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I know jack shit about Ultraman. But I do know kusoge fighting games, and this is one of em!

Based on several years of Ultraman, Ultraman: Legendary Giant of Light, how it’s translated here, is a fighting game on the Saturn by SIMS. If you don’t know them, they’re VERY prolific. SIMS, or “Soft development Innovation Multi Success”, though no one calls them that, is a joint venture company between Sega and Sanritsu. They made a LOT of Sega games, their output is stunning. But the thing about them is while they made a LOT of games, it’s nothing I’d really say is… worth caring a lot about. Oh boy, Wimbleton II for the Master System. Oh joy, Outrun 2019 on the Mega Drive. So yeah, they’re the perfect group to make a tie in videogame for Ultraman.

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Ultraman is a big deal, as far as I’m aware, in Japan, but again I know jack shit about it. I know that it is A) a show where a giant dude fights kaiju. B) Very cheesy in like a 50s way, and C) Made by a catholic. And I only know THAT because there’s a stage in this game where the background is filled with Ultramen who have been crucified on giant crosses, and it was SO FUCKING WEIRD WHEN I FIRST SAW IT.

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This game, for what it’s worth, seems like a huge love letter to Ultraman. It’s got a bunch of the music, which does NOT fit this combat usually, lots of lovingly rendered monsters and ultramen from the series, and lots of locales to destroy as you throw monsters into em. It’s a bit jank and goofy, but I’ll be real, pretty charming.

I only did this set because I needed one more game mastered to become the top Saturn person on Retro Achievements, and this looked easy. And it was. It was pretty simple. You just jump kick then stand kick over and over again and it defeats the AI. But it kinda surprised me. This is considered kusoge, but is pretty enjoyable. Much better than a lot of fighting games I’ve played. And it’s got a bunch of cool kaiju in it! Sick! They seem HORRIBLY balanced, but y’know, cool!

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It won’t blow anyone away, but if you were a Japanese kid in the late 90s who really liked Ultraman, you could totally do worse than this. There are some SHIT Ultraman games out there.