A few years after Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, Toho would release a follow-up that, much like Gojira-Kun, would once again make an unexpected departure from the action genre. This time around though, players wouldn't be thwarting alien plans of universal domination. Instead they would be tasked with utilizing the Japanese military in this turn-based strategy (TBS) game to defend cities against various monster attacks in a number of different scenarios. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly something many North American kids at the time would have thought they'd find too exciting, but they might have been surprised. In Japan however, this genre was already gaining traction with the popularity of the Super Robot Wars series so the move to TBS would have made a little more sense overseas had it actually been released in Japan, which for some reason it was not.

Released in 1992 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters may have defied the expectations of most young North American gamers, but on closer inspection, it certainly wasn't a bad game by any means and may have even introduced more people to turn-based strategy video games had they given it a go. In the early 1990s though, most kids didn't have much exposure to TBS games, which at the time tended to be consigned to the PC rather than the home console, and was a genre just starting to really gain momentum in North America with games like Sid Meier's Civilization (1991). Coupled with the fact that Godzilla 2 was titled as a sequel to the previous action game released just a few years earlier, it isn't particularly surprising that this one may have been overlooked.

The box art might look familiar to some since it was originally used as one of the posters for the Japanese version of the film The Return of Godzilla which hit theaters in 1984 (known as Godzilla 1985 in the US). This movie not only marked an important turning point in the history of Godzilla films, but also for the video game series as well. After the release of The Terror of MechaGodzilla in 1975 (the final Showa era Godzilla film), Toho decided to "reboot" the Godzilla franchise and bring the big-G back to his roots from the original 1954 film. Back then, Godzilla was portrayed as a terrifying force of nature unleashed upon humanity to punish them for their mistakes, metaphorically speaking (this new series was dubbed, the "Heisei era"). As the original series went on throughout the 1960s and 1970s however, the films began to take on a more child-friendly appeal and turned away from the dark tones of the original. And as time went on, Godzilla gradually became more of a hero, or at the very least an anti-hero, and less of a monster.

US and Japanese Movie Posters for The Return of Godzilla

Much like The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters brings Godzilla back to his original role as the villain and also includes his updated look. Although many of the monsters that appear in this game hadn't yet been in a heisei era Godzilla film (or never were at all as is the case with Baragon and Hedorah who wouldn't be in another Godzilla film until the next time the series was rebooted in 1999), they were included nonetheless. In fact, this game features most of the showa era monsters from the original game; Godzilla: Monster of Monsters (1988).

It appears that originally, however, Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters may have been planned around Rodan, the giant pterosaur that has always remained a fan-favorite and makes appearances in every Godzilla film series iteration. Like Mothra, Rodan appeared in his own film, Rodan (1956), before becoming a mainstay of the Godzilla franchise which might underscore why Toho may have considered basing this game around Rodan rather than Godzilla this time around.

Rodan (Nintendo Power Magazine Issue 16 1990)

Although the details are spotty at best, in issue 16 of Nintendo Power Magazine, it appears that Toho, while attending the Consumer Electronics Show earlier that year, either previewed Rodan or at the very least said they were working on it; the article claims it was a "sort of sequel" to Godzilla: Monster of Monsters from a few years earlier. Keeping this in mind, it seems entirely possible that Rodan is in fact the very same game rebranded by Toho to increase marque value in North America. This may just be speculation though as there doesn't appear to be any concrete evidence from Toho on this matter, but if it was an action game and there is a version of it tucked away somewhere in Toho's vault, I'm sure there are plenty of fans out there who would love to get their hands on a copy! But let's just be honest, that's pretty unlikely and what was released turned out pretty good.

The rules are simple, the player moves various military units around on a two-dimensional overhead map preparing to attack the different monsters (and a UFO!) that appear to destroy the city. Seems straightforward enough, but the various scenarios that make up the levels in this game have specific objectives, such as protecting the city's power plant or building certain weapons, which not only helps keep things interesting, but forces the player to carefully decide which units, and how many of them, they will send to deal with the various threats across the city. This is particularly true when there are multiple monsters to contend with simultaneously.

The units themselves are pretty standard with the regular staples like tanks and fighter jets, but Toho decided to include a good deal of fictional weapons from their movies like the Maser Cannon (originally from War of the Gargantuas and featured in over ten Godzilla films!) and perhaps the most iconic of all human-made weapons in the franchise, the Oxygen Destroyer which Dr. Serizawa creates in the original 1954 film to defeat Godzilla, just to name a few. Even Mothra makes another appearance as the only playable monster unit in the game if the player manages to find one of her eggs hidden somewhere in the city. For Godzilla fans, it's great to see some of these weapons included the game, but for TBS fans, the variety of units and the ability to create stronger ones really deepens the overall strategy and provides the player with the freedom to tackle a scenario differently every time they try it. There is, however, a flaw that isn't exactly game-breaking, but artificially forces the player to focus much more heavily on the placement of their units rather than the turn-based battles that occur when a monster is engaged. Graphically however, the monsters and units look good and have a nice level of detail, but there isn't much animation to them so they end up looking very static.

The music is pretty standard for the time, but a number of classic Godzilla tunes can be heard throughout the game that try to remain faithful to the originals and sound pretty decent on the NES hardware and are accompanied by crisp sound effects.

When a unit is moved next to a monster or a monster engages a player's unit, a turn-based battle will begin and an attack such as a missile or gun-fire can be directed at the enemy, but after it's selected, a slot machine will start to spin at the top of the screen which is stopped by tapping the A button. Unfortunately, the outcome of the attack (how much damage it does, the likeliness of it hitting the target, etc.) all depends on this slot machine and the randomness of it really lessens the strategy in these battles when compared to the more complex map portions. At least certain units work far better on some monsters than others which helps lessen the impact of the frustrating slot machine if the player focusses on deciding which units should engage an enemy rather than simply relying on chance. The player can also consult various scientists, such as Dr. Serizawa from the original 1954 film and others, for advice or research new weaponry which will damage certain monsters more than others.

Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters

Even with this admittedly serious flaw though, Godzilla 2 War of the Monsters ends up being a fun and rewarding experience. Maybe it didn't exactly revolutionized the genre, but for a turn-based strategy game on a home console in the very early 1990s, it does its job well and instead of taking their previous game and developing it into a traditional sequel, Toho took a chance and proved that Godzilla shouldn't necessarily stick to the action genre alone. The following year Toho would continue this trend on the Nintendo's next generation console, the Super Nintendo, but with varied results.

And if you happen to be playing this and think that this video game might have made a better board game, Godzilla Kaiju World Wars, published in 2011 (designed by Richard H. Berg), has a very similar premise.

Godzilla Kaiju World Wars (board game)