DESCRIPTION

Have you ever fantasized about rampaging through some Japanese cities as one of those overgrown movie monsters? How about doing that while wrestling down another oversized monster? King of the Monsters gives you the chance to do just that.

Players choose from one six monsters to compete with. Although these are obvious copies of famous monsters like Godzilla, SNK named them differently to avoid having to deal with licensing issues. The game consists of romping and stomping through a series of cities on mainland Japan while contending with the opposing monster.

The actual fighting is done like a 2D wrestling game. Monsters can punch and kick, and can grab and throw each other. The monsters can also stomp on downed opponents and irish whip them from a clinch or break into a run themselves. When a monster manages to perform a special move a bouncing power ball appears from the thrown opponent. These power balls can be collected, with ten of them giving the monster a level up. Monsters can be leveled up a maximum of twice, and level ups collected during one round carry over into the subsequent rounds.

Game stages consist of a section of city, complete with residential units, factories, stadiums, and even harbors, surrounded by a line of power grids. These grids act as the ropes in a regular wrestling ring, bouncing monsters back that run or are thrown into the grid. Besides the stationary structures there are also vehicles like airplanes, tanks, and ships. The vehicles that are military in nature shoot at both monsters indiscriminately, with the shots doing some damage when struck. All these vehicles can be stomped on or swiped at and destroyed, but they can also be grabbed to throw at the other monster.

The primary object of the game is to beat the opposing monster down and pin it for a three count, but points are awarded based on the amount of damage done to a city and the civilian casualties. Players can also play two-player against each other or team up against two computer opponents. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide