There are three things I love, Kaiju movies, video games and pro wrestling. So when there is a video game that combines pro wrestling with Kaiju, I feel like I am in heaven. This was the case with SNK’s arcade hit King of The Monsters, a Kaiju wrestling game that stood out from everything else at the time. You could play as one of six Kaiju and go rampaging in your fights. These may sound simple, but it was anything but that. With well designed characters and good narration, King of the Monsters was different.
Your rings would take the form of the Japanese cities you would fight in, with things such as powerlines acting as your ring ropes. Fights would go on until you got a three count pinfall on your opponent, or until time ran out, which caused you to lose. SNK may not have had the rights to any major movie monsters but they had stand ins, like Geon for Godzilla, Woo for King Kong, Astro Guy for Ultraman and others like Poison Ghost, who is somewhat reminiscent of Hedorah from the Godzilla series. There was also a stone monster called Rocky and a giant beetle monster jokingly named Beetle Mania.
King of the Monsters had that SNK polish that made so many of their games amazing, and an incredible attention to detail .The military would try and attack you while you fought your opponents, giving you something else to worry about, while also making the game very true to the movies that influenced it. Having played many Godzilla games over the years, it is King of the Monsters that most feels like the Godzilla game I wanted for the arcades but never got ( I am aware of Godzilla arcade games and my point stands).
SNK delivered a wonderful tribute while also making an amazing wrestling game that easily stands among the greats. It may have been born from a simple concept of Kaiju wrestling, but they did nothing half hearted here. This is a top quality game and one that everyone should play at some point. If you like Kaiju movies, wrestling games, or are a fan of SNK, then this is a game for you!