At the height of his popularity, Michael Jackson was
arguably the most recognizable person in the world. A polarizing figure, I
wonder how history will remember him. Will future generations see the King of
Pop as a sublime performer tantamount to genius, a troubled man tarnished by overwhelming
celebrity or an eccentric whose behaviour baffled explanation? I also wonder
how they will look back on his Sega Genesis title, Moonwalker; a game that ironically
mirrors the different sides of Jackson. This is a flawed game that ingeniously makes
use of a celebrity tie-in and eventually throws in a bunch of nonsense.
What Moonwalker Got Right (Jackson the Genius)
Games based around a celebrity are seldom successful. It’s a
difficult balancing act to fit a famous likeness into a game that is fun and
uses the person in a way that (even if stretched) makes sense. Obviously, for a
sports star you slap their face on the cover and make them the best player in a
digital rendition of their sport. But what do you do for Michael Jackson? This
was a long time before the concept of rhythm and dance games had been thought
of and the only genre that could even remotely fit was the platformer. In most
cases, the result would be a Mario rip-off with Jackson jumping between
platforms collecting records or some other esoteric junk… but Moonwalker
thought differently. The game features Jackson’s dancing as a key mechanic for
dispatching baddies. The whole thing actually works in conveying the King of
Pop and passes the litmus design test such that no other character would make
sense as the protagonist. I give a ton of credit to the designers for innovatively
integrating Michael Jackson’s iconic moves in a way that makes sense (at least
by video game logic).
Another aspect that Moonwalker got right was to draw
inspiration for level design from Jackson’s music videos. In hindsight, this
seems like a no-brainer but the reality is that many developers at the time
would have been content to shove something generic in the background with
little concern for their subject matter. Smooth Criminal, Beat It, and
Thriller, all make for a reasonable backdrop and further help to sell the game as
Michael Jackson and not some cheap knock-off. Again, I have to praise the design team for
making smart choices for a celebrity tie-in. Initially, the prospect of fitting
Jackson into a game while maintaining a cogent understanding of what makes him
so famous must have looked impossible. To design a game that viably pulls off
such a difficult task is nothing short of amazing.
What Moonwalker Got Wrong (Jackson the Troubled Man)
While the game succeeds in making the most of Michael
Jackson, it fails on a few points. For
example, the music is horrendous. The awful Genesis sound processor butchers its
way through the pop classics. Although the tracks are recognizable, I think I
have heard better renditions programmed into cell phones. Of all the things to
get wrong, it seems like the music shouldn’t have been one (it’s a game about a
musician after all!). While it’s easy to chalk the crappy music up to hardware
limitations, the crappy level design is another story. Labyrinthine stages that
feature heavy backtracking with ambiguous interactable features? No thank you. Also, while I applaud the music video tie-ins,
some just don’t make sense; especially puzzling is the use of Billy Jean for a
level set in a cave with spider enemies (ardent fans will note that Jackson did
not fight spiders in the music video). Given that all the preceding levels were
reasonably close to the source material, this one comes out of left field.
Finally, the game itself isn’t particularly fun and amounts to little more than
an Easter egg hunt as Jackson traipses around finding kidnapped children until
he’s found enough and Bubbles jumps out to guide the way to a mediocre boss
fight.
All of the game’s faults are somewhat forgivable; this was a
launch title for a new console and Sega was just starting to show what was
possible in the 16bit era. Personally, I will take a not-very-fun platformer
that tries to innovate any day of the week over some shovelware knock-off. In
the same way that many forgave Jackson’s minor indiscretions (such as his
ludicrous spending) I can forgive Moonwalker for failing to be a great game.
What Was Moonwalker On? (Wacko Jacko)
Oddly, the few points were the game actually does venture
into decent gameplay are the ones that are the furthest removed from Michael
Jackson. At a few points you transform into a robot that can fire lasers at
enemies and the final stage has you flying through space in a modified car
outfitted with rockets. Not joking. It’s almost like the developers wanted to
pad the gameplay and shoved in some code from a half-finished game they were
working on before they got the call that they would be working with the biggest
celebrity in the world. The first half of the game is a subpar platformer that makes
the most out of a difficult licence, the second half just throws it all out the
window in the name of crazy. What was so wrong with being one of the finest
examples of the use of celebrity in gaming? Couldn’t we just stick to that? Why
did it have to get weird? Perhaps we will never know what was going through the
developer's minds and what unfathomable pressures to get a title out in time for launch
they were under but the crazy bits are entertaining (if for the wrong reasons)
nonetheless.
Moonwalker is an allegory for Michael Jackson’s life. You
have the prolific artist (the amazing use of a celebrity licence in a game) who
is obviously flawed (the game itself isn’t all that great) and dogged by the
insanity of tawdry rumours and scandals (the bizarre second half of the game). Whether it was intended as such is another story.