Godzilla in popular culture

Pokemon is the biggest franchise in the world, maintaining relevancy since Red and Green released in Japan in the mid 90s. And what else in Japan is bigger than Godzilla? - Literally. The Heisei Era had finished up by the time GameFreak had began work on Pokemon, so the idea of a Godzilla-inspired Pocket Monster wasn't out of the question. Would they pull through and make an awesome classic Godzilla-mon? Would they make it a legendary?

Nope. Nothing. The closest we got would be Kangaskhan or something of the likes, and I bet one of you nerds is gonna start typing "BUT BARAGON IS THE INSPIRATION FOR NIDOQUEEN/KING!!!!1!!1" and to that, I say: Yes. But this is about Godzilla. Not the ragdoll cutie patootie that didn't have relevance for 30 years prior.

And no, Dragonite or Charizard don't count - those are DRAGONS. Very obviously DRAGONS. Could they have SOME inspiration from Godzilla? Maybe, but it's simply just kaiju tropes colliding.

The first TRUE Godzilla Pokemon was by the turn of the 21st century. Pokemon Gold and Silver had just released as Pokemon started slipping away and Pokemon Crystal still didn't exist. Generation 2 introduced Tyranitar, the final evolution of Pupitar, and an obvious homage to Godzilla. A bipedal, dinosaur-like kaiju that's big, strong, has big dorsal spines, and is hyped to the max despite being swept by a Azurill.

Still, this was the first - the ShodaiGoji of Pokemon, perhaps.

Mega Tyranitar just took this further with more strength, a larger bulk, and much longer dorsal spines.

In the next generation, the Box Pokemon of Pokemon Ruby was Groudon: A big, dinosaurian-like beast that rules the ground. Now, the whole Weather Trio is inspired by religious mythologies that run deep, but you can't deny that this isn't a Godzilla. His Mega Evolution especially homages this.

Unfortunately, nothing was introduced in Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum that could be considered a Godzilla. Palkia is the closest I could think of, but he's just a dragon with a tiny resemblance.

But by Generation 5, usually called the 'best generation', the Pokestar Studios has an enemy 'Mecha Tyranitar.' Does this not ring any bells? It is a silver Tyranitar made of metal. This says enough.

And yes, Hydreigon and Volcarona do resemble Ghidorah and Mothra respectively. But once again: Not the topic.

Generation 6 and Generation 7 (or XY and Sun and Moon for all you nerds) didn't have a Godzilla mon. Like, yeah Zygarde's 100% form is a tokusatsu reference, and a lot of Pokemon look like certain kaiju, but once again: This is about Godzilla.

Generation 8 rolls over and, as if out of nowhere, gives us Duraludon - a big steel dragon kaiju. If this doesn't sound like a Godzilla, then his Gigantamax form will: A building dinosaur. Not only is this quite ironic, but also peak. He would get an evolution in the following generation called 'Archaludon' that is basically just a stapler.

In Generation 9, we got the big bad. The Godzilla Pokemon to end all Godzilla Pokemon: Baxcalibur. A very obvious homage to Godzilla. From the evolution level that Arctibax takes into Baxcalibur being 54, to the big dorsal spine on his back that looks strangely similar to one of Godzilla's dorsal plates, it is a Godzilla through and through.

This generation also introduced Iron Thorns, a Paradox Pokemon of Tyranitar that is definitely Mecha Godzilla. Not to mention: All Future Paradox Pokemon have metal-grey shinies. Does this not ring any bells???

But that's kinda it. Surprisingly, there aren't that many. Is there an abundance? Yes. But it is still a small amount. I bet I missed a few, but these are the most notable ones people know. But what do you guys think? Do you want a new Godzilla-esc Pokemon in Generation 10? Or do you want them to stop?

I was on BigBadToyStore looking if they had put up any new Transformers figures, when their frontpage had this guy.

He's... oddly disturbing? i don't know but this is just weird. I don't know if these are official or one of those things that fall under parody but... he exists...

And a quick little look at the manufacturer later, I found this:

And this thing... exists. I'm NOT hearing you guys out. Catzilla is banned on International Flights and Television, and should stay banned.

In the Season 3 Premiere of Marvel’s What If, The Gamma Raging Giant becomes a Gamma Kaiju to help the Mech Avengers face off against Apex, a Mutant Kaiju King

Not gonna lie, Hulkzilla really gave off Marvel Godzilla Vibes!

Pokemon has this thing recently where there are paradox dimensions of prehistoric versions of Pokemon and futuristic versions of Pokemon...

What if there was something similar to kaiju?

An example (a good one at that) is Iron Thorns, the futuristic paradox cousin of Tyranitar.

So take this into consideration with others... like a more barbaric-style Ghidorah or a futuristic Ebirah cyborg... what would that look like in the Godzilla universe? It's apeshit crazy, sure, but apeshit crazy is my middle name (No it is not) and the Showa era was wacky tacky fish head people in a sludge strip club.

A 35-meter high tech speed boat was named MV "Gojira" from 2010 to 2011.

Apparently, as the name of MV Brigette Bardot, it was struck by a 30-foot rogue wave and damaged while pursuing a Japanese whaling fleet (Frowned upon many for the obvious killing of whales. Despite still being legal in places like Japan, it still doesn't mean the hunters become the hunted.)

(Note the decal at the bow resembling Zilla.)

For the context, this is Chiharu Schiba, a street fighter seemingly incapable of feeling pain. Nothing particularly connecting him to the space hydra, aside from the fact that he has a tattoo of 1991 King Ghidorah. He appears in the fifth episode of first season.

Do any of you remember when fallout made a homage to Godzilla by making a giant gecko that breaths fire?

Intetional or not. in the dinosaur's attack comic. it shows a lizard like humongus dino attacking a subway or something. it kinda reminds me of my childhood pet anole

Bizarre sea worm with regenerative butts named after Godzilla's monstrous nemesis | Live Science

So i was scrolling through tfwiki and found this reference to Zilla

Particularly the head

So I thought it would be fun to compare these 2 games, both are fun fighting games with a similar naming scheme and love of the kaiju genre, I'll be comparing in 5 different categories: Story Mode, Playable/Unplayable Characters, Music/Aesthetics, Other Modes/Unlockable Content and Availability/Gameplay compare and contrast between the 2 to decide a winner for each category, the game with the most categories won will win the post, now before I do this I got to say both are incredible games that pay homage and theres alot of love put into both games, this is just for fun and some categories may be subjective but that being said I'll get onto the post

1. Story Mode

So these 2 games have fun story modes, albeit with 2 different takes on how they approach it

War of the Monsters is more shorter, fun but short and sweet, the main driving factor would be your initial playthrough and with that you can unlock character endings making replayability abit more rounded to make up for the relatively quick story mode, and speaking of that the Story itself, it's alright, I mean its interesting and cool but it ain't much story actively going on, its mostly going from point A to point B beating the **** out of stuff to unlock the Backstories which provide more context, on a story front it falls behind, it's a fun experience but its actual story isn't really that prominent.

Dawn of the Monsters on the other hand has a much more beefy story mode with over 30 missions giving much more longevity than the quick playthroughs of War of the Monsters, it also doubles down on the story and has a surprisingly big amount of lore and depth that the game actively tackles, its proof that Kaiju media can have good stories and there are plenty of twists to catch people off guard, while it does lack individual characters endings it makes up for it with a rank system which offers rewards based on how good you do be it Augments to make yourself more stronger or new Skins to customize yourself, it makes up for it in that

Overall I'd give this point to Dawn of the Monsters It's a bigger more in depth story mode with better story to get drawn too

2. Gameplay/Characters

So for a big one, Characters and Gameplay, this one should be interesting.

So for War of the Monsters there are a total of 10 playable monsters and 3 boss monsters, the playable monsters have 5 skins each, 4 Unlockable and their default, the skins themselves come in pretty high quality as well, as for the characters themselves they are different enough but I wouldn't say their moveset is too unique, they have their signature abilities of course and their aura blasts but their main differences aside from that is their stats, a Preytor is going to be relatively frail compared to Agamo for example with Preytor trading that durability for speed, as for the Unplayable Characters the Bosses are fun with their own movesets and mechanics to combat them making each boss feel drastically different, but 2/3 have the normal wail on them stage of the fight that isnt scripted with the only one being entirely scripted being Vegon, the bosses themselves are pretty cool as well.

Now onto Dawn of the Monsters And it has less characters only having 4 playable characters and Many Unplayable Enemies and Bosses

First the Playable Characters, so far from where I am at each character at least has 11 skins, which is a fairly large amount, 10 Unlockable and of course your starter, now take this for granted because I haven't yet 100% the game with S+ Ranks but I haven't got a skin in awhile so 11 skins for each character seems like a safe bet, which is alot, there are some skins which were just alright and other skins which are really cool, for instance Tempest Galihad has a Evangelion inspired skin so theres definitely some cool skins but I don't think these are as high quality as War of the Monsters Skins as they are just palette swaps, creative palette swaps but swaps nontheless, as for the Characters themselves they all have their own character growth having more attention drawn on them thanks to the games more story oriented story mode and each character has a good set of unique skills, power attacks, Executions and a ultimate ability, I think the characters themselves have alot more depth to them and each feel diverse from one another and you can also unlock Augments which will power up your character of choice and give them special abilities such as Executions heal twice as much health or you gain a large percentage of the Vampirism stat giving you the ability to heal but your defense is cut in half and even ones like Power Up Drops from enemies and Buildings, there is alot of Augments to mix up gameplay and improve your character.

Onto the Unplayable Enemies and Bosses there are alot of them, so many that I'd rather not list them all but they are all fun to fight, they each mix of gameplay and when certain enemies work together it can make the fight hell, which is good since neither game takes it easy on the players and each enemy brings it's own unique twists to the fight, the lesser mini bosses will also begin to appear as common spawns which is a great way to mix up the fight and as for the Bosses themselves, they are great, really fun to fight and each have their own unique movesets and ways to take them on but these bosses lack the more "interactive" gameplay of the War of the Monsters bosses such as tossing Goliath Primes explosives back at him or hiding behind the pillars to avoid Cerebulons Mech Beams, it's more confrontational in Dawn of the Monsters so take that as you will

Honestly I cant choose for this category, both have equal advantages and disadvantages, so this one is a Tie.

3. Music/Aesthetics

Honestly probably the most divisive of the categories since it can go either way based on preference

For War of the Monsters it's music is much more Loud and pronounced, it's very glaring which can either be a good or bad thing for people, personally I like it, if I had to pick areas of improvement though it's the lack of Boss music variety, there's just one song its even reused in the final boss fight so it gets some points off for that, as for Aesthetics I really love the drive in movie theater feel the game gives, I always found Drive In Theaters great and interesting so it's right up my alley appealing to times of old.

As for Dawn of the Monsters its music is more robust overall for a lack of better words, unlike War of the Monsters Dawn has individual boss music for its main bosses (the 4 Monarchs and Azrael of course) so that's a big plus, as for the Aesthetic similarly to War it also appeals to a general aesthetic with it being based around Comic Books, that's evident in the art style and cutscenes.

For this point I'm personally going to give it to War of the Monsters, I just find the Drive In Theater aesthetic so appealing and I think everything fits with the style, it's close though because having unique boss music is a big plus for me and its soundtrack overall is pretty great too, this point Is definitely going to vary from person to person though.

4. Other Modes/Unlockable Content

I already know which one I'm going to personally lean towards for this category but I'll give them a fighting chance.

So War of the Monsters has alot to unlock, from Modes to Skins to new characters, the game is going to keep the player busy unlocking stuff for quite awhile and as for the Modes as I just stated there are more modes than Story Mode, be they Mini Games or Versus Mode its fairly rich in terms of Unlockable Content and Mode Variety

As for Dawn of the Monsters, Well it puts up a effort in unlockable stuff at least, as stated in a prior point there are a total of 11 Skins for every character which is a fairly large amount, you can also unlock Upgrades for your characters, Augments to further boost your characters and give them unique abilities and a Gallery in the main menu once you capped your Skin Unlocks, but where it's a fairly decent chunk in Unlockable it takes just as big of a hit in its Mode variety, it only has 1 mode other than the Story mode and that's the Training Mode, needless to say that definitely tanks into the points.

So needless to say I have to go with War of the Monsters On this one, the various modes just help keep it afloat in this category even with the rather expansive list of everything else for Dawn.

5. Availability/Gameplay

So the final category, and one of the most important

For War of the Monsters it's cheaper at 9.99, which seems like a colossal win right? Well it has one big flaw, and that's console exclusivity, unless you have a Playstation then you cannot play this game, which needless to say is a big hit to tank, especially when Playstation is sketchy as hell as evident when they ******* bricked my console, luckily I have a Playstation 2 with the game but if I didn't then that would have been the end because I cant trust Playstation after what they did so its a huge disadvantage, as for Gameplay well the game follows a more traditional kaiju fighting game aesthetic of 3D fighting game, if you prefer that style then this category might be more appealing depending on your trust of Playstation.

As for Dawn of the Monsters The game is notably more expensive over twice the amount at 29.99, a fairly hefty chunk of cash, however while it's a notably larger price gap it also comes on more consoles, Playstation, Xbox, Switch, Steam the game is alot more availability friendly and its alot more easier to get your hands on unless you own a Playstation, as for the Gameplay the Game is a Sidescrolling Beat em up style game, so a notably different style of fighting game although I think the gameplay of both games suits their respective style better than if they were to try swapping.

For this category I'm going for Dawn of the Monsters, Now this the price tag is fairly large however unless you have a Playstation then your very unlikely to get War, it's cheaper sure but it's not so cheap that you would buy a new console for it and I appreciate the games multi platform support, now another factor is the fact that Dawn is fairly new, so that price tag could also sink overtime so take that as you will.

So with that all being said and done there is no winner, both have big advantages going for them with them each having 1-Ups over the other, the winner is going to end up as your personal taste in games, both are fantastic games and I think it's pretty fitting that they ended up tying since Dawn feels like a Spiritual Successor to War, both were kaiju fighting games with alot of love put into them, you can see the clear inspirations and references and I imagine as time goes by Dawn will become a cult classic similarly to War.

Find whoever you could find.

This game is like 4 years old

So I have a question today, do you know any songs with Kaiju references. Now the songs in looking for are preferably songs that aren't FOR Kaiju movies but use a name or make a reference to something Kaiju related but you can still name ones that is made for Kaiju movies, just as long as they have words.

My choice is is Big Bad Leroy Brown with the line "Badder then old King Kong" .

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