The UNTOLD Full Story of Michael Jackson & SEGA’s ‘Moonwalker’ Video Game! – HT

 

 

 

Michael Jackson didn’t just dominate the world of pop music. He ascended to become the planet’s top-selling recording artist, but he also amassed an extraordinary fortune through a series of shrewd commercial enterprises that flourished during his peak. Ranging from landmark multi-million dollar endorsement contracts with Pepsi right in the thick of the fiercely competitive cola wars to shattering records for the highest-selling home video releases just as the home VCR system was becoming a household staple.

And even involved designing his own line of sneakers for LA Gear capitalizing on the massive fitness craze that defined the 1980s. Given his incredible business acumen, it was hardly a shock when Michael Jackson decided to leap into the exploding video game trade participating in one of the industry’s very first direct celebrity endorsements.

 This groundbreaking venture was a partnership with Sega resulting in Moonwalker, a title given to several video games all inspired by the 1988 feature film that also shared the same name. >> [music] >> Hitting the scene. In the summer of 1990, Moonwalker first appeared in arcades, but a console version was simultaneously released for Sega’s home systems in addition to being made available for home computers all within that very same year.

 So, what was the story behind this unprecedented collaboration? And how did the world react to the King of Pop’s ambitious foray into the video game universe? Let’s delve into the details. Following the explosive popularity of arcade gaming throughout the 1970s, the early 1980s heralded the dawn of at-home video gaming.

 However, this new frontier was almost immediately saturated with a deluge of consoles and their corresponding games produced by a host of manufacturers with questionable reputations. A significant portion of these products were notoriously low quality churned out by companies eager to make a fast profit from this exciting technology-driven phenomenon.

 As a direct result, the United States experienced a massive video game industry’s crash in 1983, a downturn that persisted until Nintendo introduced its revolutionary Famicom, an abbreviation for family computer. The Famicom became an overnight commercial sensation in Japan selling an incredible 2.

5 million consoles by the beginning of 1985. In partnership with its Nintendo of America division, the company cleverly rebranded the Famicom for the Western market renaming it the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES for short. They strategically designed it to look more like a sophisticated video cassette recorder deliberately avoiding the appearance of a simple toy-like gadget.

Selling over 35 million NES units, Nintendo single-handedly revitalized the entire industry. By 1989, the US market had ballooned to a valuation of over $5 billion with Nintendo dominating roughly 80% of the home video gaming sector. Nintendo’s primary rival Sega countered by launching its own competing console, the Sega Mark III, which became widely known as the Master System upon its release in 1985.

 While Nintendo firmly held its ground with immense success in Japan and the United States, Sega’s Master System carved out its own stronghold selling exceptionally well across Europe, Australia, and Brazil. An incredible number of legendary video game franchises were born during this pivotal era. The release of Super Mario Brothers in 1985 not only introduced the world to an iconic game, but also firmly established Mario as Nintendo’s official mascot launching the very first Super Mario franchise.

 Sega in turn presented its own initial mascot characters, the sentient ship Opa-Opa from Fantasy Zone in 1986 who was soon succeeded by Alex Kidd from Alex Kidd in Miracle World that same year. However, it must be said that neither of these characters managed to capture the public’s imagination or achieve the same level of widespread recognition that Mario had so effortlessly secured for Nintendo.

Beyond just inventing their own rosters of original characters to build entire franchises around, one of Nintendo’s most wildly popular games of that era was actually a collaboration with the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson titled Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. Having sold more than 3 million cartridges since it debuted in 1986, Sega saw an opportunity and decided to counter by recruiting other famous sports personalities for their own lineup of games including legendary basketball coach Pat Riley for Pat Riley

Basketball, star quarterback Joe Montana for Joe Montana Football, and the formidable boxer Buster Douglas for Buster Douglas’s Knockout Boxing just to name a few. It became clear that attaching the names of famous personalities to game cartridges was a surefire and incredibly effective marketing tactic.

 But Sega was also keen on venturing into completely uncharted territory by releasing the first-ever home video game to star a non-sports celebrity and in doing so creating an entirely new genre for the gaming world, the musical video game. Following the young superstar’s meteoric ascent to global fame, Michael Jackson found himself in possession of immense wealth which gave him the freedom to indulge in many of his more whimsical and childlike passions.

 A major one of these passions was his deep love for pinball machines and arcade video games, a hobby he frequently enjoyed in his family’s expansive game room in Los Angeles. Upon purchasing the sprawling Neverland Ranch in 1988, Jackson made it a top priority to ensure the property featured its own dedicated state-of-the-art arcade which was lavishly stocked with all the latest hardware with absolutely no expense spared.

 This personal arcade at Neverland Ranch was a gamer’s paradise showcasing a remarkable collection of high-profile Sega games. The crown jewel was his very own personal R360 gyroscopic motion cabinet and Jackson was known to spend countless hours inside either playing with friends or completely immersed on his own. Having cultivated a profound fascination with the rapidly evolving gaming industry, Jackson was always eager to explore the newest technological advancements especially during his tours in Japan.

His unparalleled celebrity status granted him exclusive access to the industry’s corporate titans and because of this, Jackson made numerous visits to Sega’s corporate headquarters. It was during these trips that he forged a close personal relationship with a key executive, Hisashi Suzuki. As Sega was strategizing on how to challenge its fierce competitor Nintendo in the lucrative US and European markets, they thought who could possibly be a better ally than the most famous pop superstar on the planet whose endorsement

single-handedly elevated Pepsi to rival Coca-Cola’s dominance in soft drink sales. Therefore, Sega initiated a bold move. The company began formal discussions with Jackson about the tantalizing possibility of transforming his 1988 musical film Moonwalker into a completely immersive full-scale video game experience.

 Once the programmers assembled the initial game specifications and presented Michael with the character designs, he would personally offer detailed refinements based on his extensive experience from years of playing games. Unwilling to simply license his image and walk away, Michael became just as deeply involved in the game’s creation as he was with the musical film that inspired it.

This deep commitment meant that Michael Jackson was actively collaborating side-by-side with Sega’s programming team personally tweaking the visual elements and even conceptualizing some of the core game mechanics and overarching ideas himself. Sega’s marketing director at the time, Al Nilsen, insiders were quick to tell press outlets that Michael Jackson was intimately involved with Moonwalker from its initial concept to the final product emphasizing that as a huge video game player himself. The entire project was

fundamentally based on his own creative ideas. This stood in stark contrast to his endorsement deal with Pepsi where his personal dislike for the soft drink meant Jackson specified he would never be filmed holding or drinking it in any commercial or his partnership with LA Gear sneakers.

 That was another product the global superstar reportedly didn’t personally care for, but with Sega it was different. Michael genuinely loved the company and was thrilled with the game being developed. As a result, the entire creation process was the ultimate fantasy for any video game enthusiast, the opportunity to have a game personally crafted to your own specifications, a game in which you yourself are the main protagonist.

 For this very reason, the pop icon’s financial compensation from the Japanese technology company was likely nowhere near as headline-grabbing as the millions of dollars he had commanded from previous endorsement arrangements. A favorable royalty fee was almost certainly on the table. However, the venture was primarily a passion project that also functioned as an incredibly savvy multi-level strategy to promote his direct-to-video musical film and its accompanying hit soundtrack.

Furthermore, Michael Jackson was actively interested in expanding his immense influence beyond the world of music and conquering new territories like movies, television, and the burgeoning video gaming industry. This ambition was clearly demonstrated in the groundbreaking 360-degree deal he signed with Sony Music just a year later and he undoubtedly felt that fostering connections with a gaming giant like Sega would only accelerate his pursuit of this goal.

 A playable prototype showcasing the full gameplay was first presented at Mexico’s American Amusement Machine Association exhibition in the early summer of 1990. Not long after that debut, Moonwalker was launched to an international audience. It was supported by a massive marketing campaign intended not only to promote the game itself, but to bolster sales of the Sega Genesis console as a whole.

 In Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, the game presents a deeply sinister backstory centered on a villain named Mr. Big. Portrayed as the devious mastermind behind all organized crime, he has concocted a plan to kidnap all the little girls in the world brainwashing them to become his loyal slaves. The stakes are incredibly high.

 If the great gloved one doesn’t act swiftly, the power of love itself risks being completely snuffed out of existence. With the world in peril, MJ embarks on a six-round brawl which kicks off in the CD downtown night spot known as Club 30. Within each stage, three per round, the main objective is to track down and rescue a number of captive children all while fighting off an army of goons.

 In a delightful nod, Bubbles the chimpanzee appears. Michael’s actual real-life pet arrives once in each level to lend a hand. Once Bubbles is collected or rescued, the chimp magically transforms Michael into a powerful robotic version of the pop singer which possesses the ability to absorb a great deal more damage and shoot powerful laser bursts.

Recognizing that Jackson didn’t fit the typical mold of a brawny action game hero, Moonwalker’s programmers creatively integrated many of his world-renowned dance moves into the on-screen character’s arsenal of attacks. The strength of these special attacks is directly dependent on the amount of style magic life he has remaining in his meter.

 Alternatively, he can unleash the more devastating hat attack or a full-screen dance attack which consumes a significant chunk of his magic reserves. The incredible music and distinctive sound effects only amplify the entire gaming experience giving it an unmistakable Jackson edge that no other game could replicate. Some of the superstar’s most iconic hits are prominently featured either playing visually on jukeboxes within the game or as the atmospheric background music and include classics like Bad, Billie Jean, Beat It, and even Thriller which

inspired an entire zombie-themed level that was included in the home console version of the game. While Michael’s legendary music pulses in the background, his in-game character screams and shrieks with every attack all performed in a strikingly realistic high-pitched voice. Following its North American launch in July of 1990, by September it had skyrocketed to become the top-grossing new video game on the replay arcade charts and was met with generally positive reviews from critics.

However, a common critique from many reviewers was that the gameplay itself, while certainly an intriguing concept, was not particularly groundbreaking especially when compared to the sophisticated titles that were already available on the market at the time. Others compared it directly to similar beat-’em-up games with one reviewer stating, “It’s basically a kicking and punching game similar to Double Dragon and dozens of other Nintendo games.

” In contrast, MegaTech magazine declared that the console version was an addictive platformer that boasted excellent graphics for its time. Mega magazine later placed the game at number 91 in their comprehensive list of the best Sega games of all time ultimately labeling it as average. Then in 2004, the Genesis version of Moonwalker received a major honor when it was inducted into GameSpot’s coveted list of the greatest games of all time.

 Although the game was undeniably a commercial success, it was widely noted that Michael Jackson may not have made as significant a mark on the gaming industry as he could have largely because the film and music the game was based on had been released some two or three years earlier. This unfortunate timing meant that the game’s release had already missed the second powerful wave of Michaelmania that was unleashed by the release of his album Bad back in 1987.

 By 1990, the gloved one had retreated back into his well-known self-imposed isolation and the very next year he would release a whole new era of music and visuals that would make the Moonwalker video game look completely out of date by comparison. Having failed to make a significant dent in Nintendo’s formidable dominance over the market, Sega hired Tom Kalinske as the new president of Sega of America to run their upcoming campaign.

Among Kalinske’s strategic changes was a significant price reduction on the console and instead of bundling console purchases with Moonwalker, they made the pivotal decision to replace it with Sega’s electrifying new game Sonic the Hedgehog. This new title featured Sega’s brand new mascot of the very same name.

Kalinske’s bold changes gave the Genesis the competitive edge it needed over the Nintendo Entertainment System by 1991 and officially kicked off the start of the infamous console war between Sega and Nintendo. This console war between the two giants lasted until 1994 when Sony Computer Entertainment completely disrupted both companies’ dominance with the landmark release of the PlayStation.