Godzilla: Monsters Attack on the Game Gear was only ever released in Japan (as “Gojira: Kaijuu Daishingeki“) in 1995, but a fan translation thankfully makes the game playable to non Japanese speakers. Surprisingly, this is a turn-based strategy game, and not an action game or a beat ’em up.

You can play as either “G-Force“, the human military response team, or as Godzilla himself. A third side – The Space Monsters – is CPU controlled, and is the main target/objective of each level. Each side has their own mission objectives, but the aim is more or less the same: destroy each other within a certain number of turns. If you run out of turns; if all your units are wiped-out, or if your base is destroyed, you lose the game.

A stage select screen allows you to choose which level to play next, which is a good idea because it gives the game some variety from the get-go.

The action itself takes place over a scrolling city. You cycle through your units, make your turns, then press Start and choose “End Turn”. Then the other two factions make their move. Battles are shown as side-on action sequences. You have limited control of your G-Force units in combat (left/right and fire), so can influence the outcome. But only in a minor way. It’s slightly different if you’re playing as Godzilla. He can jump, and has his own special ranged attack.

While Godzilla: Monsters Attack is definitely interesting from a strategy game perspective, I did find it difficult to win an actual battle. Especially as the humans. Watching the monsters fight each other, after myself having been wiped-out, is still fun, though. I think the game is trying to tell me to play as Godzilla… It’s actually more fun to play as Godzilla, as I later found out.

Godzilla: Monsters Attack does have a few surprises up its sleeve and is sure to make the kaijuu fans happy, though.

More: Godzilla: Monsters Attack on romhacking.net