Click here to see the original Daikaiju Daikessen: Versus title.
Daikaiju Daikessen is a planned series of kaiju-centric indie games by Thai developer and comic artist One Secret Pseudo/Garayann.
The first game in the series, Daikaiju Daikessen: Rogue, is a 2D single-player roguelike Beat 'em Up currently released for Early Access on Steam and Itch.io. Gameplay is inspired by King of the Monsters, a famous series by SNK, and lets the player control one of dozens of fighters, duking it out with other Kaiju and Humongous Mecha. Much like its inspiration, it has a 2½D style of controls in which players can stroll up and down the arena as well as the basic forward and backwards, as well as inputting directions to change attacks. While Story Mode has yet to be implemented, the sheer variety of playable characters and lore is promising. The game has undergone several iterations over its several years of development, most promiently as a multiplayer Fighting Game called Daikaiju Daikessen: Versus, but in July 2021 a Game-Breaking Bug was encountered when the game grew too big and complex for the engine to handle, forcing the game to be reworked into a single-player roguelike.
The Daikaiju Daikessen series provides examples of:
- The Ace: In the pre-invasion era, Nagoraiar stood out among the other guardians of Earth, and was even known as the Crimson Guardian.
- Aliens Are Bastards:
- Played straight with Ascha'Vovina, a Gigeresque six-armed Draconic Abomination who was kept as a pet by an evil god of war and used to conquer and destroy whole civilizations until it was worshiped as a god of destruction and chaos. It grew too powerful to be controlled, and tried to devour its owner and the rest of the surrounding pantheon. Then it was stripped of most of its powers and banished beyond space and time. Now it wanders the multiverse, destroying everything in its path and trying to restore and surpass its powers.
- Monocrodon wanders the cosmos in search of planets, intending to devour the magnetic fields and energy cores of those it deems worthy. It has no conscience, enjoys pain, and targets planets with lots of life on them.
- Averted with Goanaga, who was excommunicated from his home planet due to his Power Incontinence acting like a beacon for power-hungry space faring monsters. He fights to defeat any of his enemies, but to defend anyone caught up in the crossfire.
- Also averted with Yirmatang, who was created from another intergalatic kaiju, then left on Earth and tasked with defending it. He and his partner Yumiko now work alongside the Earth's defense forces.
- Alien Invasion: There was one via a Great Offscreen War in the distant past, in which the guardians of Earth lost. There are several extraterrestrial kaiju trying to invade now, the most prominent of which are the Protogiga. They're hard to kill with conventional weaponery, and multiply quickly. The Xeztol are trying for universal conquest and are harvesting nagasma - the energy fueling kaiju - to develop genetically enhanced soldiers and robotic duplicates of their enemies.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Reyn is purple, lavender, yellow, and red. Even by kaiju standards, he's pretty flashy.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Reyn is not the biggest, oldest, or most durable kaiju, but he is one of the strongest in terms of sheer firepower and combat ability. As such, he has partial command over Earth's current defenders.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Aside from the various Not Zilla and Humongous Mecha characters, there is a giant mutated hydra, bird, moth, tiger, gorilla, lemur, elephant, clownfish, triceratops, squirrel...
- Awesome, but Impractical: Exsolzenn is the largest Humongous Mecha in the game, as is capable of devastating enemies with powerful and nigh unlimited Beam Spam attacks... assuming that it's from a long distance. The 2½D perspective can lead to situations where targets are just a little too high or low on the screen for the initial volley of lasers to connect. Most of the attacks don't have a hit box at close range, and Exsolzenn is incapable of running. This make it very easy for faster enemies to even out the playing field. It can also be hit by its own lightning spam, as the bolts go in random directions. Once it's taken enough damage, Exsolzenn will repeatedly fall to one knee and take some time to recover, leaving it wide open.
- Badass Adorable: Rattoki is capable of spewing devastating electrical bolts and can do combat rolls around the battlefield. It's also a giant squirrel.
- Beam Spam: Several monsters can fire off beams, but they tend to be limited due to the amount of meter quickly running out and needing them to recharge. Not so with Exsolzenn, who can spam waves of lasers, lighting, and fire long enough for the meter to recharge and let you continue the barrage almost continuously.
- Behemoth Battle: Among a few dozen of them.
- Benevolent A.I.: Giga Raptor was discovered by a young woman named Raquelle Flynn, who it befriended and allowed to become its pilot. Grandor is also piloted by a young woman, though he was rescued from a Mad Scientist.
- Benevolent Monsters: Goryo is one of the few kaiju trying to keep the world together, and Cora as been watching over humanity's progress for millennia. Lord Tatsumi's old title was The Defender of Earth, and is fighting specifically to protect humanity and restore order. Nagoraiar was created by the goddess Mariar to be a guardian of Earth.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: At first glance, Cymothoa looks like a giant clownfish and salmon hybrid. Then you look closer and realize that it's being controlled by the massive parasitic tongue-eating louse crawling out of its mouth.
- Body Horror: As mentioned above, Cymothoa is the combination of a giant fish and monstrous parasite. Not only is the parasite coming out of its mouth, but Cymothoa also has eight skeletal limbs sticking out of it.
- Boring, but Practical: Triceradon can only fire off a volley of three energy waves and do a ramming attack with its horns. However, those waves hit pretty hard, have decent range, and don't require much energy. Its ramming attack covers a lot of ground, and can outpace a lot of stronger monsters via hit and run tactics. Same goes with Rattoki, who as only simple laser beams and close-range swipes, but has excellent agility due being a giant squirrel.
- Breath Weapon: Several of them, particularly Atomic Rex's Atomic Wave, and Nagoraiar's green fireballs.
- Combat Sadomasochist: Monocrodon is explicitly mentioned to be one in its profile.
- The Corruption:
- Ujiak used to live on the Moon, but was then awakened by and fought an android with corrupted programming. The android won, and summoned a mist that corrupted the kaiju to do its bidding. Hence why it's now called Evil Ujiak.
- As part of its backstory, Ascha'Vovina imbibed an eldritch mutagen called umbral ichor in order to empower itself.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: While unlikely to happen due to the miniscule damage they inflict, the human military can kill you if you're very low on health.
- Destroyer Deity: Ascha'Vovina is a Draconic Abomination engineered as a Bioweapon Beast and kept as the pet of a God of War, and became worshiped as a god of destruction and chaos after being used to annihilate and conquer countless civilizations. After becoming too powerful for its master to control, it tried to devour the gods and now wreaks havoc as it wanders the multiverse attempting to regain and surpass its original power.
- Draconic Abomination: Ascha'Vovina and its "sister" Ozongon'Vovina were two of several eldritch draconic monstrosities engineered by the God of Monsters as Bioweapon Beasts in order to wipe out the other gods and raze the mortal world.
- Dug Too Deep: Triceradon was accidentally awoken by a mining company.
- Energy Absorption: Irokus can eat any kind of energy. Monocrodon specifically eats the magnetic fields and cores of planets.
- Fragile Speedster: Dracotocus, Kyprilla, and Miraizan are the smallest and fastest of their types (lizard, flying, mecha), and also have absymal health.
- Gaia's Vengeance: Ogimaa is the embodiment of this. Originally, it was an ancient spirit who protected Turtle Island, now known as North America. But deforestation and other sins committed against his territory have woken him up.
- Galactic Conqueror: The Xeztol are typical ones, seeking to harvest the nagasma - the energy that fuel the kaiju - to fuel the development of their species.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: The kaiju have personalities and powers that are mentioned in their profiles, but never show up in the gameplay. One of the most glaring examples of this is Protogiga, who are said to be some powerful and fearsome that few kaiju have dared to stand against them. However, Protogiga is [[Mooks one of the most common starter enemies you fight in any gameplay mode]]. Its health and durability are average at best, and its only strong attack is a few eye beam blasts.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Big Mama, within the context of the backstory. She just materialized in the harbor of Verge City and immediately destroyed it, attempting to burn the whole planet to make it resemble her home. She's been constantly attacking humanity ever since.
- Great Offscreen War:
- Briarga and Caorthannach are from the same dimension and eventually crossed paths. Before he was banised to Earth, Briarga managed to banish Caorthannach to Abaddon for millions of years.
- Lord Tatsumi was the creator of the Caudata - humanity's precursor species - and was The Defender of Earth. At some point, there was an alien invasion, and Lord Tatsumi lost. The Caudata's civilization and Lord Tatsumi were sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Now that he's awake again, he's brought back the Caudata's land and fights to protect humanity and restore order.
- Nagoraiar was also guardian of Earth, but was forced to return to the holy land of Mariar after losing the war.
- Ascha'Vovina was used as a tool of planetary conquest by an evil god of war, annihilating countless civilizations and growing stronger from the death and destruction it caused. It eventually turned on its master, fighting a one-monster war against the gods and their army of apotheosized Heroes before being execrated across space and time.
- Harmless Freezing: Elasmogiga was frozen in the depths of Antarctica for millions of years, only to be awoken in 1964 when thermal nuclear testing affected the area. Zogara was sleeping under Greenland until a research team stumbled across his cave in 2050.
- Healing Factor: Atomic Rex has one, with the efficacy determined by the amount of nuclear energy he has in his body. Irokus also has one due to being irradiated as well. Cymothoa also has regenerative capabilities to the point that it could come back From a Single Cell. Gorodrak has one due to the titanochondria in his cells. Reyn has one due to the fire crystal embedded in his chest. Due to Gameplay and Story Segregation, however, the healing factor never occurs in the fights themselves.
- Helicopter Flyswatter: Every character is capable of this against fighter jets and tactical bombers.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Zogara came to Earth in antiquity to serve as one of its defenders. But after fighting hordes of demons and losing his human hosts, he fell into hiberation in Greenland. After being awoken by a research team in 2050, he teleported to Boston and promptly destroyed it. But he wasn't targeting the city or people; he was after the demonic beast hidden beneath the surface. After choosing a new human host, Zogara vanished back under the waves.
- Honorable Elephant: Haadoogar, who focuses on preserving nature and ancient ruins.
- Humongous Mecha: Draco Azul is Mayincatec in origin, but has the scarf and arm blades you'd expect of a ninja. Miraizen also has a ninja motif, but is Dual Wielding giant katanas and has Jiggle Physics. Giga Raptor is basically the Dragonzord from Power Rangers with wings. Red X is basically a Brain in a Jar atop a metal body with tentacle arms. Grandor has a realistic face plate akin to Gigantor. Exsolzenn towers above them all as massive Gundam-esque robot capable of spamming energy waves.
- It Can Think: All of the monsters, but Big Mama is specifically noted for being a strategist who studies the attack patterns of her enemies and counters them.
- King Kong Copy: Goryo, though he looks leaner and has tusks on the side of his mouth.
- Kung-Shui: A few hits from even the weakest physical attacks are enough to level skyscrapers. You can destroy residential homes by simply walking over them.
- Light Is Not Good: Caorthannach is known as The Demon Mother in her dimension for a reason. She was imprisoned for millions of years, but has recently escaped.
- Magic Knight: Haadoogar is tapped into the power of the Jaaorja, which lets him summon swords, shields, portals, and levitate.
- Mighty Glacier: It takes some serious effort to bring Exsolzenn down to its knees. Same goes with Necronaiar, who you'll have to face at the end of Battle Arena.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Ogimaa has a beaver tail, moose horns, and mountain lion skull for a head. Fitting, as it's the protective deity of Turtle Island, now better known as North America.
- Mysterious Watcher: The Arbitrator shows up out of nowhere, has no known backstory, and is noted to be more of an observer than a fighter. However, all of the monsters run away instead of fighting it.
- Nature Hero:
- Brom is from the Australian Outback and fights to protect all terrestrial kaiju. However, he despises anything inorganic or alien in origin.
- Haadoogar lives deep in the forests of India, and dedicates his life to preserving nature.
- Similarly, Rattoki lives deep in the California Redwoods and was discovered by a land surveyor working for a logging company nearby.
- Ogimaa is the protector of North America, and is wreaking havoc for the sake of avenging deforestation and other environmental disasters.
- Requinas is the guardian of Earth's oceans.
- Not Zilla: An astounding amount of them, each with their own distinctive designs and capabilities.
- Nagoraiar is magenta and black, shoots green fireballs, and can knock his enemies - and buildings - away with a tail flip.
- Protogigas looks like the combination of Godzilla and a few different insects, and has three eyes and extra pincers.
- Dracotocus is green and yellow, walks on all fours, and can roll around the stage.
- Necronrair is black with red trim, covered in spikes, and can launch purple orbs.
- Caorthannach is a skeletal white with purple trim, covered in spikes, and can fire purple orbs, beams, and spikes. She also flashes purple whenever she's powering up for an attack.
- Requinas is light blue and has bright green wings instead of arms. It can shoot lightning bolts.
- Zogara is dark brown with green stripes, armor-like scales, and can launch green fireballs and ram enemies with its horn.
- Gaonaga is brown and red, with white spikes and claws, and the symbol from its civilization across its chest. He can fire bolts and lasers of orange energy, as well as forward dash and backflip to use his tail as a weapon.
- Gorodrak has a larger, heavier body with rocky formations in dark brown and black patterns, as well as a few horns. He can breathe green fire like Nagoraiar, but not as much. He can bite his enemies, though.
- Titanicus is mostly gray, with a jagged horn and a spiked tail. It can summon ice spikes to hit an opponent from any distance, as long as they're within horizontal line of sight.
- Lord Tatsumi is varying shades of red, and can breathe powerful, but short-ranged fireballs. He can also punch much faster than any of the other monsters.
- Kaz is blue and black with a dual tail, runs on all fours, and can shoot lightning.
- Atomic Rex is varying shades of green, and can fire off short-range nuclear-powered cyclones. He can also run much faster than most of the others.
- Irokus is based on the Ankylosaurus, right down to the heavy armor and clubbed tail. It can fire off three beams of energy, and can do a forward flip with its tail.
- Big Mama is brownish gray, with a hooked, beak-like snout and long white hair. She can launch powerful fireballs and slash the air around her opponents at long range. She can also do a charging kick, but good luck getting that to connect.
- Evil Ujiak is black with green veins, which light up when he attacks. He can spew volleys of green fireballs, and charge forward will summoning green orbs.
- Yirmatang has elongated spines on its back like a Dimetrodon, is bright green and orange, and can create electrical discharge a la Blanka from Street Fighter.
- Reyn is purple and lavender with yellow and red spikes. He can launch long-range fireballs either in front of him, or all sides at once.
- Briarga is varying shades of brown, with stripes and spikes. He can launch fireballs and a laser beam, and summon rock spires out of the ground.
- Elasmogiga is black and white, and can fire both long and short range fireballs. It can also combine a fireball with a bite.
- Ascha'Vovina is basically a six-armed Godzilla Xenomorph. It can fire a dark red plasma beam and neon pink pellets from its jaws, and it can also lunge at its opponents with its various claws.
- Xez Garugon looks like Godzilla is he were biomechanical instead of a mutated animal. Its skin looks like metallic armored plating, its skull is shaped like an enlongated helment, and it has two spiked tentacles instead of a tail. Its claws are armed with with huge bone scimitars. It can summon air slashes and neon purple energy bolts from a long range, and flashes blue and purple when charging up. It can also create an enery wave by dashing forward and slashing its scimitars.
- Monocrodon looks like a cross between a lizard and a turkey, with a dark grey body, but bright red head and tail. It has two horns, as well as spiky spines down its back. It can summon the same kinds of projectiles as Ascha'Vovina, but has a lunging bite.
- Obviously Evil: Necroraiar and Monocrodon due to their color schemes, but also Ascha'Vovina for looking like a Godzilla Xenomorph. Evil Ujiak also qualifies, but it's the android who's controlling him that's evil, not Ujiak itself.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Several qualify, but Ascha'Vovina does this on a multiversal scale. Monocrodon eats the magnetic fields and cores of entire planets, effectively destroying them.
- Our Demons Are Different: Caorthannach was not born a god, but created to be a demon.
- Our Dragons Are Different:
- Giga Raptor looks like a mechanical dragon at first glance, but it's actually based on a Urvogel, a genus of bird-like dinosaurs.
- Ascha'Vovina resembles a retro theropod with six arms and a Gigeresque exoskeleton, but is a Draconic Abomination created by a God of Evil as a Bioweapon Beast.
- Ozongon'Vovina resembles a draconic centaur with a wyvern-like lower body, feline head, and blade-tipped tail; but like her sibling Ascha'Vovina she is a Draconic Abomination created by a God of Evil as a Bioweapon Beast — though she is less overtly malicious.
- Our Gods Are Different: Several of the kaiju are or were worshipped as gods. Special mention goes to Byatha and Cora, who are elemental god beasts; Byatha is fire, and Cora is wind.
- Panthera Awesome: Banturaja is a hulking feline warrior, covered in spikes and has a tail that looks like a giant flame. Byatha is basically a giant saber-toothed tiger covered in armor.
- Power Crystal: Reyn has a fire crystal embedded in his chest, giving him vast amounts of power for his multi-direction fireballs.
- Precursors: Several kaiju have been around for a millennia, but Lord Tatsumi is the most prominent example on Earth. He was the creator of the Caudata, the Children of the Kaiju that were the amphibious predecessors to humanity.
- Psychic Link: Yirmatang and Yumiko share one.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over:
- Necronaiar is basically the Godzilla version of this.
- Ascha'Vovina has a jet-black Gigeresque exoskeleton and glowing red eyes, and is a feral Draconic Abomination that seeks to destroy and devour everything it comes across.
- Radiation-Induced Superpowers: How Atomic Rex and Irokus got their powers. Also, Elasmogiga was asleep under the ice in Antactica for millions of years, but was woken up by thermal nuclear testing.
- Red Shirt Army: Unless your health is nearly depleted already, Earth's military forces don't stand a chance against you.
- Roc Birds: Cora and Vakush both play this role. Cora has rainbow tail feathers and can shoot lightning bolts and small cyclones, and Vakush is a giant four-winged owl that can fire electric arrows and air slashes.
- Rocket Punch: Grandor can do this at short range.
- Simple, yet Awesome: King Helldra is capable of firing waves of powerful lasers and energy orbs. The latter can be spammed so well that they can decimate weaker opponents before the meter runs out.
- Slow Laser: Several kaiju have one as their secondary Breath Weapon.
- Speed Blitz: Giga Raptor can perform one, leaving behind air slashes in its wake. Miraizan can do something similar by charging with her swords. Vakush and Kyprilla can do aerial versions.
- The Sociopath:
- Monocrodon is devoid of mercy or even a conscience, takes pleasure in giving and receiving pain, and seeks to devour the magnetic fields and energy cores of all planets it deems worthy. It usually targets planets abundant with life.
- Ascha'Vovina is a bloodthirsty monster that seeks to slaughter any and everything it encounters in order to grow in power.
- Spikes of Villainy: Nearly all of the monsters, with special mention to Ascha'Vovina, Caorthannach, and Necronrair due to how tough they are.
- Tanks for Nothing: The humans' tanks can be destroyed with one hit of your weakest attacks.
- Teleporter Accident: Cymothoa is the result of scientists experimenting with a teleporter technology that was powered by a dead kaiju. They used a clownfish as its first live test subject, and weren't aware of the parasite inside of it.
- They Look Like Us Now: Monocrodon can assume human form to infiltrate the Earth and figure out its weaknesses.
- The Tokyo Fireball: Goryo conquered Tokyo and forced the population to evacuate.
- Tunnel King: Irokus's profile mentions that he digs tunnels for nesting, and uses energy fields to make tunneling easier.
- Wild Card: Briarga is a god from another dimension, but was banished to Earth. Now he fights for no side but his own, and is fueled by his Unstoppable Rage.
- Wolverine Claws: Big Mama and Banturaja have these, and wield them Berserker Barrage style.
- You Cannot Grasp the True Form: The Kaiju Xenomorph is only Ascha'Vovina's preferred form. It also appears slightly differently for each individual who observes it, with only divine beings being able to perceive its true form.
- Youkai: Apaa was worshiped as a spirit of the Kita Mountain region, known for being protective and kind to humans. But a storm wiped out the local forest, village, and his shrine, causing him to go dormant for 5,000 years.
