Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (Japan, FD1094/8751 317-0157) - MAME machine

Arcade Video game published 34 years ago:

Michael Jackson's MoonWalker © 1990 Sega.

Based on the movie of the same name, Moonwalker is a scrolling, isometric beat' em up in which Michael Jackson (1958-2009), along with his chimp Bubbles, attempts to save children and defeat the evil 'Mr. Big'. During each round, the player must defeat each and every one of Mr. Big's henchmen and the deadly enemy machines that patrol the levels. This is achieved either by shooting them with Michael Jackson's 'magical energy', or by using his Dance Magic - the game's equivalent of a smart bomb. Some enemies take only one shot to defeat whereas others take several shots before they are destroyed. The longer the player holds down on the fire button, the greater the amount of magical energy Michael can inflict. At the start of each round, the player is given 2 dance magic smart bombs. Towards the end of each round, Michael's pet chimpanzee, Bubbles, will be seen moving about. If Michael touches Bubbles, he will turn into a powerful robot (the 'Moonwalker' of the game's title). After Michael has become Moonwalker, he will be able to shoot lasers and fire missiles. Michael must defeat every boss enemy at the end of each round in order to proceed to the next.

Each player's Michael Jackson character looks identical but wears a different colour: white (left player), red (middle player), and black (right player).

TECHNICAL
Game ID: 317-0157 / 317-0158 / 317-0159

Runs on the Sega "System 18" hardware.

Players: 3
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 3

TRIVIA
Released in July 1990.

Moonwalker is made up of 5 stages, each featuring a different Michael Jackson track for the instrumental background music. The stage music is as follows...

• Cavern: 'Bad'
• Amusement Quarter: 'Smooth Criminal'
• Night Street: 'Beat It'
• Graveyard: 'Another Part Of Me'
• Evil Fortress: a reprise of 'Bad'

If you complete all 5 stages and finish the game, the song that will play for the ending will be 'Billie Jean'.

The Final Stage reprise of 'Bad' was also used in the 2012 anniversary album.

UPDATES
FD1094 317-0157

• Japanese version.

FD1094 317-0158

• US version.
• Additional "Winners Don't Use Drugs" screen.

FD1094 317-0159

• World version.

BOOTLEG

• no I8751 @ 8 Mhz:-)

STAFF
Game concept & Design by: Michael Jackson

PORTS
A version of Moonwalker was released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega Master System. It retained most of the gameplay elements of the arcade game that inspired it, but the isometric viewpoint was dropped in favor of sideways scrolling. The end result had more in common with Namco's "Rolling Thunder" than with the arcade MoonWalker.

Versions of the game with completely different gameplay to both the arcade and console versions were released for the popular 8-bit and 16-bit home computers of the time: Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, MS-DOS, MSX and ZX Spectrum.

CONTRIBUTE
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