It’s no surprise for those in my social circles that I’m a huge fan of daikaiju and tokusatsu media. For those uninitiated, these are the genres of fiction that revolve around giant monsters and the heroes who fight them. For example, think Godzilla, Power Rangers, et cetera. So imagine my surprise when, for a few months now, there’s been a major crossover event brewing right under my nose! The GigaBash video game, a kaiju beat-em-up fighting game, recently released a crossover with Godzilla. But more recently, without losing that license, they’ve also released downloadable content with Ultraman properties! We recently received this DLC courtesy of Passion Republic Games, and here’s what we think!
GigaBash DLC Is Monumental To The Kaiju Genre
So, when we were notified of GigaBash‘s DLC release with Ultraman, we were instantly interested in covering it. So much so, in fact, that while we received the base game before the DLC launched, we bought the Godzilla DLC. This proved to be a fantastic idea, for this game is really, really fun, especially using famous kaiju like Godzilla, Gigan, and Destoroyah.
Pretty soon, we were endearing ourselves to the characters in the base game. I’m currently most fond of Rawa, Rohanna, and Wooley. Playing through the story mode endeared us to these characters even more, as it gave us glimpses into many of their origins, mannerisms, and personalities. Not many other games can make us love the monster in the story quite as much as this one does.
The thing, though, is that now that the Ultraman DLC is out, it means a ton for the kaiju and tokusatsu genres. Namely, it means that TOHO and Tsuburaya, the owners of Godzilla and Ultraman, respectively, are willing to collaborate through a middleman. From what I’ve seen of the GigaBash x Ultraman DLC trailer, fans of the game are clamoring for more collabs. Some of these dream team-ups include Voltron, Super Sentai/Power Rangers, Gamera, and even Kaiju Big Battel.
I’m happy to say that the gameplay for GigaBash is superb. I haven’t had this much fun with a kaiju beat-em-up since War of the Monsters on PlayStation 2. The controls are intuitive and the visuals are very fun to observe. Even if you don’t have enough controllers for four players, people will still be able to marvel at the visual spectacle of it all.
There Are Logistical Concerns With GigaBash
As great as the game is, I did have a major issue with playing GigaBash on the Nintendo Switch. When I put my system to sleep, if I haven’t closed out of GigaBash entirely when I reopen it, the console is locked out of controls. I am then forced to restart my system, closing out of everything that might currently be open. It’s a bug that desperately needs patching, and it is a major concern for me. Fortunately, it’s the only performance issue I see with the game. I’m confident that, when/if Passion Republic Games patches it, GigaBash will be nothing short of exquisite.
I also want to point out the concerns that other fans of the game have with the Ultraman DLC. That issue stems from the characters in the DLC looking very similar to each other, Alien Baltan notwithstanding. This isn’t a huge concern of mine. Tokusatsu tends to employ similar character designs for teams. But as long as others are not as into that, it bears mention. Maybe at some point, Passion Republic can reach out to Studio Kaiju, Hasbro/Saban, or the Kadokawa Corporation for other diverse designs for kaiju/tokusatsu. Time will tell!
Our Verdict For Gigabash x Ultraman
In the end, we really like GigaBash and want to see it succeed. Eventually, we would love to see a physical release, a sentiment echoed by many others. But for now, Passion Republic Games absolutely has to iron out the performance wrinkle outlined above. When they do that, even if no other DLC comes out, I’ll be pretty darned content with the game.
And one last formal request: Let Kung Fu Chicken Noodle into the inevitable (hypothetical) GigaBash x Kaiju Big Battel DLC!
