Raising Kaiju, One Fight At A Time: Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher
2022 has been a stellar year for the Kaiju genre. Shin Ultraman is starting to screen in theaters across America, Godzilla has returned to video games thanks to a crossover DLC with GigaBash, and not too long ago it was announced that Gamera would be returning to the screen soon thanks to the Netflix anime Gamera: Rebirth! Amidst all that good news, there’s been one title that came out this year, that I’ve been coming back to over and over again: Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher (UKMR). UKMR is the latest entry in the long-running Monster Rancher series, which started on the original PlayStation. The series is, as you can imagine, about raising monsters of your own from birth to retirement. It’s had a number of revisions and sequels over the years, but oddly enough the series has always flown under my radar. That is, until now. The latest entry in the series injects a unique twist – instead of raising human sized monsters, you raise skyscraper sized Kaiju, specifically ones from the various different Ultraman series!
Having just recently gotten into Ultraman after picking up the original series at G-Fest and then seeing Shin Ultraman at New York Comic Con, I was thrilled to hear this niche game in a niche franchise would be making it stateside. UKMR puts you in the shoes of a Kaiju Breeder, someone who makes their livelihoods breeding and training Kaiju on your very own farm. Core gameplay involves summoning monsters using Keywords (any words will do the trick), and then training them to compete in and win tournaments to be crowned the best Kaiju around! Combat in UKMR is reminiscent of Super Godzilla on the Super Nintendo. Two Kaiju stand on opposite ends of the arena. You move forward or back up to determine what kind of attack you’ll do, as the opponent does the same in real time. You attack the opponent until time runs out or you deplete their health bar. Whomever has the most health left at the end of the match is the winner! Along the way, you’ll meet fellow Kaiju Breeders – other characters from the Monster Rancher series and as you get better at raising Kaiju, new paths open up for you. You can send your Kaiju to be trained by local breeders to get your Kaiju to learn new attacks; You can take your Kaiju out on treasure hunts called “Adventures” to unlock new monsters to summon or to find new items to help your monster develop well; You can even fuse two monsters together to create hybrid Kaiju, or sometimes a completely new one! All of these simple game modes make UKMR highly addictive to play.
However, the game isn’t perfect. Much of raising a good Kaiju is left up to educated guesswork, unless you go online to search for optimal raising strategies and what stats you need to unlock which moves.
Keyword System from Bandai Namco Entertainment
Because the game doesn’t hold your hand, raising your Kaiju feels more natural, yet it’s that much more frustrating when you keep throwing your A-Rank Kaiju at a tournament only for it to continuously lose because you didn’t account for how your opponents’ stats would match to yours. The summoning system also leaves a lot to be desired. In Japan, you can use Ultra Coins to summon Kaiju via the Amiibo scan function on the Nintendo Switch. However, there are no Ultra Coins in America, unless you import them, so the easiest way to summon new monsters is with the Keyword system. You enter a word, a phrase, or multiples of each and the game will give you a Kaiju. Which Kaiju the game gives you seems to be entirely random, and so if you want a specific Kaiju, you may be entering dozens upon dozens of words to find it. Unlocking new Kaiju to summon is also ridiculously specific, having to journey to specific coordinates with Kaiju that have specific stats, sometimes multiple times, just to unlock a new Kaiju to raise.
Final Verdict
With all that said, I still come away recommending Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher. As a fan of the Ultraman series, it’s great to be able to play as the Kaiju and run around with them, even if the overall package is a flawed one. The series is a fun touch for longtime fans but, for me, I was lost as a newcomer. The gameplay loop of putting your Kaiju through drills, resting, fighting in tournaments can get pretty repetitive, which is why the game flourishes on Nintendo Switch; it’s far more suited for short pick up and play sessions than long ones. While unlocking new Kaiju may be obtuse and difficult, when you finally do unlock one it’s a fantastic feeling. Finally, the tug of war combat system is a unique one, and extremely satisfying when you land the big hits that matter. If you’re a Kaiju fan and you own a Nintendo Switch, you owe it to yourself to stop by the Ranch.
