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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.
You'd think someone would have done this before, but the singer's long HIStory 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 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 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."See Also:
