When I was a kid the most popular musical artist on the entire planet was Michael Jackson.  For the most part I didn’t listen to his music since I just wasn’t into dance R&B.  But there was one thing that I loved him for.  When I was eight years old I went over to a friends house because he had a Sega Genesis and I only had my eight bit NES.  When he said he wanted to show the Michael Jackson game I thought he had lost his mind.  First of all, he knew I wasn’t a Michael Jackson fan.  Not only that but he wasn’t one either.  Apparently his mom got it for him because she thought that it would help him learn to dance or sing…or whatever, I don’t know.  But I know she thought it would be family friendly.  Anyway when he turned it on and the screen read, “Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker” and the music started playing I immediately became intrigued.  It looked like some kind of futuristic robot war with fantastic music was about to go down.  Or at least that’s what I imagined from seeing the font as a little kid.

The first level you spin through a door as Michael and toss a quarter into a jukebox from ten feet away and the music starts.  That may have been the single greatest entrance in the history of gaming up to that point.  It was also immediately the best music I had heard in a game.  It’s still the best music in any game to this day.  Smooth Criminal just translates to midi Genesis recordings so well. 

The gameplay up until the last level is a fairly standard beat em up where you have to rescue kidnapped children from the evil Mr. Big, but you do have a few special attacks.  You can slide down banisters taking out several enemies at once.  You can perform a spin move where if you spin long enough you can use your fedora as a boomerang and take out anyone that it hits.  My favorite and one of the most enjoyable moments you can hope to have comes when you get all the enemies around you to dance with you.  Depending on the level it will play a different Michael Jackson song.  When the dance is over all the enemies drop to the floor and you can move on.  It’s really fun to do but it does take away some of your health.

The game also incorporates other aspects of Michael’s moves and friends.  When you perform the standard attack, a kick, it looks like the dance move that he performed during his career.  It also shoots something out of his foot.  I can’t tell if its stars or ninja stars but it doesn’t matter.  When he does this or practically any other move he shouts, “WOO”.  The last level you get to play as the robot from the movie.  It’s a first person section where you’re shooting at Mr. Big.  It’s ridiculous in concept but great in execution.  Just like the rest of the game.

I can’t believe that a game based on a movie that had Michael Jackson as a robot fighting Joe Pesci is as fun as it is.  The movie is great in its own way to.  Eventhough I was never a big fan of his music, I, along with millions of others, managed to entertained.  Not in the way most were but, I still have fond memories and they’re in part due to Michael Jackson.





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