One of the most surprising (and surprisingly good) side scrollers ever made, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker was one of the best games of the 16 bit era of gaming. Very (very) loosely based on a movie of the same name, the game came out for the Genesis, Master System and had an arcade release.

The arcade version is completely different from the console releases. It is a beat'em up with an isometric view that supports up to four players. All the players control Michael Jackson, each one with a different colered suit.

The Genesis version of Moonwalker puts players in the amazing shoes of Michael Jackson, tasked to rescue a slew of blond-haired girls who had been kidnapped by "Mr. Big" and his army of (apparently) mobsters, dobermans, and zombies. To rescue the kids means taking on the bad guys and Michael takes on the bad guys using the awesome and terrible power of DANCE.
Hitting the attack button causes Michael to send out a fly kick, or throw up his arms in tradition Michael Jackson dance fashion. Each of these attacks would be sending out a burst of magic sparks (assumed to be the aforementioned awesome/terrible power of dance.) Enemies struck by the magic will violently ricochet of the screen before collapsing (almost like the way enemies would go flying in the NES classic Battletoads).

Michael could also use two special attacks to defeat enemies when overwhelmed. Lightly pressing the special attack button would cause Michael to throw out his hat, which would cause enemies to explode. However, holding the special attack button would cause all the enemies on screen to line up with Michael and dance to amazing MIDI versions of Michael Jackson's hits, such as "Smooth Criminal", "Billie Jean", "Thriller", and more. These dances, once completed, would cause all enemies onscreen to collapse.  It's easily one of the most satisfying special moves ever put in a video game.

Once Michael has located all the children in the Level, a monkey would fly on screen, sit on the player's shoulder, and point him to the level boss encounter.

On some levels, Michael Jackson can catch a magical star, transforming him into a robot.

In the game's option menu it is possible to listen to the MIDI versions of all of Michael's songs featured in the game.