Should Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker be re-released as a tribute?

You may have heard the news by now that Michael Jackson is dead. I know the story hasn’t been covered in much detail by anyone, but you may have caught it on some obscure news channel. Or Facebook. So, the King Of Pop is dead – is it time for some kind of tribute from the games industry? How about re-releasing Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker.

Michael Jackson had some interest in the video games business, and not just from the perspective of how much money he could make from licensing his music to it. He made cameos in Space Channel 5, Space Channel 5: Part 2, and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2., but will surely be best remembered for Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker.

There was an arcade version of the game as well as versions for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and Sega Master System. All were well-received at the time, although some people looking back now would wonder what the hell all us old-timers were doing playing with a dancing, squealing Michael Jackson sprite back in 1990. We didn’t know any better, and Call Of Duty hadn’t been developed at the time.

It was good for its time, seriously. Don’t judge us too harshly. Although, looking at the story now, with Michael Jackson rescuing little children from someone named Mr. Big, even I start to think badly of myself.

When Michael’s Jackson’s death was announced last week, Sega, which had a long-running association with the singer, issued a statement expressing its sadness at his passing.

We here at Sega were very sad to hear about the passing of Michael Jackson.

He was a true music legend whose songs touched each of us at some point in our lives. We are proud to have worked with him and included his music in some of our most well-remembered games and are sure that his genius will live on through his great body of work.

We have no doubt that future generations will be moonwalking to all his greatest hits.

Punch Jump claims that since his death, the price of original copies of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker has jumped considerably. So there’s obviously a market there, and retro game fans would likely jump at the chance to play the title now on their PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii. Why not release it as a download as a kind of tribute to the man?

Other ideas for tributes include Michael Jackson editions of Singstar and Lips, but these could be conceived as cash-ins rather than celebrations of his life. Come on Sega, re-release Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker and let us all relive your glory days when you had enough money in the bank to buy Michael Jackson’s music and moves for use in a game!

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