The RODAN NES Game That Never Was!

 

Take a look at this small poster, which you have probably seen before.  It's really too small to be called a poster, and too big to be a flyer (it measures a strange 11.75 x 15.75 inches).  This was a folded insert that was included with later copies of the first Godzilla game that was made for the Nintendo Entertainment System, called MONSTER OF MONSTERS, and as such is pretty rare.

The insert announces Toho's foray into these video games that the kids all like.  My understanding is that they distributed these games, as they were made by different companies.  As you can see, MONSTER OF MONSTERS gets top billing, and the Game Boy GODZILLA game wasn't even out yet.  Moving downward, we are told that CIRCUS CAPER exists.  I could make fun of this game for a moment, because it was really pretty awful, but it did attempt the "cinematic adventure" quality that they promised, which games were just beginning to figure out that they could do, so I think that's a fair assessment.  

This flyer even calls Circus Caper the "MOST FASCINATING GAME EVER"! Now, come on!

I don't have any experience with TIMES OF LORE.  From my looking it up, it was available on several home computer platforms in addition to the NES, and was actually made by Origin Systems, whose logo is shown here.  It was a pretty complex game for the time and boasted "13,000 screens of map."

Now we get to the main reason that we are having this discussion--the infamous RODAN game that was promised for the next year...and never materialized.  The text doesn't give us much information:  "A giant flying reptile assaults the earth! Rodan, Godzilla's arch enemy! Now an exciting NES game!" 

I'm not exactly sure where "arch enemy" came from; I mean, Rodan pecked at Godzilla briefly in GHIDRAH THE THREE HEADED MONSTER, and GODZILLA vs. MECHAGODZILLA II hadn't happened yet, so it's weird.  Did this game morph slowly into the MONSTER OF MONSTERS sequel (which was the strategy game GODZILLA 2: WAR OF THE MONSTERS)? Rodan was in that game, so who knows.  I do know that a straight-up Rodan video game wouldn't work very well, or be fun for very long.  It's a very strange choice! This article says that Toho decided such a game wouldn't sell very well, so add this game to the pile of Godzilla concepts that never made it to fruition.