Godzilla

Godzilla is a creature that was mutated by man's creation of the atomic bomb. "Born" in 1954 by this catastrophe, Godzilla represents the evil of man and will often come ashore to remind humankind of their sins. Or at least, that's how Godzilla first started.
 
Eventually, as more Godzilla movies were made, Godzilla's image of terror was turned into an image of the protector of Earth. His movies were being targeted towards a younger and younger audience. Many people criticized this change in the 60's and 70's as it lost the focus of the original vision of Godzilla. However, since Godzilla's reboot in 1984, he has regained his more serious image and has ever since been portrayed respectfully to the original vision. 
 
The Godzilla video game franchise, on the other hand, hardly remains consistent. Besides recent years, each Godzilla video game has been rapidly different from the next.

The Many Different Faces of Godzilla

Godzilla has had a lot of different looks over the years, but modern games usually show him in his '90s or 2000 incarnation. In films, Godzilla is famous for always using a dude in a suit, also known as suitmation. Despite the relatively low cost of modern CG, the Japanese studios continue to use this obsolete special effect style as a tribute to past movies in the series.

Showa Godzilla ('50s-'70s)

The Showa version of Godzilla is the general look he had for his first set of films from 1954-1975. The Showa version of Godzilla stands 50 meters (164 feet) tall and weighs in at about 20,000 metric tons (22,000 tons.) This version began with prominent ears and four toes. However, as time went on, the ears were eventually shrunk down and the toes were reduced to three. While the exact reasons for this are unknown, it can be assumed this was done to make Godzilla more kid-friendly and fit the hero roll he was starting to become (as opposed to the intimidating menace he started out as.) Godzilla's look through the Showa series continued to slightly humanize him more and more. It was this version of Godzilla that famously battled American movie monster King Kong in 1962. A popular rumour stated that the version of King Kong vs. Godzilla released in the United States ended with Kong defeating Godzilla, while the Japanese version had an opposite outcome. This is untrue, both versions of the movie end in a fairly diplomatic stalemate, never making it clear whether one monster was more powerful than the other. This version of the character lasted until 1975, when Godzilla took a nine year hiatus.

Heisei Godzilla ('80s-'90s)

The Heisei incarnation of Godzilla returned him back to his menacing roots. Buildings have gotten taller since 1954, so Godzilla had to as well. In this 1984 plot reboot of Godzilla, he stood 80 meters (262 feet) tall and weighed in around 50,000 metric tons (55,000 tons.) Toes and ears were back in full force. But Godzilla didn't stop there. In 1991, Godzilla grew even bigger. Reason being that time travellers in the movie Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah tried to eliminate him, but accidentally just caused him to be even bigger and stronger due to an encounter with a nuclear submarine. This new Godzilla stood 100 meters (328 feet) tall and weighed 60,000 metric tons (66,000 tons!) This Godzilla reigned king of the monsters until 1995, when he melted down to his death due to radiation. There was a hiatus for three years.

American Godzilla (1998)

The American version of Godzilla is extremely different from all previous entries. This one was composed of all CGI, as opposed to suitmation, and basically resembled a gigantic version of a lizard. This version is clearly distinguishable by its more flat-headed look, and more realistic abilities, such as not having the character's signature "nuclear breath". Godzilla's roar in this movie was also noticeably different from his trademark roar used over the past years. The character was later incorporated into "proper" Godzilla canon as a separate monster known as "Zilla", with the idea being that the Americans, who had never had to deal with Godzilla in a Japanese-made movie, had confused the giant lizard for the "real" Godzilla. Poking fun at the American movie, "Zilla" is always depicted in Japanese movies with deliberately low-quality CGI instead of suitmation, and is always defeated by other monsters fairly quickly.

Millennium Godzilla ('00s)

One year later caused for yet another reboot of Godzilla. This version returned Godzilla to his looks prior to the American release. Godzilla's skin is more green in this version.
 

The Future of Godzilla (2004 )

Godzilla has been on hiatus since 2004, and is expected to return around 2014 for his 60th anniversary. There has been talks about "Godzilla: 3D to the Max!," a sort of 3D sequel to the 1971 Godzilla vs. Hedorah film. Another American-made Godzilla film has also been confirmed to be in the works. Little is known about both of these projects, other than the fact that the American movie will not be directly related in any way to the reasonably popular 1998 film, but just as a force of nature, you can bet Godzilla will return.
 

Godzilla's Video Games

While a huge icon in popular culture, Godzilla video games usually rely more on the franchise than solid game play. While some entries offer a unique experience with fairly solid game play, most sell based on the fact 'Godzilla' is attached to the title. Even Godzilla: The Series, a Game Boy Colour game based on a Saturday Morning Cartoon based on the American film, sold fairly well.

Some of the stand-out titles of the Godzilla game series is Godzilla: Kaiju Daikessen for SNES (Japan-only) and Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee for GameCube and Xbox. Both titles are tournament fighters and are still used for some competitions today.

Godzilla usually possesses fairly typical attacks which feature in almost every game. These include his trademark radioactive breath, various punch and claw attacks, a powerful tail swing, kicking and of course stomping. A lot of entries choose to build on these attacks by making them more powerful or offer a special attack via a pick-up. One examples featured in Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee is a powerful pulse attack where Godzilla emits a huge shock wave from his body, which injures and throws into the air any enemies within the blast radius. This particular ability could have been inspired by the 1991 film, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, in a scene where Godzilla is being strangled by King Ghidorah and does something very similar.

Godzilla in the Movies

Since Godzilla's debut in 1954, he has been in 29 films. All were distributed under the Japanese film studio, Toho, except the 1998 American Godzilla remake. Listed below are Toho's official English title for all the films, along with their original release date.

Showa Series

11.03.1954 - Godzilla
04.24.1955 - Godzilla Raids Again
08.11.1962 - King Kong vs. Godzilla
04.29.1964 - Mothra vs. Godzilla
12.20.1964 - Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
12.19.1965 - Invasion of Astro-Monster
12.17.1966 - Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
12.16.1967 - Son of Godzilla
08.01.1968 - Destroy All Monsters!
12.20.1969 - All Monsters Attack
07.24.1971 - Godzilla vs. Hedorah
03.12.1972 - Godzilla vs. Gigan
03.17.1973 - Godzilla vs. Megalon
03.21.1974 - Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla
03.15.1975 - Terror of MechaGodzilla

Heisei Series

12.15.1984 - The Return of Godzilla
12.16.1989 - Godzilla vs. Biollante
12.14.1991 - Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
12.12.1992 - Godzilla vs. Mothra
12.11.1993 - Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
12.10.1994 - Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla
12.09.1995 - Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

American Versions

05.20.1998 - Godzilla
00.00.2010 - TBA Untitled Legendary Pictures Godzilla Film

Millennium Series

12.11.1999 - Godzilla 2000: Millennium
12.16.2000 - Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
12.15.2001 - Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!
12.15.2002 - Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
12.13.2003 - Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
12.04.2004 - Godzilla: Final Wars 
 

Godzilla In Music

In 1977 the American heavy metal rock band Blue Öyster Cult recorded a popular song about Godzilla, appropriately titled "Godzilla." The song first appeared on the album Spectres. More recently, it has appeared in three music/rhythm games: Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, and available as a paid download for Rock Band.
 

Lyrics 

"With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound
He pulls the spitting high tension wires down
Godzilla!

Helpless people on subway trains
Scream, bug-eyed, as he looks in on them
Godzilla!

He picks up a bus and he throws it back down
As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town
Godzilla!

Oh no, they say he's got to go
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Oh no, there goes Tokyo
Go go Godzilla, yeah

Oh no, they say he's got to go
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Oh no, there goes Tokyo
Go go Godzilla, yeah

Oh no, they say he's got to go
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Oh no, there goes Tokyo
Go go Godzilla, yeah

History shows again and again
How nature points up the folly of men
Godzilla!
 
History shows again and again
How nature points up the folly of men
Godzilla!
 

G-Fest

Each year, a convention run by Daikaiju Enterprises called "G-Fest" is held in the Chicago area, gathering all fans of Godzilla and other kaiju films. G-Fest is the largest gathering of kaiju fans each year, and it continues to grow. More information can be found at the official site, G-Fan.com.