King of the Monsters 2 Brought Kaiju Action to Neo Geo - May 25th, 1992 - Today in History

King of the Monsters 2 brings Kaiju battles to arcades, and your home. It is a rule of gaming, when one game is a hit, there must be a sequel to capitalize. SNK was no different in this regard. Their unstopped rampage through fighting games on the Neo Geo system proved this. As the system went on, fewer and fewer original games were released as sequel fever took over. King of the Monsters was popular enough to spawn one sequel, King of the Monsters 2: The Next Thing. While King of the Monsters 2 was not perfect, neither was the original.

King of the Monsters 2 expands on the first

King of the Monsters 2 allowed a bit more freedom in the carnage. This came at a price though. No longer was there a ton of stuff to destroy in the game levels. This put the focus on your opponent. This series is more like a brawling game similar to Final Fight where you run around and destroy things. Here you destroy a city while fighting, adding a bit of variety. While no Street Fighter II, KotM 2 is still interesting. Godzilla is a popular creature feature in cinema and there is a similar creature in this game.

Home ports were a given

The Super Nintendo version is pretty much like the arcade game. Fans on a budget will do well to get that version. The Sega Genesis version though goes more the route of the first game. Less like the arcade title it is supposed to be based on which is a shame. The Sega Genesis version feels like a knock off rather than an official port.

Compilations keep the series alive

King of the Monsters 2: The Next Thing has yet to make an appearance in any digital re-release. The original has been released on SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 which got a PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation Portable release. The Neo Geo CD also saw a release adding to the cartridge versions on the Neo Geo platform.

Head over to eBay or Amazon for a copy of KotM 2: The Next Thing if you are wanting to play with giant monsters. Head here for more kaiju action.

Issue three of our magazine, Retro Gaming Magazine, will feature giant monsters in gaming along with other great columns such as Post Mortem Gaming, Bandit Gaming and more.

This article was originally published on Retro Gaming Magazine.