Game developer SNK has a long history of assigning lofty titles to their series, most notably their The King of Fighters series. Four years prior to this successful franchise, they offered another royal battle of truly epic proportions - King of the Monsters. A melding between WWF Superstars and Rampage, this wasn’t a battle between mere humans, it was a match-up between six devastating monsters, and the biggest victim may have been the surrounding city, which took quite a beating along the way.

According to the game’s storyline, the year was 1996 - and thanks to severe damage to the Earth’s surrounding ozone layer, enough radiation had leaked through to create six formidable monsters, including a giant mutant human named Astro Guy, an immense insect answering to the name of Beetle Mania, a massive mud creature called Poison Ghost, a giant Chinese ape named Woo, the towering Egyptian stone creature known as Rocky and fire-breathing lizard Geon. So what do a collection of creatures such as this like to do in their spare time? Why, wrestle each other for bragging rights of course.

There were twelve stages of battle, fought amidst six unlucky major cities. Players took control of their handy punch, kick and jump buttons and pounced on their opponents until they could manage to pin their monstrous adversary in a traditional three-count. These beasts frequently tied each other up in grappling contests, where the weaker of the two would find himself mercilessly flung across the playing area, inflicting severe damage as a result. A “Power Ball” located at the bottom of the screen gradually filled with the passing of time and when it was maximized, a special, and devastating, move became available.

But it was the surrounding metropolis that took the brunt of the destruction, with stadiums, factories, towers and bridges demolished by these battling beasts. These structures weren’t merely scenery, however, as they could also serve as projectiles. So could the occasional squadrons of jets and tanks that arrived to try to end the monsters playtime. The carnage increased in two-player mode, because they didn’t battle each other, they battled a pair of opposing monsters. And with four of these creatures duking it out in the city at one time, there was very little chance of the surrounding city escaping utter and complete destruction.

Based on the success of King of the Monsters, SNK released a sequel the following year, King of the Monsters 2: The Next Thing. The new version featured three familiar faces from the original, Atomic Guy, Woo and Geon, and this time around, they faced a swarm of invading aliens. Faced with this adversity, the monsters put their previous grudges aside and worked as a team, still imparting devastating damage upon their surroundings while attempting to save the Earth. This time the battle took place, not only within city limits, but also underwater, within volcanoes and more, as they attempted to swat the invading swarms of pesky aliens.

It’s difficult to predict how many innocent civilians might have fallen victim to these playful monsters over the years, but one thing is for certain, this monster mash-up managed to suck the quarters out of many a pocket, as the epic battles between these mega-creatures proved to be more than a little addictive.