Godzilla’s Flawed But Fun Handheld Fisticuffs
Godzilla, as both a movie franchise and as a character, has a decade spanning legacy that hardly needs to be introduced. The big guy hasn’t always been consistent when it comes to movies, but most will agree that the king of kaiju has left a mark on pop culture forever, one that is just as colossal as he is. I am certainly a Godzilla fan myself, having seen a decent handful of his movies (including the 1954 original and the more recent Godzilla Minus One), but I have also ventured into a realm where he has seen far less success; video games.
There have been a lot of Godzilla video games over the years, but arguably none have really hit the same heights as his films. You have entertaining, fanservice-laden slugfests like Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, frustrating action games like the NES’ Godzilla: King of the Monsters! and even a rail shooter, in the form of Godzilla Generations: Maximum Impact. I have yet to try every single one of them, and there are some interesting experiments in Godzilla’s back catalogue, but typically his games are the most palatable when they’re all about one thing: kaiju on kaiju combat!
One that often gets lost within that particular flavor of Godzilla games though, is Godzilla: Domination for the Game Boy Advance. Released in 2002 alongside the aforementioned Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, it most likely got lost in that games shadow. Handheld versions of console titles do often get overlooked, which in some circumstances is a real shame if the handheld version has had some serious effort poured into it. While it wouldn’t be super accurate to say that Domination is the one-to-one handheld equivalent of its bigger brother on the Gamecube, it was certainly running parallel to it given the shared genre and release period; it is still very much a condensed version of what was, at the time, a rather substantial brawler.
And when I say condensed, I mean considerably condensed. Destroy All Monsters Melee has a respectable roster of twelve monsters while Domination pares that back to six. They are all unlocked from the start as well, so there are no additional unlockables for you to discover like in the console release. There are some kaiju sized omissions too, as recognizable monsters like Anguirus and Gigan aren’t featured at all (despite what the european box art might have you believe). The six kaiju present are all fairly heavy hitters within the franchise though, plus it features a playable Mothra (Destroy All Monsters Melee only featured her in an NPC role), so that is also a point in its favor! And to me at least, a smaller roster doesn’t necessarily mean a worse game, it is all about how those characters are executed and designed.
In terms of gameplay, perhaps the clearest and most obvious point of comparison is to the King of the Monsters series from SNK. You fight one to three other monsters in a sizable arena which is typically filled with obstacles and structures that are destructible and sometimes even throwable! Combat is fairly simple with every character having two basic attacks, two charge attacks and then three different rage attacks. The movesets are well suited to each character and they all have moves that they typically do in the movies. Although ultimately certain characters (Megalon and Rodan especially) do end up becoming pretty imbalanced thanks to rage attacks that are much more devastating than others. To me though, that doesn’t really hamper the game at all; this is a pick up and play sort of game and it never becomes too challenging on the default settings.
A lack of complexity is what most gaming publications held against Godzilla: Domination! back when it was first released. In a way, I think this is justified; for extended play sessions you are going to get pretty burnt out. The game effectively only has a single core mode, the story mode, which is over in at least a half hour. Outside of this the options are pretty slim as you get the obligatory CPU VS mode as well as Multiplayer (which to the game’s credit, does support a single cart option). If you’re looking for variety or depth, then you are likely to be disappointed in what’s to offer here. There simply isn’t enough content if you are looking for something to enthrall you for hours at a time, playing under the blankets until the wee hours of the morning.
On a personal level though, I feel that the reviews are largely way too harsh on Godzilla: Domination! and most of them misunderstand the value of a game you can just pop on for a few minutes to have fun, smashing around as a powerful kaiju. It would be dishonest of me to suggest that this game is worth more than maybe a six or a seven out of ten. Even the five that ‘Nintendo Official Magazine’ gave it during issue 123 seems mostly fair. Godzilla: Domination! isn’t a great game, necessarily. But it is entertaining. You get exactly what you sign up for by picking up a Godzilla fighting game. Not to say such games can’t have depth or complexity, but there is a charm to playing a simple, uncomplicated rough and tumble brawler like this. There are no frills or extravigances here but that didn’t stop me from enjoying my time spent playing Godzilla: Domination!.
I imagine what concerned the reviewers of the day was making sure customers got their moneys worth. Perhaps at the £29.99 asking price for a new GBA game, Godzilla: Domination! was maybe not the ideal game to choose amongst many stellar titles that were already on the market. But now, it’s a much more affordable game, especially if you’re both a Godzilla fan, and a Game Boy Advance enthusiast. It has been a fun game to delve into, something suitably undemanding for short retro gaming sessions before bedtime. There definitely are better games out there, better fighting games even, and Godzilla: Domination! isn’t an essential purchase by any means, but I believe you need to make some room in your gaming collection for some uncomplicated entertainment. It is not as if the game isn’t well made either; the controls are fine and I didn’t encounter any major glitches or slowdown. Any issues are mostly at a design level and I think most of those issues are forgivable.
Plus that’s before you even discuss the Godzilla: Domination!’s strongest aspect; the visuals and the music. I’ve buried the lead a little, but the developer of Godzilla: Domination! is one that is quite a familiar name today; Wayforward Technologies. Released the same year as Shantae, the quality graphics and enjoyable soundtrack are very much in line with their reputation. Godzilla: Domination! is colourful and exceptionally well animated, with the kaiju characters showing a great deal of personality with their movements. It’s perhaps lacking in some additional flourish, but it’s certainly one of the more pleasant looking GBA titles out there and makes good use of the hardware.
This was one of many licensed games Wayforward developed in between their main projects and I do wonder if budget or time constraints placed on them prevented the game from having at least a few more modes and extras. Given the nature of licensed games and deadlines it wouldn’t surprise me, plus if they needed to release it alongside the Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, I can only imagine the sort of pressures they were under. Needless to say though, one thing that the reviews almost all seemed to agree upon was the quality of the aesthetics, so at least their efforts there did not go unnoticed.
Here are some other additional facts you might find interesting; there are actually a few regional differences between the western releases and the japanese release! To tie-in with the then recent movie Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., they chose to recolour and even redraw some of the characters to match their appearance within that film: Godzilla, who is green in both America and Europe, is grey in Japan; Mechagodzilla has been redrawn to match his ‘Kiryu’ design; Mothra has also been recoloured and her design also altered. The japanese release also has two different options for story mode; aside from the default options, you can also choose to play survival mode or rage mode. In a way, this would make the japanese version the definitive version of the game! If you’re interested in learning more about these regional differences, you can read about them on The Cutting Room Floor!
All things considered, Godzilla: Domination! might not be at the peak when it comes to GBA fighting games, but it quite comfortably sits in a cave around the middle of the mountain instead. All you have to do is walk into that cave with the right expectations in mind and you could find yourself pleasantly surprised by it. These days it is more likely to be appreciated I believe, both for its affordability, its connections to a well-loved developer and its approachable gameplay. It won’t be for absolutely all tastes and I admit, my predilection for Godzilla means I am probably softer on it than most would be. But I stand by my belief, that if all you want is to have Godzilla beat the stuffing out of King Ghidorah on a handheld then you could do much worse than this.
Thank you for reading! In Retrospect is where I talk about games that I find interesting, for one reason or another. It means a lot that you took the time to check out what I have to say. If you’re interested in supporting my work, then i’d appreciate a follow on my Bluesky.
I also have a Kofi so if you also want to support me, you can do so that way also!
YunaNoire 