As the king of the monsters celebrates its 69th birthday, we take a look at every time Godzilla ever made an appearance in a game, from humble beginnings on the Commodore C64 in the early Eighties to the pinnacle of monster mayhem, Destroy All Monsters Melee on the Nintendo 64. How many do you remember?
Godzilla
C64, 1983
Completely unrelated to Toho, Godzilla on Commodore 64 is a well thought-out strategy game where Godzilla is attacking from the ocean, and you have to stop him before he destroys Tokyo. Use a nuke to destroy him, but not when he’s too close to the city.
Godzilla & the Martians
ZX Spectrum, 1984
Beyond the title, this game doesn’t seem to have any relation to Godzilla. The instruction manual says, “The Martians have invaded, destroying the molecular structure of Earth’s atmosphere to make it compatible with their own planet. “The girl of your dreams” is trapped at the top of a building site but for the moment protected from the evil invaders by a friendly dinosaur!” Sounds like a Mario clone!
Godzilla vs. 3 Major Monsters
MSX, 1984
This was the first official Godzilla game and is a single-screen action game (because the MSX had problems scrolling screens) where Godzilla breathes fire at Megalon, Kumonga, and King Ghidora. Calling Kumonga a major monster is a stretch.
Fierce Dragon Godzilla: Metropolis Destruction
FM-7 and PC X-1, 1985
Godzilla stomps through the forest in this action game, crushing tanks and destroying soldiers. The more damage he does, the more points.
Gojira-kun
MSX, 1985
Play as an adorable baby Godzilla in this cute puzzle-platformer, which later ended up becoming the Game Boy Godzilla game from 1990.
The Movie Monster Game
C64 & Apple II, 1986
Developed by Epyx, not only did this include Godzilla, it had (unsurprisingly) other movie monsters too, including Mothra and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. It had famous landmarks for them to destroy too, from London’s Big Ben to the Eiffel Tower and more.
Monster’s Fair
MSX, 1986
Play as Mothra in this Commando-like, as well as Gezora (Space Amoeba), Hedorah, Minilla, and Godzilla.
Godzilla: Monster of Monsters
Famicom 1988/NES, 1989
Developed by Compile, which also made Puyo Puyo, you play as Godzilla or Mothra in this side-scrolling beat-’em-up.
Godzilla
Game Boy, 1990
This was based on Gojira-kun from 1986, but in this version you can’t use Godzilla’s atomic breath, probably because it’s a port of the Famicom game where you play as Minilla.
Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters
NES, 1992
Play as the military in this turn-based strategy game, which looks a little like Advance Wars.
Godzilla
PC-98, 1993
This one-on-one fighting game for the PC Engine had a great orchestral soundtrack.
Godzilla
Arcade, 1993
Side-scrolling action game. Godzilla warms up by stomping on tanks across the city before going one-on-one with other monsters.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Game Boy, 1993
Another side-scrolling beat-’em-up in which Godzilla destroy fighter jets and battles other monsters.
Godzilla: Battle Legends
Turbo Duo, 1993
The CD version of Godzilla for PC-98
Super Godzilla
SNES, 1994
A follow-up to Godzilla on Famicom, the screen is split into two, showing Godzilla’s location in one and what’s he’s doing in the other.
Godzilla: Monster War
Super Famicom, 1994
Another one-on-one fighting game, with eight monsters to fighter with.
Godzilla: The Atomar Nightmare
ZX Spectrum, 1995
A simple-looking, unlicensed Godzilla strategy game.
Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island
Sega Pico, 1995
A very different Godzilla game that features Chibi versions of the monsters. Click on them in different scenes to watch things happen.
Godzilla: Archipelago Shock
Saturn, 1995
Monsters invade an isometric city with players controlling the Japanese defense force.
Godzilla: Giant Monster March
Game Gear, 1995
Play as Godzilla or G-Force in another Advance Wars-like tactics game.
Godzilla Movie Studio Tour
PC, 1998
An interactive tour of Toho Studios.
Godzilla Online
PC, 1998
Launching alongside the movie, this online-only MMO was exclusive to the gaming service, GameStorm.
Godzilla Trading Battle
PlayStation, 1998
This Pokemon-like included one of the largest collections of Toho monsters ever.
Godzilla Generations
Dreamcast, 1998
Play as monsters whose goal is to destroy cities in this Dreamcast launch game.
Godzilla Generations: Maximum Impact
Dreamcast, 1999
A sequel to Godzilla Generations, IGN scored Maximum Impact 2.5 out of 10, saying “One of the worst Dreamcast games ever released gets a sequel.”
Godzilla: The Series
Game Boy Color, 1999
Based on the animated series, play as Godzilla in a side-scroller that IGN scored 6/10.
Godzilla: The Series – Monster Wars
Game Boy Color, 1999
Despite the subtitle Monster Wars, there’s only one monster in the game! It’s much the same as Godzilla ’98 and scored 5/10 on IGN.
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
Gamecube, 2002/Xbox, 2003
This four-player brawler was the peak of Godzilla games, scoring 8.5 on IGN and described as “without a doubt the best Godzilla game to date.”
Godzilla Domination
GBA, 2002
Developed by Wayforward, which recently worked on Advance Wars 1+2 Rebootcamp, this companion game to Destroy All Monsters Melee had nice pixel art but “very little substance beyond the pretty looks”, according to IGN’s review, which scored it 5.5/10.
Godzilla: Save the Earth
PS2/Xbox, 2004
Boasting almost identical gameplay to Destroy All Monsters Melee, the PS2 and Xbox version scored 6.5 because it was essentially the same game.
Godzilla Unleashed
Wii/PS2, 2007
Play as 23 of Toho’s biggest monsters in a story-driven brawler that, unfortunately, wasn’t that good, scoring just 4.9.
Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash
DS, 2007
Scoring 3/10, IGN said Double Smash “looks terrible and reduces the King of the Monsters to a mush of no-texture polygons, then puts him in a tedious series of punching planes and kicking boats.”
Godzilla: Strike Zone
mobile 2014
Based on the 2014 Godzilla movie, you play as a soldier parachuting into San Francisco in this survival horror game.
Godzilla Smash 3
mobile, 2014
Scenes of Godzilla play out while you play this match-three game.
Godzilla
PS4/PS3, 2015
Developed by Natsume, this was another monster free-for-all brawler that scored 4.5/10 and had a destruction mode similar to Godzilla Generations.
Shin Godzilla
PSVR demo, 2016
Play a civilian caught in the middle of Godzilla’s rampage in this PlayStation VR demo.
Godzilla: Defense Force
mobile, 2019
Collect kaiju and defend your city in this base defense game for mobile, which has a 4.8 rating on the App Store.
Godzilla Battle Line
mobile, 2021
Build a team of the strongest monsters from the Toho universe before pitting them against a rival in frantic, three-minute real-time battles.
Godzilla Destruction
mobile, 2021
Raze cities to the ground in this mobile game, which was discontinued in 2022.