Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (GEN) text review: Don't Stop til You Get Enough

The game & movie have beautiful artwork

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is a bit of an oddity in video game history. The Genesis version is just one of the many versions of the game released on Sega platforms, in the arcades, and for home computers in 1989 and 1990. The game is inspired by the "Smooth Criminal" segment of the the strange, but fun, Moonwalker movie starring Michael Jackson and Joe Pesci. The game itself is quite simple, unique, odd, and...well, bizarre(a great thing).

Mr. Big(Pesci) and his organization have kidnapped a bunch of children and Michael is out to put an end to his dastardly plans. Hmm, simple enough. There really isn't a lot of plot or exposition in the game itself, though in the movie it is very clear what Mr. Big's ultimate goal is: to get the world addicted to drugs, starting with the children. The player will begin the game in a side-view 2D stage and begin to locate all of the kidnapped children in that stage. Throughout each level you have to deal with a limited selection of enemies, such as gangsters, zombies, dogs, and spiders. Once all of the children(who all look like Katie from the movie) in the stage are rescued, you have to find the section of the stage that triggers the boss fight for that level. Rinse and repeat. The idea behind the adventure, as well as what you are required to do, is simple and straightforward. This is part of what makes many games of this era so fun: just jump in and experience the game.

The AI of the enemies is nothing to write home about, as their attacks usually consist of their running straight into you or pausing noticeably before firing bullets at you. What your enemies lack in skill and cunning, they make up for in their numbers. As you progress through the game you will begin to find yourself overwhelmed by their constant attacks if you're not careful, as the difficulty slowly ratchets up through each of the levels. Taking care of the enemies is accomplished normally by a few simple attacks, namely Michael's trademark kick, and a very Michael-esque hand strike, both of which shoots some sort of stardust looking material a short distance forward. If you find yourself surround by too many enemies, you can trigger a special attack. While holding the button for the special Michael will do his famous spin maneuver, making him invincible and damaging the enemies he comes into contact with. When you release the button he will fling his fedora around to do additional damage. If you decide to continue to hold the special attack button(without releasing for the fedora throw), the music will change and Michael will begin to dance, which will force most of the enemies you encounter in the game to dance along with him(even the dogs!). Once the dance number is finished, all of the low level enemies in the playfield will be wiped out. How fun is that? It's a very cool way to wipe out a screenful of enemies with style and, like any special should, feels quite satisfying.

The final level is where the game developers decided to mix things up a bit. In this level you are an outerspace battle with Mr Big: he in his spaceship and the player with a cockpit view inside "Michael's Battle Plane". The interior of "Michael's Battle Plane" and the H.U.D. look pretty neat and

Image courtesy of shenmuer2001@gamefaqs

80's futuristic, if you know what I mean. Things are not so simple though, as you have to deal with multiple enemy spacecraft while assaulting Mr. Big's spaceship. As you do battle, you will be treated to seeing images of Mr. Big on a small monitor as he talks trash to you! This boss battle, while rather short, is hands-down the most challenging section of the game. There is a very simple way to CHEESE your way to victory, but that will not be covered here. This change of pace, scenery, and gameplay is a welcome one that gives the final battle a feeling of scope and importance.



Though Moonwalker is no masterpiece, there is a lot of fun to be had with the game. Occasionally you may see a shooting star(as in the movie) dart across the screen. Touching the shooting star will cause Michael to momentarily transform into the robo-Michael(kind of like in the movie). Although this looks pretty cool, and Michael can fire laser beams from his eyes and launch heat-seeking missiles, it's a bit useless as you cannot rescue any of the kidnapped children while in robo-mode. Still, it's worth grabbing the star just for the show and the havoc you can wreak. It's the details like this that are the most enjoyable part of the game, such as having Michael do some of his aforementioned famous moves while destroying enemies in the process. In addition to moves like the standard trademark kick, you can also slide down banisters, strike a famous Michael pose, and even do the Moonwalk, which doesn't really accomplish anything besides looking really cool. Another weird, and totally cool, aspect of the game is when Michael rescues all of the Katie's in the stage, Bubbles the chimp will appear and hop on Michael's shoulder, pointing the way to the spot where the boss fight will commence. Bubbles' directions aren't really much help at all, but it's just one of those quirky things that often put a smile on my face while playing.

And then there is the music! Not many games can boast of a soundtrack such as Moonwalker's. Each level plays nice, digital music from some of Michael's most well-known songs, including Smooth Criminal, Beat It, Another Part of Me, Billie Jean, and Bad. Apparently some early copies of the game include the Thriller song, rather than Another Part of Me, though later iterations had the song removed(probably due to Michael not writing the Thriller song). So, as you might expect, the music is one of the highlights of the game. Michael Jackson tunes ran through a 16 bit filter should be quite a treat for anyone who is a fan of the era. Don't be surprised if you find yourself singing along to the music, emphasizing certain lyrics as you kick another gangster into oblivion.

Though I found the game to be quite enjoyable, there are some bothersome flaws that do drag things down a bit. Michael looks great, both in human and robo form, yet the graphics can be rather bland at times. The stages don't really have any variation to them individually, so you will basically be looking at the same background and foreground from the beginning of one level until you reach the next. For instance, when you are battling the zombies in the graveyard, you are seeing the same ground, tombstones, and dark sky throughout. The only level that really looks interesting is the first level inside the old nightclub, while the other 2D levels are generic, by-the-numbers efforts(parking garage, graveyard, etc). Another hit to the aesthetics of the game is that in lieu of having a variety of enemies in each stage, you are usually dealing with a couple of palette-swapped enemies. It's too bad that this bit of blandness didn't stop with just the visuals, as some of that spills over into how the game plays out as well.

Thankfully, the controls function precisely and responsively, though the basic actions you perform do not always come together fluidly. Additionally, the layout of the stages are rather uninspired and simple. There really isn't any feeling of "flowing" through the levels: you move Michael when it's time to move him, attack when it's time to attack, and jump when you need to. The running and jumping can feel more like disconnected inputs, rather than the actual movements of the character. During the game you will be tasked with a fair amount of jumping, and often these jumps are of little consequence. There are not many sections of the game where a mis-timed jump will cause you to fall to your death. So you will often find yourself semi-awkwardly jumping onto a pool table or a rock just so you can move forward. You just don't get that feeling that you are navigating the terrain and picking apart enemies as you go. While this is unfortunate, it's certainly not a deal-breaker.

Another bother is that the game doesn't really give you any direction, and sometimes you will find yourself wandering around the level trying to find a well-hidden Katie. It's not exactly a thrill to sometimes retread an entire level, checking behind every door or tombstone to find her. Even after you have rescued all the Katies in a level, you may find yourself having to do yet more wandering around until you find the spot in the stage that triggers the boss fight. As mentioned before, Bubbles the chimp will come and point to the direction of the boss area, but I sometimes found his directions more confusing than helpful.

Regardles of the obvious flaws in the game, the positives really do outweigh the negatives. It's simply a blast to wipe out a legion of mobsters using Michael's famous dance moves to the beat of his catchy music. I had a lot of fun chaining together dance moves and poses(which do nothing besides look sweet) just for the heck of it, even after finishing the game. The sheer lunacy of the entire game make it an experience you won't soon forget. The excellent music really sets the stage in what is a very unique mashup of two supremely awesome things: Michael Jackson and 16 bit gaming. Your enjoyment of the game may hinge entirely on whether or not you are a MJ fan, as the nuts and bolts of the game itself are a bit bland. Then again, if you can appreciate quirky and crazy in your games, Moonwalker has them in spades. Give Moonwalker a whirl, and don't stop 'til you get enough!

Phalanx (SNES) text review

Oh hell yeah

Phalanx is a surprisingly quality shoot em up, brought to us lovingly by ZOOM Inc and Kemco. Released early in the SNES’s lifespan, Phalanx seems to have been overshadowed by shmup heavyweights like Super R-Type, Gradius III, and Axelay. To be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by Phalanx when I first played it not long after it’s initial release. I realized it was a nice shmup, but it did not seem to have the pizazz of a something like Super R-Type. So here we are, over 20 years later and I decide to go back and give Phalanx another shot(since I had been on a shmup binge).

The story is pretty typical of most shmups: bad guys have showed up, go out and shoot them until they explode. Fair enough. The controls are spot on and very responsive, which is always important with precision games like shmups. Also important to shmups is the hitbox of your ship, which I am happy to say, makes sense and doesn’t require you to adjust how you perceive the mass of your ship. In other words, if an enemy or shot looks like it hit your ship, it did. If it looks like it missed your ship, it did. Phalanx nails this. How do some games totally screw this up?

I was particularly impressed with the weapons and power-ups at your disposal in Phalanx. For your secondary powerups, there are 3 different missiles you can obtain. Of the 3 missile power-ups, one is a homing missile, another shoots directly across the screen and explodes on impact, the other also shoots across the screen, but flies through any enemies damaging all that it passes through. You also have access to 5 or so main weapon power-ups that you run across throughout the adventure. You will have the usual assortment of shmup weapon upgrades, such as laser, homing, and ricochet among others. What’s really neat is that you can store 3 of the power-ups at once and swap between them on the fly. Also, when you die you only lose the weapon power-up that you currently have equipped and get to keep the other two. To further the variety and strategy allowed to the player, you can sacrifice a power-up in order to unleash a screen-clearing bomb. Topping it all off, the button layout is completely customizable!

The graphics are pretty subdued, with a lot of earthy tones and enemies that are mixtures of bio/geo/mechanical sorts of things. Each mission starts out with a simple shot of your pilot(a very cool anime-looking fella) and the name of the level. My two favorites are level 1 which starts out above the clouds/smog, then descends to above a very dreary, industrial, Coruscant-looking city; the other favorite is level 6, named Advertise, which surely enough is set in an outer-space asteroid field with neon signs all over the place. The music is a nice touch as well. It has that sort of generic, late 80s/early 90s game music that really takes me back.

Phalanx is a fairly stiff challenge. It felt a bit overwhelming initially. It’s very manageable on the easiest difficulty level, which familiarizes you well with the levels in preparation for the higher difficulty settings. That being said, Phalanx is not overly difficult and doesn’t really step into any sort of absurd difficulty. The bosses in the game are suitable and the final boss is fairly interesting and engages you in a different manner than previous bosses in the game. Be warned, you do have a limited amount of continues. Don’t let the challenge or limited continues dissuade you; Phalanx is a very beatable game if you give it a little time and are of at least average skill.

I really cannot recommend Phalanx enough. It’s not that it’s spectacular by any means, but it’s a really solid shmup. It’s fairly common, very affordable, and is also available for legal download at this time. If you’ve never played Phalanx, but are aware of the game, it’s probably because of the infamous cover art: the banjo-strumming hillbilly in outer-space with the Phalanx fighter flying through the background. Don’t let the ridiculous(and totally radical) cover art fool you into thinking Phalanx is some third-rate game. Give Phalanx a try if you’re into shmups, just don’t go in expecting a masterpiece. With your expectations properly adjusted, Phalanx will deliver a smooth(and nearly slow-down free) challenge that is a joy after all these years.

slow sailing, and then...

February was turning out to be a pretty slow month until I ran across a nice little lot. But before I get to that, I'll cover a few other tidbits first. I've been playing a lot of shmups lately. I've finished almost every shmup that I have in my collection. The only ones left in my collection that I have not finished are one that I kinda doubt I can actually beat. So lately I've been looking for shmups locally, but the pickins are pretty slim. However, I did pick up Air Fortress, Zanac, and Xevious for the NES a few weeks ago. I've never played Air Fortress or Zanac, but I am familiar with Xevious. Also, I recently ebay'd R-Type Command for the PSP. It's not a shmup, but it is an R-Type game, so maybe that will help quench my thirst somewhat. The problem is that I own most of the affordable and common shmups for the SNES and Genesis that are available in the area. Now I'm pretty much at the point of having to spend $$$ on the few around here that I don't have, or go online and shell out $$$ to get them. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes.

Now for the find that actually inspired me to make a new blog post in the first place. It is a system that I didn't own and didn't think I would be owning any time soon. It just so happened that a local store had the system, along with 7 games at a good price. So I had to...

Buried beneath those massive and gaudy controllers is an Atari Jaguar! Yes, the fabled Jaguar. Perhaps one of the most ill-conceived consoles of all time. Perhaps the weakest library of games in the history of consoles. Perhaps the console with the most obtuse controllers of all time. Yes, the console that effectively killed what was left of the once great Atari. Nonetheless, I didn't have one and I wanted one. Why? To experience the Jaguar and it's unique, though weak, library of games. Of particular interest to me are the remakes/sequels to many classic/Atari games. Tempest 2000 is reportedly a really great game.

But anyways, the Jaguar I bought came with the proper hookups to get it up and running. It also came with 2 controllers, which is all I should ever need. The 7 games I got in the lot: Flip Out, Zoop, Checkered Flag, Iron Soldier, Cybermorph, Evolution: Dino Dudes, and Alien vs Predator. Alien vs Predator is supposed to be one of the better games for the system, so that really helped in my decision to spring for this lot.

I'm really looking forward getting my hands on a few other games for the system. Mainly Tempest 2000, Raiden, and Rayman. That's it for now. Until next time...

The Motherload

It’s been a while, but I finally have something worth an update. Last week and earlier this week I picked up a few games, but nothing exactly newsworthy. However, Thursday a friend of mine hooked me up with some of his old SNES games. That’s the real deal of the week, but first I’ll show the two other games I had added to the family earlier.

Skyblazer for the SNES. This looks like a fun game with an interesting graphical style. I’ve read it’s similar to Hook on the SNES, but more polished. It’s also a Sony Imagesoft game, which always stings a bit when I see that. Just think, at one time Sony knew their place and made games on video game companies’ game consoles. A few precious years later, they bought their way into the industry and forever wrecked it. But that’s a tirade for another day. As far the condition of the cart, it’s in pretty darn good shape. The label is nice and shiny with no major defects. On the back are some hideous rental stickers, but those, along with the marker….marks on the front bottom of the cart, can be taken off rather easily.

Then there was Sidearms for the TG16. This is complete! With the actual box, along with the jewel case and manual. You don’t see that too often. The game looks really fun. As I’m easing into TG16 klectin, I really would like to focus on shmups like Sidearms, since that is where the system really shines. Gunpei Yokoi willing, I hope to be picking up some more TG16 games in the near future.

And now the main event, the buttload of SNES games my friend hooked me up with. And when I say “hooked me up with”, I mean it. I got these games at a very fair price. Most of them are CIB, though a few lack a manual or are missing  page or two from the manual. It has been a long time since I've gotten such a good deal, and since I've gotten such a big haul. Let’s take a look…

I’m most excited about Final Fantasy II, which I’ve been wanting to get for the longest time, Oh-oh-ohhhh, for the longest time. The box is in pretty good shape to boot. Aaaaand it has the manual/guide too! Sweet! Also, Ultima: False Prophet is of particular interest to me. I have wanted to play an Ultima game since the late 80s, but for some reason just have never gotten around to doing it. I do have an Ultima game on the NES, but I’ve got a feeling that this one will be the first one that I play.

Also, it was really nice to get Super Ghouls n Ghost and U.N. Squadron with their respective boxes. Unless it is hiding in my collection somewhere, I realized after I bought this lot that I did not own Super GnG beforehand! Wow, and here I thought I already had the game for years. And U.N. Squadron, such an awesome game. I already own the game, but not with the box. I don’t have many boxed/complete SNES games, so I was very happy to get some quality boxed games in this bunch. Also notice TMNT IV, Earthworm Jim, and Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems in the flock.

Star Trek and Scooby Doo?

Since I don't like Mortal Kombat, I'll just leave this pic upside down!

UN Squadron, you're so cool

Ok, that’s it for now. Hopefully the next update will come soon-ish, as I plan to step up my game a little bit here in the near future. Until then, big hands I know you’re the one.

Black Friday Findings

After a deep slumber I departed from my chambers and ventured out into the madness of Black Friday. It was, of course, madness. Overall it wasn't too bad since I waited long enough for the worst of the crowds to thin out. I came away with some nice deals today, mostly of the new/modern game variety.

I got a pretty nice deal on these, but nothing too major. I paid full price on Super Mario 3D World($60), but got 40% off on another game. So that knocked DuckTales: Remastered down to about $12. Since I was planning to get both games, it made sense to go ahead and get them both while Toys R Us had this sale going on. Even though I already own DuckTales on NES, it will still be nice to see what they've done with it on the remake. CANNOT WAIT to dig into Mario 3D World!

As much as I despise Gamestop, I could not pass up this deal(of sorts). The fact that Michael Ironside did not provide the voice of Sam Fisher in Blacklist almost made me pass up on this game entirely. A friend (who is as equally fond of Ironside as Fisher) told me that the game is good enough to barely make up for that loss. So for $25, I pulled the trigger. What was real crappy/Gamestoppy was that I noticed my "new" game had multiple fingerprints and a few small scratches on the disc. Luckily, the Gamestop close to my home let me swap the disc out with one that is closer to "new" condition than the other one. Too bad the cover art has "Gamestop Edition" on the front. I can get their crappy stickers off, but they went s far as to put their name in the cover art with this one. I've never noticed that before on any game. Oh well, at least I got a good deal on the game.

Now here are two games I've been meaning to get for a long time, though neither is too high on my playlist now. This was also a Toys R Us deal. You could buy any game that was $15 or $20 and get another of the same price for $1. So I paid $21 for two sweet games. Nice!

 And to round it all out, here are three NES games I picked up at Top Games. The Three Stooges, Tag Team Wrestling, and Joust with the manual. Top Games had the "buy two, get one free" deal going on used games. So $15 buck for these three games wasn't too bad at all. Concerning Joust, which is a really fun game, there are two things to note. First, I found out when I got home that I already own a NES copy of Joust(d'oh!). Secondly, this copy of Joust came with the manual(score!).

And as a special showstopper, here are two nifty items from the belly of the beast(Wal-Mart). Tropic Thunder on dvd for $2. Aaaaaaaand the fantabulously awesome show Firefly for $10! I'll take that deal any day. Until next time.

Bombs Awayyyyyyyy

This week I made away with only two games, but they are two games that I'm very happy to have. First up, for the NES....

Hudson Soft's timeless hero himself, Bomberman! Honestly, it has been ages since I've played a Bomberman game. I'm especially looking forward to playing Bomberman here on the NES, back when things were simple. I played Bomberman Jetters(I think it was) on the GameCube some years back, and it really didn't feel like Bomberman to me. It's always refreshing to go back and rediscover what made a lost and confused series(as it is now) so great in the beginning. And to top things off, check out that sweet label art. Gotta love it.





And next, continuing the Bomberman theme, Panic Bomber for the Virtual Boy!

I don't know much about this game, but being that it's a Bomberman game from years past, I'd bet it's pretty decent. Oddly enough, though I only own a handful of Virtual Boy games, I now own roughly half of the Virtual Boy library. I guess it's not that strange when you consider the Virtual Boy only has a library that is a few handfuls. Anyways, I plan to one day sit back with the Virtual Boy and give each of the VB games I own a good playthrough. This is probably the one I'm most hopeful for.




Well, enough jibber jabber. It's time to get a movie playing and pray that sleep comes to me soon. Oh yeah, have I ever mentioned how awesome it is to have a wife who thinks your game collection/collecting is cool? Well, let me just say that it is awesome!

welcome back, welcome back, welcome back

After a few hectic weeks(marriage, honeymoon), it was definitely time to grab a few oldies. It felt a little weird being out of the loop. Not hunting down dusty old carts can make you feel lazy. It's like you're not accomplishing anything and wasting time. So it felt great to be back in the saddle again. Hopefully I can continue to add a few games here and there every few weeks now. Anyways, here's the mini-stash I compiled the last week.

I was pretty surprised to find a few TurboGrafx-16 games out in the wild: Ordyne and Dungeon Explorer, both unfortunately without their jewel cases. Still, they are games(that hopefully work). Maybe I can test them out soonish. Also, Double Dragon for the Master System! Too bad it's got some heavy wear along the label aaaaaand no case. I'm REALLY looking forward to playing it, as it is supposed to be superior to the NES version. Also, the 6-Pak for Sega Genesis complete. 6 hot Genesis games on one cart! I primarily picked it up to finally have a physical copy of Streets of Rage(unless you count the Genesis Collection for 360). I'm finding it particularly hard to find a decent copy of Streets of Rage 1 & 3...

I also picked up two NES games: The Legend of Kage with the box, no manual, and Dragon Warrior III. I really hope that DWIII's battery is still working, as I've become quite fond of the Dragon Warrior/Quest games the last few years.

So what does the future hold for my game hunting? Only time will tell. The good news is my wife thinks my collection is cool and wants to go on the hunt with me. It will be nice to have a partner to get out there and pound the pavement with me. Well, until next time, kiddos!