King of the Monsters

King of the Monsters is a series of video games created by SNK Corporation (the predecessor of the current SNK Playmore) and Takara for the Neo-Geo, featuring giant monsters reminiscent of kaiju and tokusatsu.

King of the Monsters

"King of the Monsters" is a fighting/wrestling game. It was released by SNK on July 1, 1991 in Japan (later released on the Virtual Console), with later ports for the Super NES and Sega Genesis by Takara. "King of the Monsters" was included as part of "SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1" which was released for the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PSP in 2008. Players get to choose any one of six monsters (four in the 16-bit ports) for battle, and two players can join forces to fight the monsters together. Battles end when one of the monsters is pinned for a three count or if time expires (in which case the player loses).

The Characters

* Geon: A Godzilla-like dinosaur.
* Woo: A King Kong-like gorilla (not available on the ports).
* Astro Guy: A typical tokusatsu superhero.
* Poison Ghost: A creature covered in toxic waste, inspired by Hedorah (not available on the ports).
* Rocky: A giant golem made of boulders.
* Beetle Mania: A large beetle-like creature, possibly inspired by Megalon.

Battlegrounds

The battles in "King of the Monsters" take place in seven major Japanese cities (one for each monster): Tokyo, Shinjuku, Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka, Okayama and Hiroshima. Almost everything in the stage (within the confines of the electrical barriers) can be destroyed. Vehicles such as helicopters, boats, and tanks can be picked up and thrown.

King of the Monsters 2: The Next Thing

On May 25, 1992, SNK and Takara released a sequel for the Neo-Geo. Takara also ported it to the Super NES in 1993. This sequel takes the original in a new direction by using three of the monsters from the original game as heroes in a side-scrolling beat 'em up. Geon, Astro Guy, and Woo all upgrade themselves to defend Earth against an alien threat led by a creature called Famardy. The game also features a 2-player competition mode.

The Heroes

* Super Geon: Geon mutated into a spiky, vicious form.
* Cyber Woo: A cybernetic version of Woo. (Based somewhat on Mechanikong)
* Atomic Guy: Astro Guy with a super-charged arsenal and bigger muscles.

The Alien Menace

* Huge Frogger: A giant toad with a space helmet that can teleport.
* Eiffelyte: A blob attached to the head of an ordinary human, who has grown to immense proportions because of it.
* Clawhead: A mutated creature with two horned heads, no arms, and a large mouth on its belly.
* Beetle Master: A large scorpion-like monster with a detachable brain that burrows underground.
* Sack Eyes: A giant mutated sea slug with the ability to inflate and freeze its enemies.
* Lavicus: A strange creature with long fingers and a serpentine body that lays eggs from a tube in its forehead.
* Famardy: An enormous green, four-eyed blob with lots of teeth and an orange head and arms sticking out of its midsection. Famardy is the final boss and does massive damage by jumping on or devouring the other monsters.

Battlegrounds

The Japanese cities of the first game have been abandoned in favor of more generic areas: American City, French City, Grand Canyon, Desert, Ocean, Volcano, and Hideout.

Mega Drive/Genesis version

A Genesis version of "King of the Monsters 2" was also released by Takara, but is somewhat different from the other two versions. Rather than being a beat 'em up, the Genesis version plays like a fighting game, similar to its predecessor. All characters (excluding Famardy) are playable and have all been given special attacks executed using standard fighting game motions. Players must destroy all other monsters, one after the other, without any of the scrolling stages in the Neo-Geo version and then defeat a clone of the player's monster.

Other appearances

The "King of the Monsters" series was mostly forgotten following the second game. However, it briefly received some recognition in 2005, when SNK Playmore released Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, a fighting game featuring many of the company's popular characters. Cyber Woo is featured as one of the playable characters, although in a much smaller form and controlled by a human. Also, Yuki and Ai, two other characters in the game, have a combined attack where they can change into Atomic Guy for a brief period of time.

On television

King of the Monsters was a regular on the popular Nickelodeon game show Nick Arcade. It was almost always picked, leaving other games like Actraiser, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and El Viento out, this was the same on earlier broadcast's of Sky One show Games World.

References

External links

*moby game|id=/king-of-the-monsters|name="King of the Monsters"
*moby game|id=/king-of-the-monsters-2-the-next-thing|name="King of the Monsters 2: The Next Thing"