Article 779 of rec.games.video.sega: Newsgroups: rec.games.video,rec.games.video.sega Path: uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!headwall.Stanford.EDU!nntp.Stanford.EDU!jhu From: jhu@leland.Stanford.EDU (Jackson Hu) Subject: King of the Monsters [Genesis] Message-ID: <1993May8.092350.10413@leland.Stanford.EDU> Sender: news@leland.Stanford.EDU (Mr News) Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA Date: Sat, 8 May 93 09:23:50 GMT Lines: 59 Xref: uwm.edu rec.games.video:57089 rec.games.video.sega:779 I just rented 'King of the Monsters' for Genesis and I thought I'd post a note about the game. I wanted to rent Flashback and Fatal Fury but they were both out at two of my local Blockbuster. This game came out fo NeoGeo in the arcade in 1991 and I played it back then. It's basically a game where you control a monster and you fight another monster in a city. You can punch, kick, jump, throw and fire beams at one another. It's sorta like monster wrestling mania, except you get to destroy the city you step on in the process (these are Ultraman size monsters). You get to choose Astro Guy, a giant bettle, a rock dude, and a Guzella-type monster. You can fight the computer or you can fight against a friend. There are four cities. These are cities in Japan, so you get to knock down Tokyo Tower, royal palace, trains, skyscraps. There are also airlines, fighter jets, ships and tanks attacking both of you and you can pick them up and throw them at your enemy. What do I think: The graphics are quite good, better than average (~80% percentile). The game does a good job of recreating the original that after a while I forget I was playing on the Genesis. The music is distinct and clear. While the sound of explosions are good, the yells of the monsters are not very realistic. Astro Guy sounded okay but the giant bettle sounded like a screaming mouse. The other two sounde so so. But I never expected great digitized sound from my Genesis anyway. The controls are responsive, no slow down or whatever. You also get more bonus if you flatten the city thoroughly. However, the game is short with 8 stages ( 2 stages at each city). The game ends when you defeated each monster twice. I got the game at 8:00pm, by 10:30pm I finished the game on easy and normal setting. Well, part of the reason is that you can have as many as 12 continues (not that I complain). In addition, you maintain your power-up after you continue. (The game tells you to try the next level when you finish all the stages and there are also hard and mania levels so I haven't see the real ending yet.)) I'd say it's a rent-it item. TThe translation is very well done. But the problem is that the cities all look alike and there's only four monsters so there is not much variety. However, the game is really about mindlessly punching and destroying everything and it is a lot of fun doing it. I found myself running away from the computer-controlled monster because I wanted to step on all the buildings, grab some tanks and knock down some airplanes first. It's also a lot more fun if you play against your friend. So if you have an evening to spare and you just want simple-minded no-brainer smashing action with friends, I recommend this game. Otherwise, it's not worth the $50 bucks they charged for a game nowadays because it's too short and most people can be done and through with it in a couple days. I have yet to play Fatal Fury and see if the control is as aweful as people claim. But if this games (King of the Monsters) is a typical example of what Takara can do, I am looking forward to see more NeoGeo translations from Takara. -- J.Hu jhu@leland.stanford.edu "...Human race, look at what you have done..."