Format: Cartridge
Genre: Action platformer
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega

Sega's full stable of virtuoso talent seemingly shuffled from project-to-project during this period, and several of them landed on this strange Michael Jackson collaboration: so, they created several rich, detailed tile sets, loosely modelled after the work done on the isometric arcade original, plus some nice stage transition effects, and most importantly perfect translations of all of Jackson's most famous dance moves.

And if that wasn't enough, Hiroshi Kubota of Sonic Team sound programming fame converted many of Jackson's most famous songs to the Genesis PSG and YM2612 duo, to phenomenal effect! The tempos are slightly off from the original records, but the melodies are unmistakable. Digital samples and interesting sound effects round out the package.

Lots of people fondly recall the much-later game "Ninja Five-O", and this Genesis Moonwalker adaptation plays a lot like that: navigate free-exploration side scrolling stages, combat enemies with action platformer moves, and rescue hidden victims. Everything plays fine if unremarkably-- except for the mind-numbingly, finger nail-pullingly boring cavern stages right smack in the middle of the game.

It sounds strange to young people today, but from the mid-1970s to the first part of the 90s, no one was cooler than Michael Jackson. Moonwalker was one of this reviewer's first Genesis games in early 1990, and it's not aged terribly: some of the levels, like the parking ramp next to buildings, are quite evocative actually, as is the "Wing Commander"-lite final boss. But otherwise it's a bit too much by the numbers to truly do the "King of Pop's" talents full respect.