Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!

Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! Developer Compile Publisher Toho Platforms Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) / Famicom Languages English Japanese Genre Action, sidescroller

Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! (ゴジラ,   Gojira, lit. "Godzilla") is a 1988 video game developed by Compile and published by Toho for the Nintendo Famicom in Japan in 1988, and for the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States the following year. It is the first console game to feature Godzilla, and is notable for its large roster of characters and devices from Toho's science-fiction films, including many which have never appeared in a Godzilla film before or since. Toho developed a North America-only follow-up, marketed as a sequel to this game titled Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters, in 1993.

Story

Ending screen

"In 2XXX A.D. when the orbits of Pluto and Neptune exchange their positions, the Earth receives a declaration of war from an unknown planet.

The invaders from Planet X attack the Earth as part of their plan to conquer the entire universe using a legion of space monsters. The Earth sends Godzilla, king of the monsters on the Earth, and Mothra, to defend itself. Godzilla advances through battle stages called Ring Fields provided in interplanetary space to battle that legion of space monsters controlled by Planet X. Godzilla must battle its way from one Ring Field to another, and finally defeat King Ghidorah at Planet X to defend Earth. For the sake of the future of the Earth, Godzilla's fierce battle now begins..."

Character details

Hex-map layout

Both Godzilla and Mothra start the game at level 1, and with a limited supply of life and power. The monsters can gain levels by defeating bosses and certain stage types (Ruins and Hyperspace); every time Godzilla or Mothra gains a level their life and power bars will increase. The maximum level is 16.

The life bar will replenish once a boss is defeated, or when a Life Capsule is picked up. The power bar recovers by itself over time, and the more life the monster has the faster it recovers.

Advancing

Each world takes place on a grid, with hexagonal spaces serving as stages. Godzilla can move two spaces per turn, while Mothra can move four (in the Japanese version, Godzilla can only move one space, while Mothra can move two). After the monster moves through those spaces, it will enter the game's sidescrolling action sections, where it has to fight through waves of enemy tanks, spaceships, etc. To move to the next world, the remaining monster(s) must move onto the Base Headquarters stage. On the following turn, the player must select the monster without moving and the game gives the option to advance to the next world. If either Godzilla or Mothra died before advancing, the deceased monster will reappear in the next world; however, the revived monster will lose one level as a result. Things to note: if Godzilla or Mothra advances to the next level, and the other monster left behind is destroyed, the game will be lost. In addition, there is a chance that while exploring the levels, the player can encounter a 'Hyperspace' area. These areas feature battles against the Gohten from The War in Space, Dogora cells, or Matango. Clearing these areas can reward the player with another level.

Characters

Playable monsters

• Godzilla
• Mothra

Bosses

Boss screen (Godzilla vs. Gezora)

Each world hosts 2-8 bosses, depending on how far the player is, who will attack the player on their way to the enemy base. The player doesn't have to beat the bosses, with the exception of King Ghidorah, to advance in the game, but in general they will be hard to avoid and confrontation is inevitable. Things to note: boss matches (or "Hyper-Fight Mode") last approximately 40 seconds before the match is ended in a draw and both monsters are returned to the Ring Field view; in case of a draw, the enemy kaiju will have its health restored slightly (this differs between the U.S. and Japanese version of the game). Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! features eight bosses; half had either never previously appeared in a Godzilla film (Moguera and Gezora) or merely cameoed (Varan and Baragon). A new boss is added every world (with the exception of Neptune), which the player will fight along with the previously defeated monsters. The bosses are:

• King Ghidorah: First appears on Planet X.
• Mechagodzilla: First appears on Pluto.
• Gigan: First appears on Uranus.
• Baragon: First appears on Saturn.
• Hedorah: First appears on Jupiter.
• Varan: First appears on Mars.
• Moguera: First appears on Earth.
• Gezora: First appears on Earth.

Stage enemies

• Dogora
• Gohten
• Gotengo
• Manda
• Markalite Cannon
• Maser Cannon
• Matango
• Natarl UFO
• Super X
• Firestorm Phoenixes
• Foliage Cannons
• Vine Cannons
• Thorn Towers
• Bio-Blockades
• Bio-Cannons
• Airborne Bombers

Allies

• Moonlight SY-3

Scrapped characters

The two unused board sprites for Anguirus and Rodan

Through examining the game's coding and sprite data, Rodan and Anguirus have been discovered. Anguirus, called "ANGILAS," is playable in the Japanese version of Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! through cheat codes. However, he doesn't have any attacks other than a "destructive walk." Rodan has a board piece in both versions, while sprites for him exist in the game's coding. An unused sprite for Hedorah's flying stage can be seen in the game's end credits. Furthermore, a sprite of Mothra's larval stage was revealed in an issue of Fanroad in October, 1988.

Glitches

Gezora trapping Mothra in the corner of the stage

Some glitches in the game can have favorable benefits to the player, while others serve only to slow them down. Gezora can infamously trap the player in the corner of the boss fight and repeatedly deal damage to them until the timer runs out. On the other hand, Moguera can sometimes get stuck in its beam charging animation temporarily, allowing the player to land more hits on the mech.

Cheat Codes

• At the password screen, entering "DESTR0Y ALL M0NSTERS" activates a special mode where Godzilla and Mothra fight all the monsters at once on Earth.
• Entering "MONSTER 0" at the password screen starts the game on Earth with only King Ghidorah as an enemy.
• Entering "START T0 END" as the password plays the ending sequence.
• Entering "S0UND" will take the player to a sound test featuring music from both versions of the game.
• Entering "SEA M0NSTER" as the password will take player to Planet X and will cause all monsters to spawn from the center of the playing board.
• Entering first 3 letters of any world ("PLU" for "Pluto", "MAR" for "Mars", etc.) as the password will make the player start at that level, with Mothra and Godzilla both being at Level 1.
• Entering "GH1D0RA" as the password will take player to an unfinished level which can't be played.
• Not entering anything and pressing END will start a new game with no monsters on the board, making the game unplayable as well.

Gallery

Main article: Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!/Soundtrack.

Videos

Main article: Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!/Videos.

Trivia

• A creepypasta was made about this game, called the NES Godzilla Creepypasta by CosbyDaf, with the story receiving an ongoing sequel, NES Godzilla Replay as well as an actual video game adaptation by Allone-Works.
• Although the English version of the game only identifies the alien invaders as "invaders from Planet X," the original Japanese version specifically identifies them as the Xiliens. This is corroborated by their UFOs, which closely resemble the Xilien UFOs from Invasion of Astro-Monster, and the use of King Ghidorah as one of their pawns.
• Anguirus' in-game name is "ANGILAS" in both the Japanese and American versions of the game, while Rodan's is also "RODAN" in both versions.
• The cover art for the game features a picture of the ShodaiGoji suit, while the sprites used for Godzilla in the game more closely resemble the KingGoji or MosuGoji suits.
• Though Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! has never been officially ported to other systems since its original release, merchandise based on it has occasionally been released. In 2015, the toy company NECA produced a figure of Godzilla based on his appearance in this game. In 2022, Games Glorious launched a line of licensed apparel based on the game, featuring designs inspired by both the Japanese and North American box art and including sprites for all of the monsters, even Anguirus and Rodan. A hooded sweatshirt in this line also features the game over screen from Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters.
• This game's final victory screen appears in a video thumbnail in the 2023 IDW Publishing comic Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - Summer Smash.

External links

• Instruction booklet
• Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! cover story in a 1990 issue of Player's Strategy Guide to NES Games

References

This is a list of references for Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

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