Monster Maulers, known in Japan as Kyukyoku Sentai Dadandarn (究極戦隊ダダンダーン, lit. "Ultimate Squad Dadandarn"), is a boss-rush style fighting game developed and published by Konami for arcade platforms in 1993.
Gameplay
The gameplay revolves around fighting a series of CPU-controlled monsters, using one of three selectable characters. It works much like a regular fighting game, with three attack buttons and special moves done with motion inputs. The plot centers on the Ultimate Task Force, a group of heroes who must fight the monsters created by the Happy Droppers, before taking the fight into the Happy Droppers's skull-shaped flying fortress. Quite a few of the enemy monsters are based on staple Gradius enemies and bosses.
Characters
- Kotetsu: A martial artist from Japan, and the game's balanced-type character.
- Anne: A fighter from England, and the fastest character.
- Eagle: A wrestler from USA, and the strongest character.
Bosses
- Dragon: A elemental-changing wyrm-type dragon based on the Intruder from Salamander. His stage is a cave in Norway.
- Fungus/Slime: A shape-shifting slime monster. His stage is a grotto on the Bermuda Triangle.
- Centaur: A red centaur with golden armor. His stage in a temple on Iraq.
- Diablo/Furaiki: A raijin/storm demon. His stage is a pagoda on China.
- Moai: A large Easter Island statue based on the Moai from Gradius. His stage is a underground temple in Brazil.
- Brainy/Golem: A giant floating brain with arms and a single eye, based on the Golem from Salamander. His stage is a cave on Kenya.
- Ducker: A bipedal robot piloted by Mr. Chin, based on the Duckers from Gradius.
- Robo-Ape/Mecha Gorilla: A gorilla-shaped robot piloted by Garuga.
- Cosmic Tank/Happy Buster Ace: A robotic floating chair with a claw and drill piloted by Happy.
Gallery
Brainy
Dragon
Moai
Ducker
Trivia
- The theme from the Brainy fight is a remix of "Poison of Snake", while the theme from the Moai fight is a remix of "The Old Stone Age".
- On the final stage, the lyrical song "Fight! Dadandarn" plays in the background. This song is sung by Masato Shimon, who is also known for singing the openings to multiple anime, such as Gatchaman and Machine Robo, and several Super Sentai themes.
- While this version has a single vocal part followed by an instrumental portion, a full-lyrical version was released on the 10th Anniversary Konami Label Theme Song Collection, along with many other Konami songs.
- Furthermore, the ending theme also had a lyrical incarnation. "We Are Dadandarn!" is performed by Hironobu Kageyama, who is most famous for singing Dragon Ball Z's two openings: "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" and "We Gotta Power", as well as themes for various Dragon Ball Z games and media.
External links
- Monster Maulers at the Konami Wiki