The main character, Ulala, is a TV news reporter leading an investigation for her station, Space Channel 5, into reports of people being kidnapped and forced to dance by aliens knows as the Morolians — which by the way, reportedly inspired the Among Us aliens.
The game is played a bit like Simon. Successfully copy the moves laid out by the computer and the music and characters will get more upbeat until you win your way past the aliens, rival reporters from Channel 42, and pirate broadcasters through four levels: the spaceport, a spaceship, an asteroid field, and the Space Channel 5 studios.
Notably, Space Channel 5 is one of three Sega games to feature Michael Jackson, the first two being Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker (1990) for Sega Genesis, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) for Sega Genesis.
Ports and sequels of Space Channel 5 were later released for the Playstation 2, Game Boy Advance, and Oculus Quest — the latter release 19 years after the first game! Not a bad run, and the main character Ulala was almost more famous. Reportedly she almost had her own MTV show, and almost had a cameo in the game Bayonetta.
Pro tip: Here’s how you enable “Auto mode.”
During the game, hold L + R then press Up, Left, A, Left, A, Down, Right, B, Right, B. The computer will take over Ulala and you will beat the game with 100% view rating.
Space Channel 5 on Sega Dreamcast