Michael Jackson-related games

There are five games that Michael Jackson has composed music for or are directly related to him, they are: Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Space Channel 5, Michael Jackson: The Experience, and Planet Michael

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker

For main article, see Michael Jackson's Moonwalker.

Screenshot of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker arcade game.

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (マイケル・ジャクソンズ・ムーンウォーカー Maikeru Jakusonzu Mūn'u~ōkā) is a franchise for several video games based on the film of the same name created by U.S. Gold and Sega in 1989 and 1990 that incorporate the personage of and were co-developed by Michael Jackson himself. The arcade version, home video games and home computer versions all differ in terms of gameplay, but the story and concept remain constant. The story, which is taken from the Moonwalker film, follows Michael, using various music and dance related abilities, on a quest to save kidnapped children from the hands of the evil "Mr. Big". The games incorporated synthesized versions of the musician's hits, such as "Beat It" and "Smooth Criminal". The games have now achieved cult status and are remembered for being a memorable point in Jackson's change to a different stage persona from "Thriller", to "Bad".

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

For main article, see Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Development.

Screenshot of Sonic 3 game.

According to STI director Roger Hector, Michael Jackson was brought in initially during development to compose music for the game, but no mention of his involvement was included. This was supposedly due to the scandals that arose around Jackson at the time, his involvement was removed from the title, and much reworking had to be done.^[1] These claims are dubious, however, and various interviews have made it clear that any involvement Jackson may have had was done without the knowledge of Sega's executives or marketing staff, and no contracts or formal agreements had ever been made.^[2] James Hansen, of Sonic Stuff Research Group, retorts that Cirocco (credited as "Scirocco" in Sonic 3) still has possession of presumably a demo version of fabled soundtrack. "I actually have "ALL" of the tracks...," he writes, "from the original humming of Michael calling in the middle of the night leaving messages, to his ideas at Record One with Matt and Bruce. - BUT, I don't think I can let any of that out to the public without permission." ^[2] In December 2009, Michael Jackson's composer, Brad Buxer, told French magazine Black & White that Jackson was actually involved with some of Sonic 3's compositions, supposedly not being credited because he wasn't happy with how they sounded, due to the lack of optimal sound reproduction on the Genesis. Buxer also claimed that the ending music of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 later became the basis for Jackson's single Stranger in Moscow.^[3]

Space Channel 5

For main article, see Space Channel 5 - Characters and Space Channel 5 - Development.

Space Michael from Space Channel 5.

Space Michael (スペースマイケル, Supēsu Maikeru) is member of Space Channel 5, based on Michael Jackson and voiced by him. First appearing as a cameo in Part 1, he has a more involved role in Part 2. After being rescued by Ulala from the Rhythm Rogues, Michael uses his singing skills against a singing robot and joins her to fight against Purge.

Michael Jackson makes a cameo appearance as Space Michael in Space Channel 5,^[4] near the end of the game. He had a more prominent role in Space Channel 5: Part 2 where he became the new head of Space Channel 5. Whilst Ulala is distracted by a fake scoop, the headquarters are attacked and Space Michael is kidnapped by Purge and the Rhythm Rogues and has to be rescued by Ulala in a level featuring several of Michael's trademark dance moves. He then joins Ulala in facing up against Purge.In both versions of the game, Michael speaks in English, which is subtitled into Japanese in the Japanese version.

The May 2007 issue of EGM contains a quote from series creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi concerning what it was like to work with Michael:

"We were in the middle of production of Space Channel 5, in 1998 or 1999. I got a call from the U.S. from my partner - the executive producer of Space Channel 5 - and he said, 'Oh, Michael wants to act in Space Channel 5.' I said, 'Who's Michael?' 'Who is Michael Jackson?' he said, 'The Michael Jackson - the real Michael Jackson'

My partner had shown him the 60-to-70 percent complete version, when it was almost at the end of the game. We had one month to finalize. But Michael wanted to do something, so we suggested that if he was OK with it, we could program the people in the game to do the Michael Jackson dance when taken over by aliens. he said 'yeah.' We initially had five aliens who danced. One of them became Michael Jackson."

Michael Jackson: The Experience

For main article, see Michael Jackson: The Experience.

Michael Jackson: The Experience is a music video game based on Michael Jackson's music and songs. It was developed and published by Ubisoft, and was released on November 23, 2010 for the Wii, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable.^[5][6] It will also appear in 2011 on the other major platforms, featuring use of the Xbox 360's Kinect and PlayStation 3's PlayStation Move. The game will feature many of Michael Jackson's hits, such as "Bad", "Beat It", "Smooth Criminal" and "Billie Jean". All Pre-Ordered games will include a limited edition replica of Michael Jackson's famous glove.

Planet Michael

For main article, see Planet Michael.

Planet Michael is a planned MMORPG based on the pop music of Michael Jackson. It is being developed by SEE Virtual Worlds and is scheduled for release in late 2011. Planet Michael is based within the Entropia Universe.

References

1. ^ Carless, Simon (2006-03-27). "Michael Jackson's Secret Sonic 3 Shame". GameSetWatch. Gamasutra. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Horowitz, Ken (2009-05-19). "Sega Legends: Michael Jackson & Sonic 3". Sega-16. http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=392&title=Sega%20Legends:%20Michael%20Jackson%20&%20Sonic%203. Retrieved 2009-12-17. 
3. ^ Montgomery, James (2009-12-04). "Did Michael Jackson Compose 'Sonic The Hedgehog 3' Soundtrack?". MTV.com. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1627664/20091204/jackson_michael.jhtml. Retrieved 2009-12-05. 
4. ^ Michael Donahue, "Forced Guests: Cameos that make us sceam 'Yessss!'" in Electronic Gaming Monthly 226 (March 2008): 34.
5. ^ "Game will let you sing, dance like Michael Jackson". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/06/16/michael.jackson.game/. 
6. ^ "Pop & Hiss". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/06/michael-jackson-is-coming-to-the-video-game-world.html.