Long before I played the original Moon Patrol, I played a clone which came out early in the life of the C64 called Moon Buggy. It played quite well actually, and for a 1983 C64 game it doesn't actually look too bad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiY4XvklFC0

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EDIT: Fixed as embedding didn't work from this ^

If we're talking clones....

Jeep Command on C64:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dTsNj-TiI0

Fantastic music too boot......

Oh yeah, that was a top little game!

Interestingly this game was originally due to be a release game for the Atari 7800 and was reportedly finished. Nobody really knows why it wasn't released, I read somewhere that Atari apparently didn't know how to market it. But I would say that is very doubtful given that the Tramiels didn't market anything! I would say that it's more likely that the license ran out and Atari didn't want to renew it. Shame because it probably would have been the definitive version.

Sadly I shudder to think what the great music would have been like on the 7800 sans POKEY..

Exactly the same as the 2600 version!

Long before I played the original Moon Patrol, I played a clone which came out early in the life of the C64 called Moon Buggy. It played quite well actually, and for a 1983 C64 game it doesn't actually look too bad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiY4XvklFC0

As sue-happy as Atari was back then, how did Commodore not see any legal action on this one?

Moon Patrol was by Williams 

Phoenix was by someone else as well, b ut it didn't stop Atari from suing Imagic over Demon Attack.

As sue-happy as Atari was back then, how did Commodore not see any legal action on this one?

Furthermore, Commodore did not publish Moon Buggy.

Ok, let me rephrase my post a few back:

Atari was known to be sue happy at the time.

They sued Imagic over the similarity between Demon Attack and Phoenix, even though Phoenix was licensed from Amstar/Centuri.

Moon Buggy for C64 was apparently published by a company called Anirog Software.

What stopped Atari from going after Anirog when they went after Imagic over similarities between a licensed game on the VCS console and a Imagic release?

Ok, let me rephrase my post a few back:

Atari was known to be sue happy at the time.

They sued Imagic over the similarity between Demon Attack and Phoenix, even though Phoenix was licensed from Amstar/Centuri.

Moon Buggy for C64 was apparently published by a company called Anirog Software.

What stopped Atari from going after Anirog when they went after Imagic over similarities between a licensed game on the VCS console and a Imagic release?

Because like with Pac-Man, Atari bought the complete rights for the game on all home formats rather than just licensing it for a specific platform.

I always wondered that about Space Invaders. It was Space Invaders on Atari consoles but always named something different on other consoles.

I always wondered that about Space Invaders. It was Space Invaders on Atari consoles but always named something different on other consoles.

Because the other versions were not official

Any idea why Atari or Taito never took legal action?

Any idea why Atari or Taito never took legal action?

Most of the clones were made by small companies so maybe they thought it wasn't worth the trouble. Going to court is expensive and they wouldn't get much out of a tiny software house.