King of the Monsters 2: The Next Thing

Introduction:

Remember the classic short story “the Monkey's Paw”? Now this is pure speculation, but from what I can gather, the origin of King of the Monsters 2 has something to do with it. So hear me out for a minute while I lay out my theory.

Some boy must have stumbled upon the monkey's paw in one of those coin pusher machines at the local arcade. He excitedly made a wish for a “totally awesome sequel” to King of the Monsters. However, the boy did not head the warnings and his wish was granted with hellish consequences as punishment for tampering with fate.

In other words, “Ancient Curse” is the only reasonable explanation for the King of the Monsters sequel.

Gameplay: 🕹️

To be honest, I avoided this game for about 3 decades because they killed off all of the characters I liked from the first game. They even killed off my guy Beetlemania, so if you could, please tip your 40 oz beer in his memory.

The roster now consists of upgraded versions of three original characters: Super Geon, Atomic Guy, and Cyber Woo. Unlike the first release, the characters actually play differently this time around with varied strengths and weaknesses. Each character has a unique set of three super moves this time, which really spices up the gameplay.

For better or worse, King of the Monsters 2 is a completely different game from the first one. The second title's gameplay has been streamlined and repackaged into a game that closely resembles a side scrolling beat em up with a heavy focus on big boss battles. This will be great news to people that didn't like the original's gameplay.

SNK uses the new system to great effect at times. Small set piece moments are peppered throughout the levels including two bonus games that add much needed variety, which the first game lacked. During the side scrolling sections you will be fighting smaller bad guys while smashing buildings and collecting power ups. Heck, there's even an elevator section!

There is a multitude of power ups to be found throughout each level including health boosts, point icons, and the occasional rare hidden 1up (which can only be found when you are at 3 bars of health). The red P icons will level up your monster up to two times which adds both an extension to your life bar and grants you a new super move. There are bad collectibles too which can reduce your power level, temporarily slow down your movement, or just blow you up.

Keep an eye out though; sometimes when your are in the middle of a boss fight, the smaller enemies will fly onto the screen, and it is possible for them to drop a power down if they die. When this happens you'll be left with very few attack options. It can be a little frustrating because you won't even see the enemy before it's too late but don't worry, there are plenty more frustrating moments coming your way.

The controls in the king of the Monsters 2 are a little smoother, and the game doesn't feel like you're sailing an ocean liner through mud like in the first game. There are three buttons: punch, kick, and jump. The jump button is a nice feature this time, because I swear jumps only worked half of the time in the first game. You can now use jump attacks too, and you're going to want to abuse them frequently.

Surely SNK improved the grappling system though, right? All of the improved gameplay elements come at the hefty price of a completely busted throw system. In fact, I'd avoid throwing the enemy at all costs as the outcome of a grapple is mostly determined by chance. You're going to need some superb button mashing skills to win a grapple here and even then I can win maybe 60 percent of the time. The CPU opponents can inflict some major damage with their moves, with two or three throws killing you.

The absolutely worst thing about King of the Monsters 2 is the extremely cheap computer AI. Your damage output is relatively low compared to the boss's throw damage and their moves often have high priority and a ton of invulnerability frames. It's like you're fighting Rugal Bernstein on every single level and the bad guy's cheap tactics can only be countered with your own cheaper strategies. Be aware that if you're playing on the AES, due to the limited continues, you are going to have to abuse your memory card saves to win the game.

The best way to counteract the extreme difficulty is to master knocking down the alien scum with a jump attack and then repeatedly hitting them with a super move when they try to stand up. If you learn the timing you can knock them back down repeatedly and punish them accordingly with your own cheesy tactics.

Despite my frustrations, King of the Monsters 2 can be an enjoyable game- that is, up until the last level where you'll be treated to a crappy boss rush. Yes sir, you have to fight every single boss all over again and at this very moment I can literally feel the review score plummeting. It's really not that much fun to cheese your way through every boss for a second time, and the game becomes extremely tedious at this point- especially when these battles all take place in the same area.

After the boss rush you are faced with the final boss Farmardy. At first he may seem impossible, but you can use the same exact strategies as the previous bosses to destroy him. I sure hope you like jump kicking and charging specials for 5 minutes straight.

All is not lost, for there is a decent two player mode. King of the monsters is a pretty good experience with a friend mostly because there will only be one boss for the two of you to gang up on.

Graphics: 👾

King of the monsters 2 looks absolutely fantastic and is easily one of the best looking arcade games of 1992, in my opinion. The graphics are packed full of large colorful sprites with eye-popping colors. The redesigns of the original monsters look superb and are well animated. This is great news since the original Geon looked like he had a life threatening cheesecake addiction.

The backgrounds in the previous game were detailed but looked like you were rampaging around a map from the MSDOS Simcity game. In King of the Monsters 2 each level has a completely unique theme, and the backgrounds are vibrant with good use of color and style. The levels have a ton of variety this time around and include cityscapes, the grand canyon, a volcano, and the bottom of the ocean.

The boss monsters all have great original designs, with the final boss Farmardy stealing the show. He may be the largest sprite ever to grace the Neo Geo and moves quickly around the screen without any hint of slowdown. He is simply massive and it's really cool to see him in action.

While not on the same level as Art of Fighting 3 or Pulstar, King of the Monsters 2 deserves a little recognition for being one of the better looking games released in the early days of the Neo Geo. This game really scores well in the graphics department.

Sound: 🔊

The soundtrack in King of the Monsters 2 is a return to form using similar design concepts as the first game. SNK's rock star sound team returns and delivers another expertly crafted, experimental playlist for us to enjoy while pummeling extraterrestrial goons.

This time around they have crafted a sound that is much more bombastic and foreboding. Every boss theme is epic with thunderous drums, dirty bass, and weird melodies. The first two levels feature some of the best tracks in the game, especially the theme for Huge Frogger, which has a strange vocal track that is just so bizarre it's brilliant.

It's hard to choose a favorite, they're all pretty damn good, and the music is one of my favorite aspects of the entire game. At the very least I recommend giving the soundtrack a listen.

Fun Factor:

King of the Monsters 2 is almost as much fun as burning your hand on the stove. Sure, third degree burns can be thrilling at times but I don't recommend it unless you're trying to avoid this game.

Okay, King of the Monsters 2 isn't really that bad of a game as a whole but you will hit a point when you realize there are only two ways to play through the game: You either have to just credit feed your way through the game or get good at cheating the AI. No matter how good you get at cheesing the computer you never have a real sense of accomplishment like you do when you improve at a game like Fatal Fury Special. You never feel the satisfaction of getting just a little better with each play-through.

Just like having whiskey for breakfast, King of the Monsters 2 is best enjoyed in moderation and in secret.

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Conclusion: 📊

Sadly, King of the Monsters 2 had many ingredients setting it up to be possibly one of the best beat em ups on the console. The presentation is great and many of the gameplay changes pushed the series in the right direction. SNK was so close to creating a legendary game, and if they only would have backed off on the quarter hungry AI, they could have had another classic on their hands.

If you can forgive the ridiculously brutal difficulty you may still find some enjoyment in this game just as a simple button masher. I would approach this game with extreme caution and test it out on an emulator first before considering a purchase.

Oh you may be wondering what happened to the boy with the monkey paw. He wished for a “radical 3d Fatal Fury game”, and the world was forever cursed with Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition.