Godzilla: Monster of Monsters (NES)
Ever wonder what Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro and other popular magazines thought of your favorite 8-, 16- and 32-bit games? Now you can find out, thanks to Review Crew! This is the only show on the internet that is willing to go back in time to find out what old school critics thought of retro games at the time. Did they pan your favorite game? Did they love something terrible? Find out every week as Defunct Games presents Review Crew!
Godzilla has been unleashed and is ripping apart theaters across the world. But long before he set his sights on ruining Bryan Cranston's day, everybody's favorite nuclear reptile was menacing 8-bit game consoles. In today's episode of Review Crew, we take a look at Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!, which was originally released in October of 1989. Did critics love this action game 25 years ago? We turn to Electronic Gaming Monthly, Nintendo Power and Nintendo Magazine System for the answer!
(NOTE: Although we occasionally cut for length, no other edits are made to the review. Defunct Games does not change any of the wording, grammar or punctuation use. Also keep in mind that our score is the average of all critics at the time, not just the sample that is reprinted on this page. If you still have more questions, I recommend you check out the
Review Crew FAQ, where we address the review guidelines, converting scores, magazine covers and more.)
ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY #6
"The graphics in Godzilla are detailed, but the animation of the main characters could have been more defined. The game play is similar to chess, with side action scenes in between the strategy moves. More could have been done with the theme, but monster fans should enjoy the all-star cast." -Martin
(6 out of 10)
NINTENDO POWER (Nov/Dec 1989)
"He's mean. He's green. And he';s bad. His name is Godzilla and he's the star of television, the silver screen and downtown Tokyo. Now he and Mothra, the gigantic moth, are on our side, fending off an interplanetary attack. It's action! It's strategy! It's a battle of ferocious titans with a galaxy at stake!
(4 out of 5)
ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY #6
"Godzilla is an interesting game that throws in some strategy between the action sequences. It is the action scenes, however, that need improvement. Godzilla and Mothra move too slowly for any real exciting intereaction [sic] and even though the large characters look good, the game is average." -Steve
(5 out of 10)
NINTENDO MAGAZINE SYSTEM #2
"What could have been a brilliant monster-based game of destruction and mayhem is in fact a ghastly scrolling plodalong which suffers dreadful flicker and frustratingly awkward gameplay."
(41% out of 100%)
ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY #6
"Godzilla started with a very unique idea but didn't fully realize its potential. The side-scrolling action scenes get repetitive, with a limited number of enemies attacking. The inability of Godzilla and Mothra's to turn around is also annoying. Some of the graphics are cool, but not much else." -Jim
(4 out of 10)
REVIEW CREW AVERAGE: 54% -
Despite his enormous size and years of wowing movie audiences around the world, Godzilla failed to live up to expectation on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The above reviews use words like "repetitive," "frustrating" and "dreadful." Electronic Gaming Monthly claims that the game "moves too slowly for any real exciting intereaction," whatever that means. "More could have been done with the theme," echoes another critic. Everybody agrees, Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! is a real disappointment.
Hold the phone, somebody disagrees. Out of all the magazines, only Nintendo Power gave Toho's 8-bit action game a decent score. Ignoring all the problems, Nintendo's own magazine talks up the "ferocious titans" and gives the game a 4 out of 5. To Nintendo Power's credit, Godzilla does have a few good ideas that the other critics noted. A number of writer-ups mentioned the strategy elements, which does a good job of setting this apart from other movie license titles. Even with the positives, Godzilla averages a very pint-sized 54%.
ON MONDAY'S EPISODE:
Next Monday brings the start of Super Mario Week! It's a full week where we look back and see what old school critics thought of three very different Super Mario Bros. games. Up first it's Super Mario All-Stars, which upgrades four 8-bit platformers into one very impressive Super NES cart. Find out what the critics thought of this compilation on Monday.
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