War of the Monsters

War of the Monsters (known as Kaiju Daigekisen in Japan) is a 3D Fighting Game for the Play Station 2, made by Incognito Entertainment (of Twisted Metal fame).

The game is set in the aftermath of an alien invasion of Earth where their hazardous fuels have spawned giant monsters that battle one another in city environments. The game is presented in the style of a 1950's science fiction and monster movie, making homages to films in those genres.

The monsters you can play are:
 * Congar - A giant gorilla.
 * Togera - A huge reptile.
 * Preytor - A giant praying mantis.
 * Robo-47 - A military combat robot.
 * Agamo - A tiki-style stone behemoth.
 * Magmo - A four-armed magma monster.
 * Ultra V - A Japanese fighting robot.
 * Kineticlops - An electric cyclops.
 * Zorgulon - A huge alien.
 * Raptros - A dragon.

It Needs More Love.

This game provides examples of:

 * Affectionate Parody: Of Fifties sci-fi and B Movies, as well as Kaiju movies.
 * Aliens and Monsters
 * An Ice Ape: Congar's fourth skin is effectively him made of ice.
 * Applied Phlebotinum: The alien fuel that gives birth to most of the game's monsters.
 * Area 51: Rosdale Canyon.
 * Artificial Brilliance: Used in the most annoying way possible as the AI turns out to pretty much be total coward. The second a fight stops going their way a CPU run away like pussies and grab at every single health power-up in the arena. The issue is only compounded by the AI's tendency to Gang Up On the Human leading to times injured monsters will run off and heal themselves while non-wounded monsters will swarm around you and kick the shit out of you.
 * Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever: Duh.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Cerebulon.  You would be wrong. He has blindingly fast melee attacks, so much so that most characters can't get an attack in once his combo starts. You will then be thrown across the map, missing a large portion of your health.
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: Togera has spiked blades that extend from the back of his wrists during punch attacks. Robo-47 occasionaly has blades replace his hands for melee attacks.
 * Body Horror: Kineticlops is.
 * Boring but Practical: Your monster regenerates attack energy most effectively by using melee weapons. Agamo's special gives you a better-than-normal melee weapon.
 * In fairness, though, to get the weapon, he rips his own head off (he gets better) and it can be remotely exploded from any range, so it straddles the line between this and Awesome but Practical.
 * Breath Weapon: Togera, Congar, Preytor, Magmo and Raptros' attacks.
 * Captain Ersatz: Quite a lot.
 * Togera is Godzilla.
 * Congar is King Kong.
 * Ultra V is Mazinger Z.
 * Preytor is Kamacuras.
 * Agamo is Daimajin.
 * Raptros is Rodan crossed with King Ghidorah.
 * This is done with the arenas, too:
 * Baytown (and Mini Baytown) = San Francisco
 * Capitol = Washington, D.C.
 * Club Caldera = Honolulu
 * Gambler's Gulch = Las Vegas
 * Midtown Park = New York
 * Tsunopolis = Tokyo
 * Competitive Balance: played with:
 * Agamo is the Stone Wall;
 * Congar is the Jack of All Stats, bordering the Lightning Bruiser;
 * Kineticlops is the Fragile Speedster;
 * Magmo is between the Stone Wall and the Mighty Glacier;
 * Preytor is the Fragile Speedster;
 * Raptros is between the Fragile Speedster and the Glass Cannon;
 * Robo-47 is between the Jack of All Stats and the Glass Cannon;
 * Togera is the Mighty Glacier, bordering the Lightning Bruiser;
 * Ultra V is between the Jack of All Stats and the Fragile Speedster;
 * Zorgulon is the Glass Cannon.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: For whatever monster you completed adventure mode with. After taking on (presumably) every other monster in the world, you fight the alien leader, and beat the daylights outta him too!
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: While you often can't hear it due to the explosions and buildings collapsing, it is there. Most of it plays through the credits.
 * Cycle of Hurting: Happens a lot in adventure mode because of Gang Up On the Human. Get impaled, then get thrown, then get hit in the face with a gas tanker as you try to stand back up... All the while your health is getting lower and your getting kicked further away from any debris or powerups you could use to turn the tide.
 * Dem Bones: Raptros' 4th skin.
 * Deflector Shields: Cerebulon has this for its first form.
 * Distaff Counterpart: One of Ultra V's bonus skins is Ultra VI, a female verson of the giant mecha.
 * Drop the Hammer: Robo-47 will often tranform his hands into different weapons to attack, including a hammer.
 * Earthquakes Cause Fissures: The earthquake that can be triggered in Baytown does this.
 * Energy Beings: Kineticlops.
 * Explosion Propulsion: Try throwing a tanker truck at an enemy, and watch them go sailing away into the air.
 * Faceless Eye: Kineticlops.
 * Flight: Raptros and Preytor are both the only monsters capable of maintaining flight, but Raptros can stay in the air much longer (and fly more smoothly) than Preytor.
 * Gang Up On the Human: Good lord, this game loves this trope. Even if the cinematic shows you jumping into a fight between two other monsters, they will focus all their attacks on you. This generally takes the form of almost finishing 1 monster off, only to be stunned/impaled by the other while the first one runs for health. Even in "Free-For-All," expect the enemy to gang up on you, even if one of them could die in the next hit (which could win them the match in some cases). They'd rather fight you than win.
 * Giant Wall of Watery Doom: Triggerable in Tsunopolis.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard: The first stage of the first boss has you  Cerebulon counts too, as
 * Hula and Luaus: Magmo's level.
 * Humongous Mecha: Ultra V and Robo-47.
 * Impaled With Extreme Prejudice: Pipes and radio towers are used for this.
 * Improvised Weapon: Damn near everything. If you can pick it up, you can use it to put the hurt on your enemies. If you can't pick it up, you can probably smash it and use the pieces to put the hurt on your enemies. Alternatively, throw your enemies at it.
 * In a Single Bound
 * Instant Awesome Just Add Mecha: In the story mode, the military attacks Preytor and the player's monster with their own, cyborg Congar.
 * In fact, most of the (living) monsters have "mecha" variations amongst their alternate skins, except for Kineticlops, Raptros and Zorgulon.
 * Kaiju
 * Katanas Are Just Better / Laser Blade: Ultra V uses a laser katana for its close range finisher.
 * Losing Your Head: Agamo's long-range special attack.
 * Magma Man: Magmo.
 * Make Me Wanna Shout: Congar's attacks.
 * Man Eating Plant: The venus flytrap-like boss on Atomic Island.
 * Monumental Damage: The Capitol level.
 * Old Save Bonus: Having Twisted Metal Black unlocks Agamo's 4th skin: Mecha-Sweet Tooth.
 * Personal Space Invader: Preytor's long-range special attack. To clarify, it's a giant parasite. That latches onto your face.
 * Playing With Fire: Raptros' and Magmo's attacks.
 * Punched Across the Room: All the time. Some attacks are specifically designed to launch enemies.
 * Rent a Zilla: Togera.
 * Rewarding Vandalism: A good way to rebuild your energy bar or find health, and frees up debris to hit your enemies with. It also gives points that can be used for unlockable skins and arenas.
 * Spikes of Doom: Togera.
 * Spin Attack: The move of choice for the first boss in one-player mode.
 * Spiritual Successor: Not an intentional one, but this game pretty much plays like an updated version of King of the Monsters.
 * Start of Darkness: Completing the game reveals your chosen monster's origin.
 * Stuff Blowing Up
 * That One Level: The Airfield. To summarize: 2 enemies. Small area with virtually no cover, but plenty of explosive objects to be thrown at you. Health pickups aren't more than 5 seconds away, no matter where you are, which means the enemy will eagerly grab them the second they start taking damage. And they think nothing of throwing explosives and spearing weapons non-stop.
 * The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The AI not only knows exactly where all the health pickups are on the map, but also knows when they appear.
 * The Tokyo Fireball: Tsunopolis.
 * Theres No B in Movie: The 'movie posters' for each level are generally like this.
 * Too Dumb to Live: The scientist that inadvertently creates Preytor.
 * Tripod Terror: Cerebulon, the final boss of the one-player mode.
 * Victory Pose: Whenever you win a round in a story mode, or in the 'first-to-X-kills' challenges.
 * Visible Invisibility: Of the shimmering/vaguely distorted type, from power-ups.
 * Viva Las Vegas: Gambler's Gulch.
 * You Nuke Em: Robo-47 launches a tactical nuke as his long-range special. It hurts.
 * Your Head Asplode:  Technically, Agamo as well, as part of his long-range special (the exploding head has already been replaced though).