Everyone remembers how popular Michael Jackson was back in the 80’s within the music industries. Michael Jackson is considered by many people to be one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century if not all-time since he was known as the “King of Pop”. While Michael Jackson was arguably at the peak of his musical career during the 80’s he also managed to have his own musical film known as Moonwalker which came out back in 1988. Following the success of the Moonwalker film Sega had released an arcade game back in 1990 known as Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker which was both developed and published by Sega. The original arcade version of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker was released for the Sega System 18 and was a beat em up game which also featured run and gun gameplay also. The graphics for Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker looked amazing for its time and the gameplay looked unique especially since it was presented from an isometric perspective. The arcade version of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker allowed multiplayer gameplay with up to three different players where they could control the King of Pop wearing different colored suits. Players controlled Jackson and fought off numerous enemies in various different levels. During each level players could utilize Michael’s special attack which involved him using “Dance Magic” where he could force his enemies to engage in dance routines in unison.

The dance routines featured in the Moonwalker game were the same ones used for songs like Billie Jean, Beat It and Smooth Criminal. While the arcade version of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker ended up being a hit in arcade centers back in the early 90’s the world eventually got to see a 16-bit version of the game also. Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker was eventually ported for the Master System and was more of a platform game opposed to the original arcade version. The plot for the Genesis version of Moonwalker involved rescuing kidnapped children throughout various levels with the main antagonist being Mr. Big. The Genesis version of Moonwalker was arguably more difficult than the arcade version of the game. While the 16-bit version of the Moonwalker game featured some of Michael’s iconic songs including “Smooth Criminal” , “Billie Jean”, “Beat It” and “Another Part of Me” his legendary “Thriller” song was omitted for some reason. The Genesis version of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker was a game that rarely gets the type of credit that it deserves mainly because it was overlooked during the early 90’s. Also, there were hardly any beat em up or platform games that placed heavy emphasis on music and dancing in order to combat enemies like Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker. Its hard to believe that Michael Jackson’s has been around for over three decades and remains a cult classic to many gamers around the world to this day.