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International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker

Description

Michael has to rescue the children, kidnapped by Mr. BIG, using Bubbles the chimp and his moonwalking and dancing smartbomb skills. The game's soundtrack features hits such as "Bad", "Smooth Criminal" and "Beat It".

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker was produced by Sega in 1990.

Sega released 593 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1960. Sega was based in United States.

Other machines made by Sega during the time period Michael Jackson's Moonwalker was produced include: World Championship Soccer, Bare Knuckle, Super Masters, Wrestle War, Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair, Alien Storm, Aurail, Bloxeed, Bonanza Bros., and Borench

Specs

Name	Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
Developer	Sega (United States)
Year	1990
Type	Videogame
KLOV/MOG #	8686
Class	Wide Release
Genre	Scrolling Fighter
Monitor	Orientation: Horizontal Type: Raster: Standard Resolution Color: Color
Conversion Class	Sega System 18 JAMMA
Game Specific	Michael Jackson's Moonwalker Pinout
Dipswitch Settings	Michael Jackson's Moonwalker Dipswitch Settings (user contributed)
# Simultaneous Players	3
# Maximum Players	3
Game Play	Joint
Control Panel Layout	Multiple Player
Controls	Joystick: 8-way Buttons: 2 - FireDance
Sound	Amplified Mono (one channel)
Cabinet Styles	Upright/Standard
PCB	Michael Jackson's Moonwalker PCB Image

Video Clips

Michael Jackson's MoonWalker 1990 Sega

Game Introduction

The game has five rounds. Each round has unique scenarios and each has a different song by Michael Jackson for the instrumental background music. The rounds are 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 five rounds and end the game, the song that will play for the ending will be "Billie Jean".

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

Game Play

During each round, Michael must fight off each and every one of Mr. BIG's henchmen as well as the deadly enemy machines by shooting them with his magical energy or by using his Dance Magic. Some enemies take only one shot to defeat but some of them take several shots to destroy. The longer you hold down on the fire button, the greater the amount of energy Michael can shoot. If Michael uses his Dance Magic, all the enemies on the screen will dance along with him and then they will all be eliminated. However, you are usually only given two Dance Magics at a time.

When you begin each game, you get three lives and one Dance Magic. Everytime Michael is hurt, the energy meter drops. If Michael runs out of energy, a life is lost. If you run out of lives the game ends, but continuous play is available.

During each round, as Michael fight off the enemies, he will find some of the children who are held captive. He must touch each of them in order to free them. Some children give Michael special items such as a Dance Magic or some extra life-energy. Michael has to rescue all children in each and every round.

Later in each round, Michael's pet chimpanzee Bubbles will be seen moving about and if he touches Bubbles, he will turn into a powerful robot called Moonwalker. After Michael has become Moonwalker, he will be able to shoot lasers and fire missles. Michael must defeat every boss enemy at the end of each round in order to proceed to the next.

At the end of the fifth round, Michael must defeat Mr. BIG and his Death Machine. If Michael gets past this round, Mr. BIG's evil schemes will be crushed and he will be beaten. After that, Michael will turn himself into a spaceship and escape from the Evil Fortress as it explodes. Afterwards, the game ends.

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.61 (6 votes)

Fun Factor: 4.12

Overall Like	4.40
Fun (Social)	4.00
Fun (Solo)	3.60
Collector Desire	4.20

Technical Rating: 3.63

Gameplay	4.20
Graphics	3.67
Originality	3.80
Sound/Music	4.40

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, Like carries a little more weight than the other factors.

Images

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Michael Jackson's Moonwalker Census

There are 15,264 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,669 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 166,973 machines (7,000 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 159 known instances of this machine owned by Michael Jackson's Moonwalker collectors who are active members. Of these, 32 of them are original dedicated machines. 7 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 119 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 2 active VAPS members with a Michael Jackson's Moonwalker machines for sale. There are 5 active VAPS members with a Michael Jackson's Moonwalker circuit boards for sale.

Wanted - There are 8 active VAPS members currently looking for Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. There are 6 active VAPS members looking for Michael Jackson's Moonwalker boards sets.

This game ranks a 30 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 17 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are not necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Flyers

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker

1990 / 2 Pages

Manuals

Pinout and DIP Switch Settings - Michael Jackson's Moonwalker Manual — **Pinout and DIP Switch Settings**
(1 page, 210 kB File)

Foto-Finder® (Books)

The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 209; Color photo Price guide: No
Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 209; Color photo

Arcade Map - Play This Game

Our members have reported that Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is playable at 1 locations:

Name	Location	State	Country	Details	Check-ins
Bartari	101 Adams Ave, Scranton	Pennsylvania	United States	Bar	0

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