Moonwalker: The Computer Game
Moonwalker, developed by Emerald Software and published by US Gold in 1989.
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Player's Review
Spectrum 128k
"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 can collect the items in any order saving a lot of time. 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 version is a bit rough with it's dithered colours and stutter scrolling but the gameplay remains mostly the same as the other versions including some poor collision detection. levels three and four were slightly annoying as the game would always allow me to fire for some reason.
Note: I initially started recording the +3 disk version for faster loading but after level two it turns out a side B is needed and isn't downloadable anywhere so I'm guessing not preserved.
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:00 Film Studio
00:07:00 Michaelsville
00:15:12 Club 30
00:19:50 The Arena
"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 can collect the items in any order saving a lot of time. 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 version is a bit rough with it's dithered colours and stutter scrolling but the gameplay remains mostly the same as the other versions including some poor collision detection. levels three and four were slightly annoying as the game would always allow me to fire for some reason.
Note: I initially started recording the +3 disk version for faster loading but after level two it turns out a side B is needed and isn't downloadable anywhere so I'm guessing not preserved.
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:00 Film Studio
00:07:00 Michaelsville
00:15:12 Club 30
00:19:50 The Arena
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