MJ

(Editor’s note: Today at Appy Place, Project Director Emmanuel Valdez shares his personal reminiscences of the late Michael Jackson)

On the day of his memorial at Staples Center, I thought it would fitting to pay tribute to the one and only Michael Jackson. I was fortunate to work with Michael on a videogame called Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 for the PS2 and Sega Dreamcast back in 2000.

In October 1999, Midway published Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, a comical, arcade-style boxing game for the launch of the Sega Dreamcast. The game was an instant smash hit that resonated with hardcore fighting gamers and boxing enthusiasts alike featuring characters that had expressive, over-the-top personalities and a unique, hyper-realisitic visual style.

Several weeks after the release of R2R Boxing, the team received a call from a fan who enjoyed the game so much that he wanted to be in it.

That fan was Michael Jackson.

Now, like any rational person, I was excited to hear that a celebrity enjoyed playing a game that I’d worked on, let alone that he wanted to participate in the making of the sequel. But at the same time I was skeptical that the celebrity was the one and only “King of Pop,” and one of the most recognizable and famous celebrites on the planet!

All skepticism were put aside when we visited MJ at Neverland Ranch a few weeks later. That was where I met MJ for the first time. He talked about the fun he had with the first game and how much he wanted to be in the sequel. He refused to be paid for his participation and wanted to follow the process of making him into a boxer/fighter. This wasn’t the first time he was in a videogame of course, but it would be the first time he was transformed into a 3D videogame character. It was possible to now use a more lifelike likeness, motion capture his dance moves, and use his voice.

Michael was a gamer. He collected arcade games and had a building at Neverland Ranch that was a dedicated arcade, all on free play . He had classic 80’s uprights and sitdowns, special editions and customized cabinets, and even the latest ones. I even played his own classic arcade game, Moonwalker! MJ challenged me in Dance Dance Revolution, but I respectfully declined. He also had every known videogame console, most attached to the original in-store kiosk display. We spent hours taking about our favorite videogame experiences.

image from arcadeflyers.com

Over the next year, we worked on R2R Boxing: Round 2. As promised, we communicated with MJ closely on the process. I would be talking to MJ almost weekly and over time we became very good friends. Eventually, MJ came down to our development studio in San Diego. We closed off the studio and spent an entire day with him, recording dialogue in our recording studio, photographing him in costume for texture maps for our 3D character model, and capturing his full-body performance using motion capture. He was the consummate professional, that needed little direction, and performed with a tremendous passion to entertain and dazzle. It was a special day for the development team to have worked with a legend.

My most cherished experience that day was having to direct him in the motion capture shoot. I spent weeks hand drawing storyboard sequences that illustrated the kind of dance moves and motion performances we needed to bring his character to life for the videogame. I presented a binder full of these storyboards just before we began the shoot. He looked at it for a few seconds, closed the book and proceed to tell me that he wanted me to direct him by performing the moves myself. That moment I was overwhelmed with fear that I had to “demonstrate” dance moves to Michael Jackson and dread that the supposed “closed-off” set was packed with nearly the entire staff that worked at our studio that wanted to witness the master performer (MJ, of course) at work.

I remember walking up to him on the stage floor, closing my eyes, and executing the world’s slowest version of some of MJ’s most famous dance moves throughout his career in one, ten second dance performance. To my relief, he proceeded to replicate my moves, in the most amazing and beautiful ten seconds I ever witnessed on a motion capture stage. Imagine a videogame designer choreographing and directing the world’s greatest dancer!

When we released the game, the team and our families celebrated with a trip to Neverland Ranch. Over the next few years after the release of the game, I remained in close contact with Michael. I spent endless hours talking about our favorite games and even occasionally the work his was doing on the album he was working at the time, Invincible. He called my family regularly to give us holiday greetings and birthday wishes. My wife and I were given premium floor seating to see him in his tribute concert at Madison Square Garden back in 2001. Those were some of the most surreal and magical moments of my life.

Since then our relationship drifted apart. We hadn’t spoken to each other since 2001. Over the past couple of months I have been trying to reach him to wish him luck on his concert tour and just catch up with our lives. I really wanted to show him the work we did on FaceFighter and felt that he would have genuinely enjoyed playing the game as much as he did with Ready 2 Rumble Boxing games. So it was a real shock to me when he died, especially with the fact that I was trying to make contact recently. I was saddened with his death and have been mourning his passing everyday since the day he died by listening to his music and watching the countless hours of television coverage. Like a lot of fans out there, I too wanted to see him make a triumphant return.

My condolences go out to the Jackson family, his children, his closest friends, and the fans. Michael was an unbelievable talent and a kind hearted good friend that I will personally miss dearly. His legacy will live on through his music, charitable acts, his games, and memories with people like myself who can share personal and unforgettable stories of friendship.

Em & MJ, from the Midway team photo shoot

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Tags: Em, FaceFighter, Michael Jackson, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing

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