NES Game Reviews #38 Godzilla: Monster of Monsters

As a kid I wished I had an outlet to access Godzilla, alas I was left only with my imagination.

Starting a game you’ll be presented with a chessboard. You control Godzilla & Mothra. You can move each monster a set number of squares and the different hexagons you land on determines the different battle stages you enter. When the action begins is where the game falls down!

Mothra can fly around, shoot an eye laser and drop her (spare?) wings. Godzilla is slow but much more powerful, with a punch, kick, tail swing and fire breath. The fighting mechanics, while lazy, aren’t actually that bad, and destruction of the terrain is satisfying, for awhile!Once you’ve played for half an hour though, you’ve basically seen the whole game, stages repeat and the challenge remains the same throughout.

There’s always far too much shit onscreen for the NES to handle. The result is endless slowdown! For a few blissful moments, they’ll be a break in the assault, the game running at its native speed, then projectiles pick up and its down to 5fps or less again. To add insult the game tries to tackle slowdown by restricting your attack. The same restrictions dont apply to the computer which is complete bullshit!

Knock-back when you’re hit is infuriating as you’re pushed to the far left. Its constant and even worse as Mothra, half appear to happen for absolutely no reason. I’ll be moving forward then suddenly, bosh, back you go!

With all the powerups, the game is mercifully easy. However the Fire-Magnets you should be very afraid of! drifting slowly along they look innocent but they do maximum damage when touching you. You can’t move through them, if your hit early you’ll take damage continually till it’s off screen. Manipulating their movement is the key!

There is also one vs one battle modes against famous Godzilla monsters. Fight with Godzilla, spam attacks and his use fire breath and you should always win. He will level up each time. There are mini bosses in some levels that Mothra can use to level up.

The whole game is rinse and repeat, very little changes! It’s long and a chore. I was praying for it to end by the final chessboard!