Monster Maulers

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 1993 fighting arcade game developed and published by Konami.

Gameplay

The focus of the game is one-on-one fights versus giant enemies. Several of said enemies are references to or bosses in other Konami games, such as Gradius and its spin-off, Salamander. When playing two-player mode, both players can team up to do secret special moves.

Plot

The three main protagonists are Kotetsu, Anne and Eagle, members of the "Ultimate Task Force". A trio of evil villains known as the Happy Droppers unleashes a swarm of monsters to terrorize countries of the world, sending the three heroes on a mission to end the disaster and defeat the evil masterminds.

There are two endings in the game.

Characters

• Kotetsu - a fighter/brawler hailing from Japan. He is the balanced-type character.
• Anne - a martial artist hailing from England. Her abilities match of both speed and skill.
• Eagle - a pro-wrestler hailing from America (In the Japanese version, however, his origin is unknown). He is the power-type character.

BOSSES

• Dragon - A giant dragon that can change different colors (red for fire, white for ice and blue for lightning) for his breath attacks, he also blocks attacks to his head with his elf-fins, His stage is a cave in Norway.
• Fungus (known as Slime in Japan) - A gooey monster with gills for eyes who lives under the sea, He attacks mostly by bouncing around as a ball and stretches his arms, and he can also absorb his opponents into his body, His stage is a very nicely detailed underwater grotto in Bermuda.
• Centaur - A red armored centaur who attacks with a large bladed yo-yo type shield as a weapon as well as by kicking, His stage is a temple in Iraq.
• Diablo (known as Furaiki in Japan) - A Chinese storm demon, Most of his attacks utilize some kind of elemental power like shooting fireballs and uses a spinning tornado kick, His stage is a pagoda in China.
• Spider Wort (known as Hydrante in Japan) - A carnivorous plant that eats its opponents, Its stage is a rainforest in Brazil as the Sub-Boss.
• Moai - A living Easter Island head with a torso and arms that he pulls himself around, as well as attacking with ripple lasers, His stage is an underground temple in Brazil.
• Serpent (known as Mother in Japan) - A snake-like collection of organs, Its stage is a gory biological area in Kenya as the Sub-Boss.
• Brainy (known as Brain Golem in Japan) - A floating brain with tentacles and a bulging eye, He uses his long arms to grab his opponents and throws them and fires laser beams and energy balls from his eye, His stage is a gory biological area in Kenya.
• Ducker - A walking robot piloted by Mr. Chin the mad scientist of the Happy Droppers, he uses his robot to attack by shooting a flamethrower and by kicking, His stage is on top of the Happy Droppers ship.
• Robo-Ape (known as Mecha Gorilla in Japan) - A giant robot gorilla piloted by Garuga the strong brute of the Happy Droppers, he fight like any gorilla does like swinging punches and fires missiles, His stage is inside the Happy Droppers ships factory.
• Cosmic Tank (known as Happy Buster Ace in Japan) A pink chair tank with a drill and claw piloted by Happy the leader of the Happy Droppers and is the Final Boss, She attacks by dropping bombs and uses the drill and claw and teleports around, Her stage is the Happy Droppers ships control room.

External links

• Monster Maulers at the Killer List of Videogames
• Monster Maulers at arcade-history
  • Kyukyoku Sentai Dadandarn at arcade-history
• Monster Maulers at Hardcore Gaming 101