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What do you think about playing the Moonwalker games now?

Nikus

Nikus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,362
Seesaw15 said:
Who's even thinking about playing this game in 2019 besides twitch streamers? I don't feel like this is a moral quandary for 99% of the human population.
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Hmm well, *raises hand*
I've ordered an 8bitdo Genesis controller the other day to play some Genesis games and I intended to play Moonwalker because it was one of the few games I got to play on Genesis when I was a kid ._.
But of course my priorities are Crusaders of Centy, Landstalker, Castle/World of Illusion, Shining Force, Story of Thor and the Phantasy Star games. I've always been curious to revisit Moonwalker though...
 
SharpX68K

SharpX68K

Member
Nov 10, 2017
10,514
Chicagoland
NeoZeedeater said:
A lot of people are saying "the game" but there are multiple. The computer Moonwalker game is way different than the Sega games. And among the Sega games, the arcade version is much different than the Genesis/Master System one (even that one has level design differences between 8 and 16-bit).
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Yeah the arcade game was a totally different game than the Genesis/Megadrive one.

It used an isometric view (instead of side scrolling) and also had 3-player simultaneous play.





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iswasdoes

iswasdoes

Member
Nov 13, 2017
3,084
Londinium
It's tricky with his music because he made some of the most notable, well loved songs of the modern era

The games do not have this problem
 

Deleted member 48897

User requested account closure
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Oct 22, 2018
13,623
Plenty of proof that he groomed, isolated, and abused kids. On some level the question of trying to figure out whether or not the abuse he performed included sexual abuse reeks less of being interested in trying to establish justice and more in trying to exonerate a long-loved public figure. This is not a matter of "presumption of innocence" because we know he isn't innocent.

Anyway the game's a bad, meandering ripoff of the shinobi games anyway. Why play this when Shadow Dancer is right there instead?
 
bionic77

bionic77

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,888
I liked the Genesis game better than the arcade one but neither was really that great. I did enjoy them at the time but I will also say we found them creepy even then.
 
Adathir

Adathir

Member
Oct 25, 2017
764
I don't have any issue with it and would gladly play the game if I had it. It's one of those games that I keep my eye out for whenever I go retro shopping.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 17210

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Oct 27, 2017
11,569
muteKi said:
Anyway the game's a bad, meandering ripoff of the shinobi games anyway. Why play this when Shadow Dancer is right there instead?
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Shadow Dancer's better but I don't think they're that similar outside of the rescuing aspect and being platform games. The arcade and computer Moonwalker games aren't even the same genre.
 
Yautja_Warrior

Yautja_Warrior

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,690
United Kingdom
Loved the arcade game, it was so much better than the home versions. Can't say they would hold up well today though, not played them for many years now though.

If the law ever decides he was guilty, it would be interesting to see what happens regarding his music. He has made some of the biggest hits in pop music history and it would be weird not hearing him on the radio if they decided to stop playing his music.

I'm sure a lot of fans would still listen to his music though, separating MJ the person, from MJ the music superstar.
 
skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,128
i'm not opposed to listening to Thriller today because it was product of a producer, songwriter, several instrumentalists, engineers, ect... MJ was just the vehicle. same goes for Moonwalker (though not sure why i'd want to be playing it in 2019 despite it being an ok game), it isn't particularly his own work.

now if they produced some HD remaster of moonwalker and it was somehow an incredible must-have, just hypothetically speaking here, then no, i won't buy it and funnel money into his estate. but i'm not going to go out of my way to plug my ears on three decade's worth of cultural history
 
808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
42,700
Has magic powers said:
I dont think anyone plays those. Is this thread simply trying to start the DMCV thread conversation again?
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It honestly does seem like that because I can't think of any reason games to bring up nearly 30 year old games that were probably barely played much less even thought about anymore. Who was even still playing Moonwalker?!

To answer your question nothing really changes. I only played it way back when I found out it was a real game and that's about it
 

Deleted member 48897

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Oct 22, 2018
13,623
BubbleButt64 said:
Well I'm not exactly booting up the ol' Megadrive to play Michael Jackson's Moonwalker every single day but one thing that is interesting is that MJ composed songs for Sonic 3, a game that I really like.

I think MJ's involvement in the OST for Sonic 3 is the main thing stopping SEGA from re-releasing the game again. If they do they'll probably have to create replacement tracks.
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The only thing in the game that I would believe could count as coming from MJ directly is the beatboxing samples used as percussion in Carnival Night. Having said that I don't see any reason to believe that any of the music he would have done for Sega would have been included in the game. I genuinely don't see any reason to believe anything other than that the music credits in Sonic 3 are correct, and that the music was made with the help of several people who regularly collaborated with Jackson at the time -- such as Brad Buxer, who was the guy who was in the Jetzons, the band that did the song that was proto-Ice Cap. That's one of the replaced tracks in the PC port, and have no idea what Jackson's contribution to that track could even have been given its origin.

There are clear licensing issues that have been a simmering controversy for a while though. It was either Buxer or Cirocco Jones who was actively hostile to people who were trying to get an interview with him about his contributions, and mentioned pending litigation. This was several years ago too; I want to say mid-2000s. I would imagine it's related to royalties on these later rereleases of the game especially from digital downloads, where the contract probably isn't explicit.
 
regenhuber

regenhuber

Member
Nov 4, 2017
5,202
I don't do retro, so I wouldn't have played it anyways.

Thing is, back when I was a kid and owned a Master System I really wanted the game.
MJ was my favorite singer and the cover looked super cool.
 
smuf

smuf

Member
Oct 27, 2017
533
The arcade game is actually pretty good. The Megadrive game is just boring.

I don't see an issue with playing it really, though I don't feel the urge myself to consume any Jackson related media for the time being.

In theory I'm all for separating the art from the artist, but in practice I find it hard to do myself.

I'm sure in time I'll return to his music at least.
 
aisback

aisback

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,739
I personally don't think he did anything to the kids but the game hasn't aged well IMO
 
Fisty

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,207
The game itself is a weird piece of grooming propaganda... even back then, as a huge MJ and Moonwalker fan, the game was problematic
 
SharpX68K

SharpX68K

Member
Nov 10, 2017
10,514
Chicagoland
Michael Jackson and the Moonwalker game was front and center in the Genesis Does what Nintendon't commercial.



Edit: here's the print ad.

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OP
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JayBee said:
Sms version better?
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I don't think so although if you like the Gen/MD game, it's worth playing. I never liked how it's missing the sparkle effect in the attacks, and the audio-visuals are a step down. One thing I do like more about the SMS version is the faster character speed.

SharpX68K said:
Michael Jackson and the Moonwalker game was front and center in the Genesis Does what Nintendon't commercial.
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I remember seeing that ad a lot on TV, probably more than any other pre-Sonic Genesis commercial.
 
ArjanN

ArjanN

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,106
These MJ threads are a bit odd to me, as while I know about the recent doc, I though it was pretty much generally recognized that MJ was a creep for like a couple of decades already.

The arcade game was essentially a decent beat 'em up.
 
goldenpp73

goldenpp73

Banned
Dec 5, 2017
2,144
I bought these around the time he died since I figured they would hike up in price, all I know is they aren't that good.
 
ShinJohnpv

ShinJohnpv

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,655
808s & Villainy said:
It honestly does seem like that because I can't think of any reason games to bring up nearly 30 year old games that were probably barely played much less even thought about anymore. Who was even still playing Moonwalker?!
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What bullshit kind of response is this. You're on a gaming enthusiast site and act as if old games are just forgotten. When there are tons of threads dedicated to older platforms, getting the best video quality out of them, FPGA consoles, classic consoles and all kinds of shit. Plenty of nearly 30 year old games are discussed all the time. The thread is a valid discussion. If you don't know that the game was popular in its time, and it was, then don't comment like you know what you're talking about.

The Genesis version of the game complete fetches around 100 bucks at auction, so people are still interested enough in it to drop nearly double the cost that it was new on it nearly 30 years later.


Some of the posters here and their attitudes towards older games is fucking ridiculous.
 

Deleted member 11370

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,494
I'm not supporting anything this person did ever again, and that includes video games. There's far more than enough proof of his abuse to convince me that he's guilty.
 
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