Michael Jackson's Video Game Music, Ranked

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Michael Jackson is a myth, he doesn’t even seem real, today or yesterday. Watch old videos of him dancing, before the fire went out, before the 1990s destroyed him and his reputation. Listen to him sing, the infectious joy of “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” or “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin,” before fame made him bitter and distrusting in the late 1980s. Even his more aggressive fare, like “Leave Me Alone” or the bulk of Dangerous is bizarre and captivating. His later life is sad and very human and nobody really wants to remember that, even though it’s a part of his story. Still, now that he’s been gone fifteen years, all that remains for most of us is his talent, his iconography, and unfortunately, his controversies.

Amidst the complicated world that Jackson created for himself, the man legitimately liked video games. Not sure if he chose Sega to work with or Sega chose him, but story goes that he loved Sega arcade games. Sega’s arcade output in the 80s and early 90s was fast-paced, intense, and often pushed the boundaries of technology. Probably reminded Jackson of himself.

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Image courtesy of Gaming Alexandria

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For a few years, Sega had close ties with Jackson. In 1989, they collaborated with him on Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker for the arcade, Genesis, and Master System. Jackson also partnered with Sega in 1993 on their state-of-the-art AS-1 arcade simulation pod for a laserdisc game called Michael Jackson’s Scramble Training. He submitted a few pieces of music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. And even though Sega would distance themselves from him after his 1993 child abuse allegations, a creepy alien avatar of Jackson named Space Michael would appear in the 1999 Dreamcast cult classic Space Channel 5 and its sequel.

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WHAT ABOUT MICHAEL JACKSON’S VIDEO GAME MUSIC?

As far as I can tell, the only legitimate music that Michael Jackson ever composed for a video game is for Sonic 3, and only a handful of tracks at that. That said, digitized versions of some of his biggest hits are found in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker and, even though Jackson didn’t compose those (shoutouts to Hiroshi Kubota and Takayuki Nakamura for their mostly excellent work), I’m counting these on the list as well.

To summarize: I’m going to be ranking Moonwalker’s renditions of “Smooth Criminal,” “Beat It,” and other Jackson songs alongside his original compositions for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Which Jackson cuts remain supreme and which ones should get taken out back and shown what it’s like? Let’s find out.

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#12 – “BAD” (Moonwalker)

Out of the five main Jackson songs run through the Genesis’ Yamaha YM2612 sound chip, “Bad” is the least excellent of the group. The high-pitched synth notes during the chorus are legitimately not great, and the song lacks the thick swagger vibes of the other Moonwalker tracks.

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#11 – “Carnival Night Zone (Act 1 and 2)” (Sonic 3)

Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather listen to this woozy late-night circus jam than whatever Sonic Origins’ replacement track is trying to be. That said, “Carnival Night Zone”’s main melody never really goes anywhere, it just meanders in a dizzying circle, eventually making Sonic and the listener sick. I do love the sample from “Jam” at 1:03, though.