Super Godzilla. Every game on super nintendo has super in it for a reason, and Godzilla got that treatment. The other Godzilla games I've played on Nintendo weren't wonderful, but they were Godzilla. Now as a kid, Godzilla is the king of the monsters. He's the one all other movie monsters fear. He kicks everyone's ass no matter what. And he's a guy in a rubber suit. So in 1996 when I saw for twenty dollars Super Godzilla, I had to have it.



Controlling yourself in the game is difficult. I've not grasped it in the ten plus years I've played the game. And that's with looking at guides for it. I've been able to fight my way up to Biollante several times. She's the rose monster from the eighties Godzilla and kicks my face in every time. But I'll try to explain it.



You start off controlling Godzilla walking around. You move around on the bottom watching your monster on the top screen. Tanks show up randomly and shoot you, taking your health. The goal, at least my goal, is to run around gathering as much health and power ups as possible to fight whatever monster is on that level. Now to complicate things, smashing buildings damages you. Once you manage to wander across the screen to where the monster is, and trust me, it takes a while, the look would make you think it was a mortal kombat or street fighter versus fight? Wrong.

You try to close in on your enemy and slap him. Then if you move the dpad (?) quickly you'll power up a special move. The problem is that whatever you fight seems to be able bust out moves ten seconds apart. So in the first battle you'll have to get hit by lighting twenty six times before you even get to slap the enemy monster. But when you finally do unleash your special attack, it's the greatest thing ever.



Beating the first monster lets you wander around the next level where UFO's show up. You do get to fight Mechagodzilla and several other monsters. . In a shocking twist your breathe attack reflects off him. So you're forced to move the dpad until you get a tail whip. I always get lost on Biollante. And this butthole has too much health to really fight. The level you fight him on is so long. I can't figure anything out. Its been years since I made it to him and tried to fight him. Maybe I can beat him next time.



The really cool thing about this was the instruction booklet showed off all the monsters. It told you exactly who was coming next, including some monsters I've not seen before like Battra, the evil mothra. I've still yet to see whatever movie features that. Several movies just weren't released until a few years ago and I'm still playing catch up.

One thing I wanted to do that I never could, since I never beat it, was to get to be super Godzilla. Yes, you actually power godzilla up into a super form. He looks a lot like Space Godzilla, I've read that they took the look from the game for him and Destoryah. The final boss is called Bagan but if you look at him and Destroyah, tell me the difference. Same horn, same wings, close enough.



In a way, Super Godzilla is appropriate. If you watch the movies, you'll see lots of people talking and boring scenes where nothing really happens. Then suddenly, Godzilla shows up and things are awesome. I've seen plenty of Godzilla films. Some involve robot girls or aliens or alien gorillas, but at some point Godzilla shows up and fights another monster, at least in most of them. Everything becomes clear when you get to finally fight an enemy monster.



My nephew asked me to play this the other day. He's been playing my super nintendo lately. Being younger, of course he loves Godzilla. But playing this game can be painful. So I had to play it and wander around aimlessly then try and fight Ghidorah. I got my face kicked in. Just as I realized how to move the dpad and get going. I'll have to play it again soon. I want to kick biollante's ass.

Godzilla has some more games out there. Master of Monsters on Nintendo for example. Another actual fighting game is on super nintendo, but not released in America. A dreamcast godzilla. One on playstation that was a card battle released only in Japan. Then there are all the recent fighting game godzillas. One day I'll track them all down, there are just so many out there. Melee, Unleashed, and so many others.

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