Today we honor Super Godzilla's last battle with the never-before-seen Bagan.
Super Godzilla is one of those games that I was able to initially tunnel through entirely on youthful vigor and infallible interest. If I had to get into Super Godzilla brand new in modern times I'd probably smash the cartridge sometime during the Mecha-Godzilla fight.
Released on the SNES, Super Godzilla was a pretty interesting non-standard genre entry. Aliens are invading the Earth and using mind-controlled Godzilla monsters to do it. Humanity counters with an "OH YEAH!?" and attaches a mind-control module to a slumbering Godzilla's head and takes control, tasking him to transverse a map full of ufos, smashable buildings/mountains and even tanks, mines and giant tesla coil towers. This all sounds much cooler than the actual game is.
Best plan ever.
Combat takes place on a 2D screen.. approach monster, punch monster, back away and select appropriate attack. Attack cinema starts, and that's it. You try to throw as many attacks as you can at your foe, watch them and go "oooh, ahhhh" at the SNES quality cinemas and hope you kill them first. Primitive, but amusing to watch, as even repeated attacks have alternative scenes.
Before actually foightin', you get to watch Godzilla's upper torso get shot by tanks and topple buildings as he navigates the bottom screen maps until he accomplishes a boring secondary objective or reaches the stage's boss monster.
It's boring, let's talk about monsters.
King Ghidorah - Tutorial boss. Nothing special.
Mecha-Godzilla - Infinite priority full-screen attack. Reflects your most common move. Ha Ha Ho.
Biolante - A pretty standard fight. Has two easily dispatched tentacles, then you get to work.
Battra - Not Mothra, really! Can only be hit by your least common attack! Oh, and after you kill it, you have to race against time to kill it's cocoon or repeat the entire encounter!
At Stage Five, you finally get to the meat of the game. Only takes about 1-2 hours of tedium, honest! Generic Scientist announces that he can overload you with the cellular energy of the cells taken from monsters you've killed and make you Super Godzilla. You're tasked to do this either during Stage Five, which has you racing to defeat Mecha-King Ghidorah before he razes the city, or in Stage 6, which nobody will ever do because fuck yeah Super Godzilla.
Mecha-King Ghidorah will automatically counter and shock you if you don't rattle off attacks as fast as you get them. Otherwise, he's just a slightly harder Ghidorah/Biolante fight. Defeat him and the show begins.
BAGAN!
God damn, Bagan is cool. Your alien foes decided to travel back in time to not just plain old China, but SUPER ANCIENT CHINA to find Bagan, the mightiest of monsters. They inject him with Godzilla and King Ghidorah's cells to make him even nastier, then warp back to the present just to kick your ass in a fair fight! Holy shit!
Bagan was slated to fight Mothra or appear in Destroyah's place or something along those lines, but due to some line of nonsense he has only ever been featured in Super Godzilla. I love the tone of reverence held for him among Godzilla fans. "It is the most popular of the unmade Toho Daikaiju due to its appearance as a final opponent in the Super Nintendo video game, Super Godzilla." Yeah, all twenty of us who actually beat the damn thing.
I love monster movies.
Even if you're some sort of psychotic who passed up going Super in Stage Five, Bagan easily outclasses Godzilla by a full head and a huge spiked shoulder. His hit points are tipped precariously close to four digits and the damage from regular Godzilla's attacks amount to the strength of an enraged fly, dealing perhaps 5-30 at a time.
For me, Bagan was a huge hurdle. I could not for the life of me beat him when I was 10, when I was 12, hell, until I was at least 18. I recall the occasion quite vividly.
I had endured the tedious game proper until now, but I was dreading the outcome. Every time I played Super Godzilla I would quaff the charges on Stage 5, do a merry jib on Mecha-King Ghidorah's corpse and then be obliterated by Bagan as a futilely tapped his mighty frame with my feeble tail swipes.
Ya see, getting the charges in Stage Five practically guarantees that the city will be destroyed by Mecha-King G Dog and Generic Scientist and crew lament that with the city destroyed, they cannot reproduce charges to turn you into Super Godzilla again. Tokyo is doomed!
Why did I press on, trying again every year or two to beat this relic? I was so bull-headed that I couldn't imagine trying Mecha-King G without being Super. Yet press on I did.. and that day would be different.
Things began as usual, but I was older. I had full-fledged reading comprehension, not to mention the patience to use it. I had RPG honed hording instincts fully prepped to drag tons of healing items into this last battle and if nothing else, I had the hopeless optimism to try and grind Bagan down with my shitty 7 damage attacks.
We traded blows, he and I. Bagan's quite an impressively badass monster without being as cheap as Mecha-Godzilla or god damn fucking Battra. He periodically uses a full-screen knock-back tackle and his attacks hit reliably hard, doing about 70-100 damage. My items were fading away and he had 90% of his health left as I prepared to replay the game in the distant future.. when..
Gasp
WHAT'S THIS!? The professor arrives in his ridiculous capsule jet and informs me that they've been able to accumulate more energy while I delayed Bagan! I would be empowered to Super Godzilla status!
I had no idea this could happen and had never even bothered to check for internet help, even though by my 18th year it was widely available. I was absolutely elated by this spontaneous development.
Transforming into the incredible Super Godzilla, with a six-pack so mighty that it condenses into a fucking gem, I faced Bagan with renewed passion. We traded blow upon blow and finally, after a decade, I would emerge triumphant.
Bagan hits so many high points on the Boss-o-meter that it's surprising to see him in a game with so many other crappy bosses.
He is larger than life and intimidates the player utterly. He is over-the-top in a grand, beautiful way and is the absolutely last gloating trump card of the villains. He is insanely powerful without out-right telling the player to fuck off.
Very importantly, you can retreat from the battle with Bagan and search the stage for power-ups, to give you that last bit of juice you need to survive for the Super Godzilla charge-up or simply to complete the game. Good show, developers!
His music is gorgeous for repeating SNES synth. You've got a definite gloom-and-doom mix of rock and rising tempo with some bass notes setting a grim back-drop to the out and out dropping chords of his unstoppable advance. Bagan is then gloriously elevated by the somber horns of the little tune to a wailing(of chords and horn) build-up, prompting the player to engage in the most ultimate of duels.
Bagan excels because in this game itself, he is the only proper example of a full-fledged fight between Godzilla and a comparable monster. Most of the others almost blatantly cheat or neuter your combat prowess to the point where things aren't fun. Bagan drops me to a pit of despair and then raises me to glorious final combat with the returned realization of Super Godzilla status.
ROAR
So there you have it. The last battle with Bagan in Super Godzilla is a freaking badass experience that makes enduring the game before it worthwhile. Truly an entry in the Boss Fight Hall of Fame.
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