Moonwalker: The Computer Game
Moonwalker, developed by Emerald Software and published by US Gold in 1989.
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Player's Review
"After conquering the world of pop music, Michael Jackson channelled his energy and talent into making his first film. Now U.S. Gold present the home computer version of that film, endorsed by the Superstar himself. Feel the rhythm in Club 30, transform into a futuristic silver robot and ultimately beat the drug peddling MR BIG in the unique world of MOONWALKER - a game like no other."
The Home computer release is quite different from the Arcade and console versions and not in a good way. There are only four levels and whilst not difficult to navigate, enemies are placed to kill you quick. So for some difficulty balance it starts you off with twenty odd lives.
Level one has you running around a film studio where you need to collect the rabbit suit parts to hide from the fans. The level is very much a maze and you have a time limit although running out of time just costs you life and throws you back to the start. In this version you also have to collect the parts in order. The map highlights the needed part with a flashing green pixel and yellow shows where the roaming enemies are. You can run but it is limited and you have to wait for it to recharge. best used when the enemies are near.
Level Two (Michaelsville) Here you are riding your motorcycle and have to navigate a number of stages collecting the yellow orbs. You need these orbs to transform into the car which allows you to jump the barriers into the next stage. Some strategy is needed as you only have ten seconds as the car so the last orb collected should be near the barrier. There are also bags of ... powder to collect boosting your score.
Level three (Club 30) This level can be annoying as losing a life can reverse you progress as you need to eliminate forty of Mr Bugs soldiers. The soldiers will be firing at you from the upper windows so you need to run and jump in either direction until you find the machine gun and ammo clips. Then it time to shoot at the enemies as they appear. It is best to have them at the side of the screen as if they appear close to you they can quickly shoot you.
Level four (The Arena) You transform into a gun turret and need to take on many soldiers and a laser gun. This where most of the lives will be spent as you are shot at from all sides. Destroying the laser weapon should be the priority as it's weapon fire really hurts. Once the kill quota is met, you win the game!
Overall, this probably the weakest of the 16 bit versions. No music during play but a short tune on each of the pre level interlude animations. I noticed only after recording that you can press M to toggle sfx / music. Well presented but and not bad looking in game but those interlude screens don't seem to be making good use of the sixteen colour mode. A notable issue (couldbe emu or game bug) is that diagonal down /right would not work.
Note: The game supports cga and ega colour modes as well as Tandy tga mode used in this recording. Too bad it doesnt also make use of Tandy 3 channel audio :/ 1000 cycles was used but levels three and four still seem too fast. 500 and the music breaks up. 700 and the scrolling looks weird so settled on the 1000.
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:54 Film Studio
00:06:43 Michaelsville
00:11:36 Club 30
00:15:30 The Arena
The Home computer release is quite different from the Arcade and console versions and not in a good way. There are only four levels and whilst not difficult to navigate, enemies are placed to kill you quick. So for some difficulty balance it starts you off with twenty odd lives.
Level one has you running around a film studio where you need to collect the rabbit suit parts to hide from the fans. The level is very much a maze and you have a time limit although running out of time just costs you life and throws you back to the start. In this version you also have to collect the parts in order. The map highlights the needed part with a flashing green pixel and yellow shows where the roaming enemies are. You can run but it is limited and you have to wait for it to recharge. best used when the enemies are near.
Level Two (Michaelsville) Here you are riding your motorcycle and have to navigate a number of stages collecting the yellow orbs. You need these orbs to transform into the car which allows you to jump the barriers into the next stage. Some strategy is needed as you only have ten seconds as the car so the last orb collected should be near the barrier. There are also bags of ... powder to collect boosting your score.
Level three (Club 30) This level can be annoying as losing a life can reverse you progress as you need to eliminate forty of Mr Bugs soldiers. The soldiers will be firing at you from the upper windows so you need to run and jump in either direction until you find the machine gun and ammo clips. Then it time to shoot at the enemies as they appear. It is best to have them at the side of the screen as if they appear close to you they can quickly shoot you.
Level four (The Arena) You transform into a gun turret and need to take on many soldiers and a laser gun. This where most of the lives will be spent as you are shot at from all sides. Destroying the laser weapon should be the priority as it's weapon fire really hurts. Once the kill quota is met, you win the game!
Overall, this probably the weakest of the 16 bit versions. No music during play but a short tune on each of the pre level interlude animations. I noticed only after recording that you can press M to toggle sfx / music. Well presented but and not bad looking in game but those interlude screens don't seem to be making good use of the sixteen colour mode. A notable issue (couldbe emu or game bug) is that diagonal down /right would not work.
Note: The game supports cga and ega colour modes as well as Tandy tga mode used in this recording. Too bad it doesnt also make use of Tandy 3 channel audio :/ 1000 cycles was used but levels three and four still seem too fast. 500 and the music breaks up. 700 and the scrolling looks weird so settled on the 1000.
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:54 Film Studio
00:06:43 Michaelsville
00:11:36 Club 30
00:15:30 The Arena
1 comment
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MadMatty- April 29 2026 16:42:08
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