Video Game / Godzilla: Domination!

1 Following

Godzilla: Domination! is a 2002 Fighting Game developed by WayForward Technologies and published by Infogrames, under the Atari brand, for the Game Boy Advance. It was marketed as a companion game to Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, and as such is a spinoff title to the Pipeworks ''Godzilla'' Trilogy.

The game's plot revolves around a mysterious Meteor X that appears in Tokyo and projects waves that cause several monsters to run amok on Earth and in nearby planets. One of these monsters resists the mind-altering waves, and it is that monster that has to defeat the others and get rid of Meteor X.

Playable characters

• Godzilla^note Uses a generic appearance in the English release, but is the Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. version in Japan.
• King Ghidorah
• Mechagodzilla^note Uses his Heisei appearance in the English release, but is the modified Kiryu version in the Japanese version
• Megalon
• Mothra^note Uses her Heisei appearance in the English release, but is the Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. version in Japan.
• Rodan

• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Mecha-King Ghidorah is the Big Bad despite being a heroic character in canon. He's also much bigger — the final boss having originally planned to be Biollante.
  • Rodan is this too, with his ending suggesting that he is searching for living prehistoric creatures in the depths of the Earth so he can take over the world for himself.
• All Webbed Up: Mothra can tie up monsters in silk, then pick up and throw the resulting cocoon.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Mecha-King Ghidorah is this even compared to the other monsters. He's so big the playable characters don't even come up to his hips.
• Big Bad: Mecha-King Ghidorah, who is the source of the waves driving monsters berserk.
• Boring, but Practical: Compared to the other monsters and their flashy specials, Rodan's specials are... simply flying across the stage really fast. However, "really fast" is all he needs; all three can do surprising damage and being fast means they're hard to avoid, and since Rodan has a big Special stat he can use them a ton.
• Competitive Balance: The six monsters can be categorized into some basic archetypes.
  • Rodan is once more a Fragile Speedster, with Mothra being a slightly less extreme alternative. While Rodan is centered around getting off big combos of weak, fast attacks, Mothra is suited for the long game, zoning them with her exploding larvae and poisonous powder, among other projectiles.
  • King Ghidorah is oddly a Jack of All Stats. None of his stats are high but they aren't low either.
  • Mechagodzilla is a Mighty Glacier, with Megalon being a less extreme alternative. Both have rather slow-charging specials and are terribly sluggish (Mechagodzilla in particular has some hefty endlag on many of his attacks), but if they touch, they hurt. Godzilla is also this, albeit in a different way; he's as slow as Megalon but doesn't have the power of either of the other glaciers. Instead he has a massive Special stat, so get ready to see him throw out his Atomic Breath a lot.
• Covers Always Lie: The European cover features Anguirus and Gigan, but neither appear in the game at all.
• Cycle of Hurting: One of King Ghidorah's aerial attacks can hit up to five times and can be repeatedly spammed as long as he doesn't touch the ground. If you can press a foe against a wall with it, it's downright lethal.
• Exposed to the Elements: The game's sole human character — news reporter Connie Matsu — appears as the game's way to explain the story, introduce the monster fights in different locations and wrap up the game after the final boss is defeated. While she wears belly-baring outfits in some of these locations, the most notable is at an Arctic military base where — despite there being a blizzard — she is shown introducing the monster fights while wearing a hooded parka that shows off her midriff.
• Final Boss: Mecha-King Ghidorah.
• Frictionless Ice: The two "Glacier" levels feature this, though downplayed since your monster will eventually skid to a stop. Mothra, being constantly flying, is immune.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Mecha-King Ghidorah. The rest of the game is about a meteor that is projecting magnetic waves that are driving monsters insane. After seven stages fighting other monsters, you have a level on said meteor where you fight Mecha-King Ghidorah.
• Hard Light: Unlike most monsters, who just duck or bring their arms in front of their face, Mechagodzilla throws up a giant prism of hard light to block.
• Healing Factor: Godzilla's last special, where he regenerates a quarter of his health. Mechagodzilla can also do this by releasing steam to cool down, though it heals far less and in exchange has the power to tremendously damage foes.
• In a Single Bound: Godzilla and Mechagodzilla have a special where they do a giant leap off the screen before crashing down a few seconds later.
• Life Drain: One of Megalon's specials, where he grabs a foe next to him and drains their blood.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Naturally one of Mechagodzilla's specials.
• Magnetism Manipulation: King Ghidorah's magnetic abilities are showcased here; one of his attacks has him create his own magnetic pull to force monsters up close to him while taking damage (yes, even if they don't have metal on them), while one of his specials has him fire "magnetic blasts" in midair (not Gravity Beams).
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Megalon is this to the other playable monsters, who are all classic members of Toho's "Big Five," as in the monsters that have appeared in every film era of the Godzilla franchise. Megalon is restricted to one rather infamous film from the cheesy '70s era.
• Poison Mushroom: One of the "powerups" slows your speed immensely. Another one keeps you from attacking at all.
• Poisonous Person: Mothra, much like before with her poison powder. Oddly, Rodan is this too, being able to emit a green radioactive toxic mist that he's never used before.
• Signature Roar: All of them have their famous respective bellows, though heavily compressed and modified somewhat due to the Game Boy Advance's limited sound capability.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Oh yes. Megalon's napalm, Mechagodzilla's missiles, the military, buildings you throw, even Mothra throwing out a Mothra larva.
• Version-Exclusive Content: The Japanese version has several differences:
  • The designs for Godzilla, Mechagodzilla and Mothra are changed so that they are closer in appearance to their incarnations in Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., which was in development at the time. Mothra only marginally looks like that version, as her sprites only had her mouth and general body coloration tweaked, resulting in her still looking similar to her GMK incarnation. Her splash screen art makes more notable tweaks to her design that reflect her S.O.S. appearance, though her wings are still very much GMK-like.
  • The coloration of Mothra's poisonous powder was altered to reflect its appearance in Mothra vs. Godzilla.
  • The bonus stages were removed.
  • As a Regional Bonus, the story mode now has three sub-modes: Default, Survival, and Rage. The types of fights for each stage are also completely different from the non-Japanese version, with the opponents and allies for each stage even being randomized.