Gallery: Michael Jackson Moonwalks Through Gamer History
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Michael Jackson — or a reasonable facsimile thereof — has moonwalked, leaned and grabbed his crotch in many videogames over the years. Ubisoft's new Michael Jackson: The Experience, the first King of Pop-themed game in nearly two decades, gets players dancing along in Jackson's inimitable style to his greatest hits — "Thriller," "Bad," "Billie Jean." Released Tuesday, it's an appropriate tribute to an eccentric individual who was a noted [collector of arcade games](http://www.juliensauctions.com/auctions/2009/michael-jackson/icatalog4.html). You'd think someone would have done this before, but the singer's long [HIStory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIStory:_Past,_Present_and_Future,_Book_I) with gaming has taken him to all sorts of incongruous places, especially following his fall from grace after the 16-bit era. Even when Jackson *didn't* lend his official likeness to developers, his unique place in pop culture sometimes inspired them to give him an unmistakable cameo in their games. Here are some of the late entertainer's most interesting videogame appearances. __Above:__ Michael Jackson's Moonwalker ---------------------------- *U.S. Gold, PC, 1989* The 1988 release of the [Moonwalker film](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonwalker) was the impetus for Jackson's first run at videogame superstardom. A few notably different Moonwalker games were produced, the first being this release for various personal computer platforms including MS-DOS, Amiga and Commodore 64. Judging by the average quality of its software, British publisher [U.S. Gold](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Gold) probably should have been called U.S. Bronze or maybe U.S. Participant. This PC version of Moonwalker is a typical example — a butt-ugly, confusing mess with ridiculous gameplay and insane difficulty. Run through a top-down maze collecting things for some reason or another! Avoid Jackson's crazy fans! Are we having fun yet? This was not an auspicious beginning for MJ games. Fortunately, things got better in a hurry. The Moonwalker games were all scored with bloopy chiptune versions of Jackson's biggest hits. This one included "Bad," "Smooth Criminal," "Speed Demon" and "The Way You Make Me Feel."
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Michael Jackson's Moonwalker ----------------------------- *Sega, arcade, 1990* As the 1990s began, [Street Fighter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter) was still a year or two away from taking hold of the video arcades. Side-scrolling multiplayer beat'em-ups like [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_%28arcade_game%29) et al were all the rage, and this arcade version of Moonwalker let three players take simultaneous control of three differently colored versions of Michael Jackson, bopping through five levels using his magic powers to defeat mobsters and save captured children. In each level, [Bubbles the chimp](http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20287787_20288466,00.html) (remember him?) would scamper out at certain points, and the player who grabbed the monkey would turn into a robot that could shoot lasers and whatnot. Music included: "Smooth Criminal," "Bad," "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Another Part of Me."
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Michael Jackson's Moonwalker ---------------------------- *Sega, Genesis, 1990* Of the three variations on Moonwalker, Sega's home version is the one you're most likely to have played. One of the first titles released for the 16-bit Genesis console, it wowed gamers with its state-of-the-art digitized graphics, music and samples of Michael Jackson's voice. Rather than porting the three-player arcade game, Sega created a new game from scratch, a 2-D side-scroller for one player that turned Jackson's dance moves into sparkly attacks that could take down mafiosi and zombies. Saving children from closets was still paramount to your success in defeating Mr. Big (played by a digitized photo of Joe Pesci). The killer feature: Build up your power meter and you can make all enemies on screen dance with you in a big production number, then keel over and die. A downgraded version was [released for Sega's 8-bit Master System](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSO-7D96MFs). Music included: "Bad," "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "Smooth Criminal," "Another Part of Me" and "Thriller" (only in some early versions of the game).
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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 -------------------- *Sega, Genesis, 1994* Did an animal version of Michael Jackson show up somewhere in Sonic's third game? Not exactly. The King of Pop apparently had a good ongoing relationship with Sega throughout the early 1990s and, as the story goes, the game company landed a major coup when it signed Jackson to write some background tracks for [Sonic the Hedgehog 3](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_3). This was the stuff of conspiracy theory for a while, with fans pointing out too-eerie-to-be-coincidence similarities between the chord progressions of Sonic 3's credits and MJ's "Stranger in Moscow," among other songs. They also noted that some of these songs were pulled from later editions of the game. An [interview with former Sega employee Roger Hector](http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=392&title=Sega%20Legends:%20Michael%20Jackson%20&%20Sonic%203) in the magazine *GamesTM* seemed to confirm the collaboration, which apparently ended for all the reasons you'd think it would: > "Michael Jackson was a very big fan of Sonic, and he ... recorded an entire soundtrack that covered all of the worlds. It was fantastic.... The music fitted \[sic\] perfectly for the game, and they had a distinctive Michael Jackson sound. We had it all ready and integrated into the game when the first news stories came out accusing him of child molestation, and Sega had to back away from this collaboration." Some fans believe this, but many still think it's all a big conspiracy theory.
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Space Channel 5 --------------- *Sega, Dreamcast, 1999* Regardless of what did or did not happen with Sonic 3's soundtrack, Michael Jackson maintained his ties with Sega throughout the balance of the decade. When he saw a game in progress called [Space Channel 5](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Channel_5), he called the company and asked to star in it. Sega obliged. The early music game, in which players controlled a dancing television reporter, starred Jackson as "Space Michael," a version of the singer who lived in outer space and wore very strange clothes. (So basically there was no difference between Space Michael and the real thing.) Rescue Space Michael from the evil alien gang and he would join you for the rest of the level, showing off some of his famous moves. Unfortunately, none of the singer's music was used in the soundtrack. Space Michael was given a much more prominent role in the plot and marketing materials for the sequel, [Space Channel 5: Part 2](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Channel_5#Space_Channel_5:_Part_2) (above), which Sega is planning to [re-release for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gamelife/2010/10/space-channel-5/) next year.
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Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 ------------------------------ *Midway, various platforms, 2000* This over-the-top, cartoonish boxing game featured two celebrity cameos alongside its fictional pugilists: Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jackson. Jackson did motion-capture and voiceover work for his odd turn as a ridiculously buff boxer with a sparkling white right glove. Jackson got into this game the same way he did Space Channel 5 — he liked the first game so much that he called the developer and asked to be put into the sequel. This is not the sort of thing you say no to. In a blog post last year, one of the designers discussed [what it was like to work with Jackson](http://www.appygamesblog.com/2009/07/07/mj/): > "I remember walking up to him on the stage floor, closing my eyes and executing the world's slowest version of some of MJ's most famous dance moves throughout his career in one, 10-second dance performance. To my relief, he proceeded to replicate my moves, in the most amazing and beautiful 10 seconds I ever witnessed on a motion-capture stage. Imagine a videogame designer choreographing and directing the world's greatest dancer!"
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World of Warcraft ----------------- *Blizzard, PC, 2004* Michael Jackson may have taken a break, during the oughts, from calling up random videogame developers and asking to be in their games. But that didn't stop notable developers from injecting unmistakable references to the musician into high-profile games. In [World of Warcraft]( http://us.battle.net/en/int), if you use the Dance emote while playing as a male Night Elf, you get a series of Jackson's signature moves from his [career-making live performance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKYwMIR2Euc) of "Billie Jean." No, the song doesn't play, but it is a popular pastime of Night Elf players to sync up the song with their YouTube vids. (If you have a Blood Elf instead of a Night Elf, he'll bust out [Napoleon Dynamite's similarly life-changing dance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNIsORCZd0U&).)
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Plants vs. Zombies ------------------ *PopCap, PC, 2009* The sleeper hit [Plants vs. Zombies](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gamelife/2009/05/plants-vs-zombies/) pitted you and an army of defensively oriented flora against a lawn full of zombies intent on climbing in your windows and eating your brains. Among the many varieties of marauding undead was the Dancing Zombie, wearing Michael Jackson's Thriller outfit and doing a very familiar dance. "Any resemblance between Dancing Zombie and persons living or dead is purely coincidental," read the flavor text in the character's biography. Jackson's estate objected to the use of his likeness, and PopCap [pulled the familiar character from the game](http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2010/07/27/michael-jackson-estate-forces-plants-vs-zombies-update/), replacing it with a generic disco dancer. Thanks to Steam, the company was able to push updates out to players, eliminating any trace of not-Michael from as many copies of the game as possible. Aw.
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Michael Jackson: The Experience ------------------------------- *Ubisoft, Wii, 2010 (Move and Kinect versions will follow in 2011)* The Gloved One's appearances in videogames during the last decade might have been limited to unauthorized facsimiles, but that ends Tuesday with the release of Ubisoft's [Michael Jackson: The Experience](http://www.facebook.com/MichaelJacksonTheExperience) dancing game. After almost 20 years of bizarre maze chases, platformers and boxing matches, Jackson finally gets the type of videogame he deserves, one in which players can learn his moves, performing the authentic dances for his most popular tracks. Ubisoft also did something every other game publisher overlooked in the last two decades: Pre-order the game, and you [get a sequined white glove](http://mashable.com/2010/11/01/michael-jackson-video-game/) to wear while you play it. Music included: "Another Part of Me," "Bad," "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "Black or White," "Dirty Diana," "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Earth Song," "Ghosts," "The Girl Is Mine," "Heal the World," "In the Closet," "Leave Me Alone," "Money," "Remember the Time," "Rock With You," "Smooth Criminal," "Speed Demon," "Streetwalker," "Sunset Driver," "They Don't Care About Us," "Thriller," "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Who Is It," "Will You Be There" and "Workin' Day and Night."
