Developer: Compile Publisher: Toho Release: 10/89 Genre: Action
Godzilla and the various other Tokusatsu shows that were brought to America in the 70s and 80s is an indelible part of my childhood. Sure I eventually learned that it was a bunch of guys in rubber suits play fighting. But just like kids today can suspend their disbelief when watching Power Rangers I was able to do the same. At first glance Godzilla: Monster of Monsters looks like the Godzilla game of your dreams. But on closer inspection it has numerous flaws that ruin the experience.
Planet X has appeared in our Solar System seemingly out of nowhere. It is only discovered when Neptune and Pluto switch positions within the galaxy. The denizens of Planet X begin their assault on Earth using a legion of giant monsters in a bid to conquer the galaxy. The Earth forces send Godzilla and Mothra on a journey through the galaxy to take the fight to Planet X itself.
Godzilla is a game of two halves. The world map is presented as a grid straight out of a strategy game. Godzilla and Mothra can move two and four spaces respectively with every space leading to a short action stage. Although this is not a RPG both monsters gain levels by defeating bosses and clearing certain stages. This increases your health and power and is absolutely essential to completing the game. The goal is to reach the teleporter at the end of map to move on to the next planet. But standing in your way is a number of bosses.
Mothra and Godzilla play very differently. As Godzilla you have a full complement of melee attacks, from rapid fire punches and a jump kick to a tail swipe. Mothra is permanently in flight and only has an eye beam for offense. She essentially trades power for mobility since you can fly over most enemies. Both characters have a special attack governed by the power meter. With Godzilla you breathe fire for as long as the meter lasts. Mothra can produce wing droppings that only use a little meter. But the catch is that you must be above enemies to hit them. I like the balance between their abilities as it gives reasons for both to be in the game.
While this is not a strategy game you will still need to make a number of tactical choices. It is tempting to send Mothra out first since she can move so far. But bosses will quickly flank you and she is near worthless against most of them. Each boss battle lasts ninety seconds before it ends and while they recover some of their health between bouts you do not. It is common for them to gang up on one of your characters leading to a quick death. Every planet adds one more monster and the game culminates in a battle royale against all eight on Planet X. While I do not blame most players if they favor taking the shortest route to the end you need to level up to keep up with the game’s difficulty curve.
The most standout feature of Godzilla is its graphics. Despite the NES limitations the game manages to capture the scale of Godzilla and his rogue’s gallery wonderfully. The sprites are massive (by NES standards) with decent animation. There is a large cast of monsters from the movie series and a few unique creatures thrown in the mix. Aside from the sprites every level features a layer of parallax scrolling which was nearly unheard of in 1988. You can see where they cut corners as most enemy sprites are tiny and repetitive. The tradeoff almost makes it worth it.
The developers and their drive to capture the TV show hurt the game in other ways. The game pushes a lot of sprites to the point of absurdity and it leads to performance problems. The game routinely slows to a crawl and it affects the gameplay. Every hit knocks you back and you will take back to back hits constantly. As Godzilla your size makes it near impossible to dodge bullets and other hits. On their own they do little damage but it adds up. They realize this as nearly everything drops life restoring items. I would have preferred better game balance and framerate as the game becomes a slog in short order.
Despite Godzilla being big on spectacle it becomes incredibly repetitive in short order. There are only four or five stage themes for the entire game and the recycling starts by the second world. By then you will have seen every enemy type and what to expect going forward. As each world grows in size with more bosses the limited mechanics do nothing to help hold your interest. True, it is exciting to see what new boss you will face next. But knowing you will face each one at least five or six times kills that excitement.
The difficulty is sky high for a number of reasons. As Godzilla you can avoid few attacks. The knock back is annoying at first but soon becomes dire as you get stuck in a feedback loop of hits. Soon the game introduces indestructible large fireballs that are hard to avoid that can kill you in one hit. The time limit during boss battles is frustrating. Trying to kill them in a little over a minute is near impossible by the third world. Watching them heal and come back for round two with back-up saps any desire to play the game. With just Godzilla and Mothra you will need to play perfectly once you are facing four or more per world. I still do not know how I beat this back in the day. I guess unlimited free time helps.
In Closing
Godzilla: Monster of Monsters could have been a contender. It has the production values to compete with the best on the system. But its myriad flaws ruin the experience. With some balancing this could have been an excellent game. Instead it is missed potential.
