ACA NEOGEO King of the Monsters 2

Genre: Arcade Brawler

Players: 1-2 Co-Op / Competitive (Local), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

King of the Monsters 2 is an Arcade Brawler starring kaiju monsters, released in Arcades and on the NEOGEO console in 1992, ported to Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis in 1994, then to NEOGEO CD in 1996 after being a launch title in that platform’s Japanese release. And then it was released as a part of the ACA NEOGEO series on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2018, and then on PlayStation 4 in 2019.

Where the previous game played like a Pro Wrestling game, King of the Monsters 2 plays much more like an Arcade Brawler, with a faster pace, and scrolling stages filled with smaller enemies to fight before the main showdown.

Unfortunately, while the previous issues with hit detection have been resolved, they are replaced here with extremely frustrating game mechanics that have players struggling to get up each time they fall. In this release, players can set a button to turbo so you don’t need to mash so much, but even if you do, enemies can pretty easily lay you flat, then attack again before you can recover, leading you to be easily taken out after the first hit. As much as everything else seems improved here, this pretty much kills the game as far as I’m concerned.

This release of the game includes a new “Hi-Score Mode” that challenges players to get as far as they can in one run. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes. In addition, this release of the game includes both English and Japanese versions, and gives players a decent array of options, including various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards.

At $8, the Arcade Archives release of King of the Monsters seems pretty steep, and I think the game itself suffers greatly from issues that make this just not worth playing. Skip this monstrous disappointment.

tl;dr – King of the Monsters 2 is an Arcade-style Brawler starring giant city-stomping kaiju monsters. It’s a solid concept, but it’s ruined by frustrating game mechanics and enemies’ ability to keep piling on you after you take a hit, making that one hit into a guaranteed death at times. Skip this one.

Grade: D

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