This entire week has seemingly been a giant bedside vigil for the 1990′s, including the ever changing gaming-side as the 16-bit era was exploding and 3D-Polygons were comforting dreams for hotshot developers instead of them being reason many of them eventually drifted from gaming stardom into consulting obscurity.

It all started in a way looking forward to Sonic’s 18th Birthday. While the news was nothing more than fluff PR for SEGA, it was an interesting milestone none the less. Along with another entertainment icon I’ll get to in a bit, Sonic personified the 90′s in a big way. While the games started out with just being thrilled by the title the game’s biggest factor, eventually “Story” and “Features” became the selling points for future Sonic titles. Sonic seemingly never grew out of the 90′s, as the era changed and gamers began wanting things like FMV-sequences and free roaming environments. Sonic was caught between two different identities as we entered the 21st century and the next generations of gaming. He was best known for his 90′s attitude and devil may care game style. Now the later games were suddenly stress-inducers where one wrong move would send Sonic into an enemy that while prevalent in his early titles, gained notoriety as he got older. The bottomless pits.

The other icon of the early 90′s of course is Michael Jackson, who’s passing seems to have hit gamers harder than any other hobby aficionados. Sure there’s music sites posting remembrance articles by the hour, but that’s to be expected. What I hadn’t expected was the similar outlook of articles by gaming enthusiasts. At first glance Michael Jackson may not have seemed to have been a major player in the video game industry. Sure he had his own Genesis game Moonwalker and appeared in various titles over the years but at some point he seemed to have joined the cavalcade of entertainment industry icons who wanted to get involved with gaming just to boost their own image with a new generation.

What strikes me most about all these developer memory and rememberance articles is that while there was a part of his involvement that was for publicity purposes, Jackson was just as much a gamer as any of his fans at the time. It was because of his love for gaming that helped him become an icon of the 90′s. Moonwalker may have been a cash-in for some, but for Michael it was that and the ability to make his own fantasy into a game. Look how many entertainment personalities star in games but are really only there for monetary or obligatory reasons. The latest Ghostbusters title may be an awesome game but Murray didn’t have any real emotion attached to his contribution at that point.

Some of the only other personalities I can recall off the top of my head who wanted to get involved in gaming because they loved games were 50 Cent and Vin Diesel. And hell, both of their first attempts were either not well received critically (Fiddy) or commercially (Riddick) but they liked the concepts so much they had next-gen installments made. Just as you’d ask why 50 would be interested in a title where he goes to the Middle East to find a Crystal Skull you’d ask why Michael why his fantasy movie/game involves him turning into a giant robot. You don’t see ideas like that in the gorge of “Celebrity Pet Projects” come to fruition that often.

While Sonic may not be able to “Pass Away” anytime soon, the era of “Sonic Mania” is all but silent now, and it took Jackson’s untimely death to bring back one last “Michael Mania” explosion. The early 90′s didn’t leave us it seems, everyone left it, but interestingly enough it didn’t just automatically stop living, it keeps going for as long as it can, as long as there are still a few fans left to want it to stick around. – The Ben