King of the Monsters 2

King of the Monsters 2 (キング・オブ・ザ・モンスターズ2) also known as King of the Monsters 2: The Next Thing is a fighting/wrestling game released on May 25, 1992 by SNK. It is a sequel to the 1991 game King of the Monsters. In this game three of the previous game's surviving monsters return and battle across the Globe against giant alien monsters that threaten the Earth.

The game was later ported to the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis by Takara. This sequel takes the original in a new direction by using three of the monsters from the original game as heroes in a side-scrolling beat 'em up. Geon, Astro Guy, and Woo all upgrade themselves to defend Earth against an alien threat led by a creature called Famardy. The game also features a 2-player competition mode.

The Genesis version, however, plays more similarly to the first game. It is a 1v1 fighter with less emphasis on grapples and more on special attacks with complex inputs. All boss monsters (except Famardy) are now playable and have expanded movesets.

Story
In 1996, Monsters suddenly appeared all over the world. They were immensely powerful, and waged a fierce and violent battle against each other, alt but wiping out civilization in the process. For three years the people of Earth watched, helpless, as the Monsters wreaked destruction on the planet, until only the three strongest Monsters were left alive. There was no-one Strong enough to oppose the three Monsters anywhere in the world.

Finally, in 1999, a force equal to the Monsters appeared on Earth at last. But it wasn't what the humans had hoped and prayed for - it was an alien force, which came to invade the Earth. The Aliens were incredibly powerful, and stationed their strongest warriors throughout the world to attack and conquer the Monsters. When they discovered the Aliens, the Monsters bellowed out ferocious cries of rage and joy, and threw themselves instinctively upon their next opponents. The time had come to wipe out a new group of enemies, and decide once and for all which Monster was the true "King of the Monsters"!

Humans are no longer the masters of the Earth - and now the next battle is about to begin...

Gameplay
Players choose one of 3 monsters for battle, and two players can join forces to fight the monsters together. Unlike the previous game this game features side scrolling levels in areas around the world which ends in a boss battle. During the boss battle the same kind of button mashing that was featured in the first game to win grapples returns. The game consists of 7 total levels which takes place in areas around the World. The game begins in American City followed by French City, Grand Canyon, Desert, Sea Bed, Lava Zone and ends in Enemy Hideout. After the player(s) clear the first 6 levels, they then enter the final stage where they must fight all the bosses again before encountering the final boss of the game. After the final boss is defeated the player(s) must destroy his small remnants within a time limit. If the player(s) fail to do so, the game has a "bad ending", but if the remnants are destroyed within the time limit the player(s) receive the "good ending". Outside of the levels the game features 2 bonus stages as well as a ranking at the end of the level according to how well the player performed such as "Miraculous", "That's Strong" "Nice Going" "Very Good" etc. This will correlate with the number of points the players receive as the end level bonus.

Characters

 * Super Geon
 * Cyber Woo
 * Atomic Guy

Releases
The game was released for the Neo Geo AES on June 1, 1992 and was ported to the Neo Geo CD (in Japan only) on September 9, 1994 (as a launch title). The game was ported to the SNES on December 22, 1993, and Sega Genesis exclusively in North America on 1994 by Takara. The Genesis version was developed by Betop and differs significantly from the original version of the game. Rather than being a side scrolling beat 'em up, this version plays like a one on one fighting game. This version also gives the player the ability to play as the various boss monsters. All characters (excluding Famardy) are playable and have all been given special attacks executed using standard fighting game motions. Players must destroy all other monsters, one after the other, without any of the scrolling stages in the Neo-Geo version and then defeat a clone of the player's monster to win the game. This version of the game also takes place in 3 extra cities in Kyoto City, Tokyo City, and Osaka City.