Successors to Michael Jackson’s video game throne: the Wu-Tang Clan
Along with his pop music crown, Michael Jackson held the distinction of the celebrity most involved in video games, inspiring and even appearing in several titles, as mentioned many times over on gaming sites since his death and thoroughly discussed on Retronauts several weeks ago. It’s difficult to imagine any non-sports figure as intertwined with video game history as Michael.
With almost a month passed since his death, I thought now is the right time to nominate his heir, or rather his nine heirs (though you could argue eight): the Wu-Tang Clan.
Not even counting numerous appearances in the Def Jam fighting game series, there are at least three PlayStation and PC titles centered around the seminal rap group:
- Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style (PS1, shown above)
- Wu-Tang: Iron Flag Arcade Game (PC)
- The Wu-Tang Clan and the Wu-Tang Baby (PC)
Other highlights from the Wu-Tang’s gaming history:
- Almost a full decade before the Aly & AJ wireless guitar, the group received its own PlayStation controller modeled after its iconic W logo
- You can hear game allusions scattered throughout the crew’s catalog, like the shout-out to “shitty Mortal Kombat sound” in their biggest single “Triumph”
- Army of Two includes a conversation between its main characters about the best rapper out of the group (FYI, it’s Gza the Genius)
- Rza served as music director and contributed several tracks for the Afro Samurai game
- Along with Doom, Ghostface Killah provided a theme song for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Also, lest you forget, Wu-Tang is for the children.
I will find any excuse to talk about the Wu-Tang Clan.
tags / wu-tang clan / michael jackson / ec
