Godzilla: Monster War

Single Player

In the single player game, players are able to choose from Godzilla himself, Anguirus, King Ghidorah, Gigan, Megalon, Mechagodzilla, Biollante and Mothra. No matter which monster the players select, they are taken to a map of Japan and must select their opponent to battle. Battles take place in the familiar 2D fighting screen seen in Street Fighter II and other games of the genre, though the game plays more akin to the SNES Dragon Ball Z: Super Butōden fighting games. Each round has a time period of sixty seconds, during which each monster fights with a variety of attacks to wear their opponent's energy bar down and win the round. At the end of the round, the player's score is tallied up based on time, energy and the level of their opponent. Once every enemy monster has been defeated, the player enters the eighth and final round and must face Mechagodzilla/Super Mechagodzilla or Gotengo. Upon the defeat of one of those monsters, the credits roll and the game ends.

Each monster has a variety of standard and unique, special attacks, as well as the ability to block. Standard attacks include light and heavy physical attacks (punch, kick, etc.) and varying degrees of energy-based attacks, a dash attack and a grab attack. Each monster also has the ability to stun the opponent with a loud roar. As a succession of hits is landed, the monster will glow red and be stunned for several seconds, while a separate energy bar fluctuates, either to increase the strength of the monster's attack power or the possibility of stunning the opponent. Monsters are able to use their projectile attacks to block oncoming projectiles, similar to Street Fighter II, and sometimes the two can clash in a brief test-of-strength encounter.

Multi-Player

The game supports the standard two player Vs Mode, the only difference being in the player's ability to select to play as Mechagodzilla 2 and Atragon, presumably, to choose their own battleground.

Playable Monsters

Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla attacks using punches and his tail to smack opponents away, filling the void of an all-rounded fighter. Godzilla's charge attack is to rush the opponent and headbutt and bite at them, while his projectile attacks are the standard Atomic Ray, which can also be directed in a clockwise fashion, and his more powerful Red Spiral Ray.

Anguirus: Small and light, Anguirus can land multiple hits but takes damage quite easily. Anguirus can attack by spinning his spiked body and tail and by cannonballing himself out of the sky, however he has no energy or projectile-based attacks.

King Ghidorah: Godzilla's most persistent foe, King Ghidorah is large and has a variety of attacks. Ghidorah can fly and attacks using its three heads and its large feet. King Ghidorah can also blast opponents with its electrical energy beams and whip them with its tail.

Gigan: Faster than Godzilla and tougher than Anguirus, Gigan attacks using its hooked arms and flame breath, able to whip opponents with its tail, rip him off with his body-mounted buzzsaw and blast them with a thin red energy beam. Gigan has a rushing combination attack where it grabs, kicks, punches and blasts its opponent away with a back-flip kick.

Megalon: Megalon is an unbalanced character in the game. Attacking with its horned head, Megalon is slow but makes up for its lack of grace with incredibly powerful special attacks. Megalon's standard projectile is a small beam of yellow electricity but it also drops a ball of fire onto the battlefield, incinerating the opponent and causing massive damage. It has a drill-combo attack that also causes considerable damage. Megalon can also launch itself like a torpedo at its opponents.

Mechagodzilla: Slow but varied, Mechagodzilla can fly, extend its limbs and unleash a variety of projectile attacks, while being extremely durable. Mechagodzilla has an energy shield to block attacks, as well as the standard block, fires missiles and lasers at its opponent and has a special move where it unleashes all its arsenal in one blast, causing significant damage.

Biollante: A monstrous clone of Godzilla, Biollante is slow moving but powerful. Biollante attacks using its large mouth and tentacle appendages, tossing spores at the opponent.

Mothra: Light and quick, Mothra is also extremely weak. Mothra can fly about the upper part of the screen out of reach of normal attacks, causing its opponent to use jump attacks instead. Mothra can divebomb the opponent, leave spores, shoot energy beams and attack with her wings.

Mechagodzilla (Heisei): The boss opponent for the game is on easy mode, Mechagodzilla 2 is only selectable in two player mode. Mechagodzilla 2 is faster than its predecessor and has stronger attacks, extending its limbs further, attacking with concussive lasers and bombs and traveling like a tank. His special ability is a projector in his chest that makes him able to absorb and re-release enemy projectiles back to his attacker. Mechagodzilla 2, however, seems to block less, in favour of a more aggressive attack pattern

Super Mechagodzilla: When the game is beaten on medium difficulty, an enhanced version of Mechagodzilla 2 confronts the player, proving the most difficult challenge of the game through its joining with Garuda. This character is only unlockable by code.

Gotengo: This character is unlocked in hard mode. Unlike the monsters, Gotengo is a ship with a drill that can fire missiles at its opponent, it can fly, can fire lasers, release an electricity field and a freeze weapon at the monsters.

Unplayable Monsters

Battra is presented in the game in a special attack by Mothra, when it combines with her to give a more powerful supporting eyelight attack on her opponent.

Stages

There are nine stages in the game, ranging from cities to the open countryside to a carnival fair. Some have a degree of destructibility, while others are already in wreckage.

Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters

In the May 1995 issue of Nintendo Power, a page mentioned Godzilla: Destroy all Monsters for the Super NES. This was supposed to be the North American release. Curiously, the release date said April 1995, even though the issue of Nintendo Power was released in May of that same year. It was never mentioned again in later issues, and no copies of this game existed. The port was most likely a last second cancellation.

Interestingly, Nintendo Power was able to review the game, even though it was never released. A possible suggestion could be that the writers of Nintendo Power had acquired copies of the Japanese release version or of the cancelled port, but the company decided not to release it into stores at the last second.