Monday, April 05, 2010

Virtual Console Review - King of the Monsters (Neo-Geo)


King of the Monsters - SNK for Neo-Geo - 5/10

King of the Monsters was a big hit for SNK and Neo-Geo, and was successfully ported to the Genesis and Super Nintendo.  This is essentially a wrestling game, but with monsters stomping Tokyo.  If that sort of thing appeals to you, go right ahead, have fun.  The novelty of fighting as b-movie monsters does have a certain appeal, and there's a certain undeniable thrill in smashing building and throwing trains at one another.

Unfortunately, this is really nothing more than a button-mashing game.  Like most wresting games or the era, there is very little technique, and nowhere near the nuanced precision of martial-arts fighting games like Street Figther 2 or Tekken or Virtua Fighter.  You just mash buttons, punch, kick, and grapple.  I've never been a fan of these sort of games, and I don't see any reason to bother now.  The flashy graphics will not impress in the year 2010, and the typically clunky animation and slow pacing will not win over the tournament fighters.

King of the Monsters was mildly impressive at the time, but in out century it remains decidedly average.  Pass.

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