITY BATTLE

You can’t attack the Soviet Defense Center in Moscow until you have destroyed each of the three perimeter launch sites at Leningrad, Minsk, and Saratov.

After the last perimeter site is destroyed, you will make a final attack run into the city of Moscow. Your mission is to blow up the Defense Center.

When you reach Moscow, the next screen will show a U.S. Commando in trench behind a stone wall in front of the Soviet Defense Center.

To control movement form side to side move the joystick left and right. Moving the joystick forward and back controls the elevation of your shoulder rocket launcher. Once a target is lined up, use the button to fire.

TARGETS

• Soldiers: Soldiers are located on the walls on both sides of the Defense Center. These soldiers will fire at you, so it is imperative not to stay in the same position for very long in the trench.
• Towers: Secondary targets include all of the towers on the buildings. These can be destroyed to increase your score.
• Doors: Other targets are the doors located directly ahead of you. One of these doors is an entrance into the reactor room (the next scene). All of the doors turn RED when hit, except for the reactor door. This door turns WHITE with a white square in the center. The door is randomly selected and will be different each time.
• Tanks: Enemy tanks will come out of side doors and try to stop you. If you stay in one position too long, you’re likely to get blasted by a tank.

Once all the soldiers are eliminated, the tanks destroyed, and the doors blow open, you will progress to the next scene. Remember, however, that all the towers on the building can be destroyed for extra points.

Once a soldier is shot off the wall, he will be replaced after a certain amount of time. Keep this in mind when you are playing because you will not be able to progress to the next scene until the white door is exposed and there are no men or tanks in the scene.

THE REACTOR ROOM

The next scene is the nuclear reactor chamber. Inside the reactor room is a maintenance robot. It travels from side to side to keep the reactor temperature stable. If the cooling process is interrupted, the reactor will overheat and become unstable and the system will gradually reach critical mass and explode.

Your objective is to distract the maintenance robot causing the reactor to overheat. But be warned, the robot has defense capabilities and will be able to sense your presence inside the facility. It will begin automatically firing at you.

• The Robot’s Weakness: The robot’s armor is invulnerable to a frontal attack. But it does have an Achilles heel. If the robot is hit from behind, the control circuits can be damaged and it can eventually be destroyed.
• Disc Weapon: Because the robot maintenance area cannot be penetrated; your weapon is a small disc grenade. To hit the robot from behind, your disc must be bounced off the rear wall of the facility. Each time you hit the robot, it moves faster and becomes more aggressive.
• Laser Guidance System: To help you get the proper angle with your discs, you also have a laser beam guidance system. This appears as a small black dot on the back wall. To adjust the guidance system, push forward on the joystick to move it right and pull back to move the target left. To move your commando push the joystick left or right. When your commando and target are properly lined up, press fire to release the disc. Each time you hit a robot, your commando will raise his hands to celebrate.
• Catching Discs: You have only a certain number of discs, but you can retrieve your discs by catching them before they pass you. To catch a disc, you must move your man directly in front of the disc as it comes towards you.
• Replenishing Ammo: Each time a disc hits the robot, that disc is lost. But you are awarded an extra disc when a robot is destroyed. Each robot will require four hits from behind it to destroy it.
• Number Of Commandos: The number of men you have on this level will depend on how successful you have been throughout the game. Once you are out of men, the game is over.
• Running Out of Discs: If you run out of discs, and you still have men left, you will have to go back outside to the previous scene (Defense Center) and battle you way back inside in order to have more discs. In some cases, you may want to sacrifice a man in order to save a disc. If the disc is still on the screen when a man is lost, the disc will be saved.
• Number Of Robots: More than one robot will need to be destroyed to accomplish your mission. The number of robots which must be destroyed depends on the difficulty level you selected at the beginning of the game: Level 1 (Beginner): 2 Robots; Level 2 (Advanced): 4 Robots; Level 3 (Suicidal): 5 Robots

• The Final Robot: The final robot offers up a big problem. This last robot is so aggravated by your presence that he neglects the reactor, which is already unstable. This will cause the reactor to go critical.
• Escaping The Reactor Explosion: On the right edge of the screen is a time that will show the amount of time to ETCM (Estimated Time To Critical Mass). At critical mass the reactor will explode taking the Defense Center with it. Whether you escape alive or not will be determined at this point. If you destroy the final robot with enough time left to make it to your plane, you will survive. If not, they notify your family.

THE FINAL CHAPTER

The next screen will let you know if your mission was successful. If you escape the reactor explosion, you will be awarded considerable bonus points.

The final Raid Over Moscow will also tell you how many pilots retuned safely. 9 in the maximum.

ADDITIONAL CONTROLS

• Pause: To stop all action and “Freeze” the game, simply press C=. To continue press the same key again.
• Abort: To cancel the game press the TAB key.
• Automatic Demo: If left unattended for approximately one minute, the game will go into demo mode. Under demo mode, the computer will briefly display all of the major action screens. You can manually initiate the demo sequence from the title screen by pressing the “D” key on your keyboard.
• NOTE: The DIGI-CHECK for Raid Over Moscow is $D7b8

Do You Remember Raid Over Moscow?

Did you grow up during the 1980s? Do you have fond memories of playing this game? What did you think about the Raid Over Moscow Commodore 64 graphics? Let us know in the comments.