Trivia / Space Channel 5

• Descended Creator: Takashi Thomas Yuda and Ken Okazaki, who voiced Fuse and Noize respectively in the Japanese version, are part of the creative staff for both games. Yuda works in animation and Okazaki contributed to the character design department.
• Inspiration for the Work: Apparently, the design of the crewmates from Among Us is based on that of the Morolians.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Apollo Smile, Ulala's first voice actress, is a professional dancer and choreographer playing the then-rookie space reporter. She was also a singer for a time, releasing several albums during the early 90s. And wore pigtails for the longest time.
• Meme Acknowledgement: After a Twitter post went viral about a figure set of chibified Morolians looking like the crewmates from Among Us, the official SEGA Forever Twitter posted a joke about it later that same day.
• No Dub for You: For obvious reasons, Space Michael speaks English in all reigons.
• No Export for You: Thanks to Michael Jackson's ill-advised interview with journalist Martin Bashir that aired just before Part 2's release in Europe (which led to a second round of child abuse allegations, and the eventual 2004 trial over them), the game was never released in the UK until it was included in the Dreamcast Collection for Steam and Xbox 360. Said interview also resulted in Jackson's likeness getting scrubbed from the game's "Special Edition" release in the USA, which was upheld for the 2011 re-release.
• The Other Darrin: In the English version of Part 2, all of the returning characters except Ulala (and Space Michael) have different voice actors. Ulala eventually got Darrin'd for Kinda★Funky News Flash, with Cherami Leigh taking up the mic for her role. ^note  While the staff of Space Channel 5 VR: Kinda Funky News Flash looked for Apollo Smile to reprise her role as Ulala, she ultimately declined..
  • Flashback with the Other Darrin: The intro of Part 2 shows several scenes from the first game. The voiceovers for these scenes have been redone by the Part 2 voice cast.
• Playing Against Type: Jaguar's Japanese voice actor usually does characters that are evil.
• Promoted Fanboy: Michael Jackson loved video games and had worked with SEGA in the past; after a SEGA exec showed him a build of their upcoming rhythm game Space Channel 5, he was so enthusiastic about the project, he wanted to be a part of it. Although the game's near-finished state limited him to just a couple of lines, he had a much larger participation in its sequel.
  • What Could Have Been: The Michael Jackson part actually had been programmed into the game (with five aliens instead of four and a hypnotized Michael), but because of the above, it was easy to just Throw It In! and have them rescue Space Michael.
• Sequel Gap: A 19 year hiatus between Part 2 in 2001 to VR: Kinda★Funky News Flash in 2020.
• Uncredited Role: Michael Jackson provided beatboxing and vocals for his rescue mission music in Part 2.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Ulala was meant to have a cameo in Bayonetta, but legal issues came up that prevented her inclusion.
  • Ulala was going to get her own spinoff on MTV as an actual reporter, but Production Lead Time stopped that.

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Miscellaneous Trivia:

• Part 2 was the final video game Michael Jackson worked on with Sega, his last to to be released for a Sega console, and his last video game he got to see released during his lifetime; ending a 12 year partnership with the company that lasted from the Sega Genesis, to the Dreamcast.