Ooh!
It’s not any secret that Michael Jackson was a huge Sega mark back in the day. And if you don’t believe me, consider the fact that Moonwalker was only on Sega consoles. And also, apropos of nothing, he had a massive personal arcade, of which there were certainly a considerable number of Sega cabinets.
But back in the 90’s, not only was Jackson huge, so was the burgeoning Sega brand, to the point that they had their own amusement parks. Not just arcades, but actual, indoor amusement parks called Sega World. The bulk majority of them were located in Japan (natch) and the UK.
Anyway, it should come as no surprise that Michael Jackson would be into these theme parks. And, as it just so happens, became a part of one of the attractions: Scramble Training. That said, time passed, and most Sega World locations closed down eventually, due in no small part to Sega’s aggressive money troubles in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Long story short, Jackson’s legal problems eventually led to Jackson’s part in Scramble Training being removed from wherever it was installed, and the video was long thought lost.
Until now.
As luck would have it (according to Games Radar), recently someone who was related to a dearly departed former Sega Amusements Europe employee in the UK decided it was time to sell some of this stuff off at a flea market. And wouldn’t you know it, among the many treasures was a high quality digital tape marked “Sega AS-1 (Michael Jackson Vers)”. And it contained the full footage for the ride (an interactive simulator), with English voiceover from the late King of Pop, as well as a Japanese dub.
While the game itself is essentially lost due to its very nature, there is a sort of comfort in knowing that the footage that was part of it still lives on. You can see the footage below.
Source: Eurogamer
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