Michael Jackson's Moonwalker scores 7/10 in the verdict of The Games Market editorial team.
Once Upon a Time
Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
by Simon Larocca·December 6, 2024
Speaking of Moonwalker for me means getting into a DeLorean and traveling back in time, finding a trunk packed full of bittersweet memories: adolescence was just around the corner and video games kept me company every afternoon after school, just like pop music that cradled dreams and made them fly away.
Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, couldn’t be missing from my walkman, always at hand, just as in 1990 every Mega Drive owner couldn’t let slip the officially licensed title from the film, with which Michael Jackson cemented an absolute multimedia dominance: music, film, video games.
Allying beyond the enthusiasm riding the wave of the pop icon’s worldwide success, it must be admitted that Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is not a masterpiece that revolutionized 2D side-scrolling platformers; better say it right away: the levels are few and do not stand out for originality, also because they are taken directly from the film. Nevertheless, the name, and the appearance, of Michael in his legendary white suit, hat included, is truly worth the entire price of the game, as they say in cases like this.
The gameplay is as simple as you can imagine, enhanced by some gems that drove the fans who got their hands on it crazy: during the game we can in fact have her perform her most famous dance moves, between one kick and the next dealt to Mr. Big's henchmen (obviously always and in any case to the rhythm of dance!) to the notes of her hits, as it should be.
I also remember that it was possible to perform a choral routine with all the enemies at the end of each level, if you were quick and precise enough in pressing the special move button: maybe today all this might make us smile, accustomed as we are to Easter eggs of a very different kind, but for the legion of fans who, at the turn of the Eighties and Nineties, followed the modern Peter Pan practically everywhere, it was something epic!
[Michael Jackson's Moonwalker SEGA Mega Drive level end stinger]
Some brief notes on the plot, although the narrative structure itself is stripped down to the bone: basically, the urban hero Michael must find and free all the children kidnapped by Mr.Big and his gang, so as to bring them back home to their families and make good triumph. The end.
It didn’t take much else, to be honest, to celebrate the popstar, and so the bare minimum was done just to justify the existence of a video game dedicated to him.
Even the film Moonwalker consisted of a series of scenes in which our man made his way through music, squeals, and incredible choreography, even transforming into a giant robot at the end in the fight that pits him against the villain: all of this also happens in the video game.
Graphically, we are faced with a Sega 16-bit title, so the carnival of colors it offers us is proportional to the power the machine could produce.
The sound department, needless to say, is absolutely exceptional and I am sure that even those who have never been enthusiastic admirers of the singer will find, if they give it a chance, a game capable of entertaining them and keeping them engaged just enough to enjoy it to the fullest.
In short, if you haven’t understood it, Moonwalker is an important title and deserves, I say it loudly (but without squealing!) to be played and replayed.
7
Pro
There’s Michael Jackson dancing, hitting, and dancing again: for fans, a must-see
Platform experiment with fun combat sections
absolute top-level music sector
Contro
Incoherent and almost nonexistent plot, like that of the film
Overall, the gameplay is rather poor and the available moveset is limited and sparse.
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
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