One oddity of 90s video gaming is Sega's clandestine work with Michael Jackson. It was rumored for many years that Jackson composed the music for Sonic The Hedgehog 3 along with Sonic & Knuckles. Even more incredible is recently-found footage of Jackson's work with an unknown Sega simulator game where all the footage has been found. Matt Gardner at Forbes has more.
Previously unseen footage of Jackson as the lead actor in the largely unknown Advanced System-1 (AS-1) motion simulator game Scramble Training has finally been made public by a pair of Sega enthusiasts, following the chance discovery of a seemingly forgotten tape found at a U.K. flea market.
Until now, Scramble Training’s experience was limited only to shaky, poor-quality camcorder footage from the 90s. However, following the chance discovery of Ben Bizley, with the help of fellow fans and preservationists in the U.K., we can finally see every piece of footage from Sega’s strangest collaboration with the late King of Pop–a pseudo-game that could only be enjoyed at one of many long-gone SegaWorld locations around the globe.
Forbes
The AS-1 was in place at locations called SegaWorld; a chain of arcades mainly found in Japan during the 90s and 2000s. The arcade system was one of many arcade games and experiences Sega rolled out back in the day. According to Gardner's reporting, the AS-1 was partly designed by Douglas Trumball who was the designer of the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios.
After acquiring the tapes from the AS-1, Bizley took the footage and was able to have it digitized which was then uploaded to YouTube. It's truly a piece of video gaming history and another excellent way of preserving an odd piece of Sega's history.
PS: For the record, finally in 2022 did Yuji Naka confirm Jackson did compose the Sonic 3 music.