RAMPAGE (1986)
Long before home video gaming was commonplace players were forced to hide away down at their local arcade feeding machines quarters all afternoon. One such monster-based offering from Bally Midway that arrived in arcades in 1986 as well as on some of the earlier consoles available on the market was ‘Rampage’. Players could pick from a giant gorilla, lizard or werewolf in order to terrorise cities and the general population whilst trying to cause as much destruction as possible and avoiding military forces.
PRIMAL RAGE (1994)
Back in 1994 an end of humanity fighting game that pitted giant-sized beasts against each other arrived from Atari. ‘Primal Rage’ involved one-on-one combat with the ability for player’s to pick from 1 of 7 different big buggers that included “Virtuous” and “Destructive” beasts. Most of these fictional creatures were based on various apes and dinosaurs which gave it very much a post-apocalyptic ‘King Kong’ feel.
WAR OF THE MONSTERS (2003)
This 3D fighting game for the PlayStation 2 was a terrific homage to classic 50’s sci-fi movies and had been clearly influenced by the likes of cult monster movies like ‘Godzilla’. Alien invasion fuel had led to the spawning of oversized giant monsters left to roam the cities and battle it out with each other causing mayhem and chaos wherever they roamed. It was fun, retro and the monsters themselves were superbly conceived.
MONSTER HUNTER (2004)
In Capcom’s 2004 release of ‘Monster Hunter’ finally it was a chance to chase the monsters down as opposed to having to fill their oversized shoes and battle other gigantic beasts. You play a new hunter who has to complete quests and other various challenges in order to progress but the main concept of the game was not to simply kill the creatures but to strategically capture them in various ways.
MEDUSA’S GAZE (2015)
When you stare at the face of the mythological monster Medusa you are expected to turn to stone. However, in Medusa’s Gaze the only thing you may get is a little giddy because of the constant motion on display. This unique little casino-based online arcade game features 12 paylines which each run across a coloured wheel either horizontally or vertically. Each time 3 of the same colour appear together Medusa turns them to stone which then drop from the wheel and are replaced by alternative tiles. There are also plenty of wilds, multipliers and other cool features in play to help keep players happy.
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