Godzilla: Save the Earth is a 2004 fighting game developed by Pipeworks and published by Atari, released for the PlayStation 2 and XBox. It included a large variety of playable kaiju, such as Godzilla, Anguirus, SpaceGodzilla, Destoroyah, Mothra, Baragon, and more. The game's story takes place two years after its prequel.
Storyline[]
Final Storyline[]
After failing to invade the Earth in 2002, the Vortaak return to Earth two years later with all of the monsters under their control, with their ultimate weapon, SpaceGodzilla. The player assumes the role of a monster who has broken free of the control, regardless of what monster is picked. If the player completes the game on hard mode with Godzilla 2000, a cutscene will be shown where Godzilla creates a black hole by blowing off SpaceGodzilla's shoulder crystals, which sucks him in, thus saving the world.
Scrapped Storyline[]
Originally, the Vortaak were going to infiltrate human society in order to obtain the G-Cells. The first few missions were going to be against human military; later on though, the aliens reveal themselves and more alien enemies appear. There were several cut missions from the story, such as a fight versus Destoroyah where the player had to activate Jet Jaguar for assistance or a fight in the Arctic with King Ghidorah. The final battle was also different. It was originally going to be that you ran up Mt. Fuji, fighting groups of monsters until you reached the top and end up facing SpaceGodzilla.
Monsters[]
Playable[]
- Anguirus
- Baragon
- Destoroyah
- Gigan
- Godzilla 90's
- Godzilla 2000
- King Ghidorah
- Mecha-King Ghidorah
- Kiryu (called MechaGodzilla 3 in-game)
- Jet Jaguar
- MechaGodzilla 2
- Megaguirus
- Megalon
- M.O.G.U.E.R.A. (called M.O.G.U.E.R.A. 2 in-game)
- Mothra (Larva and Imago)
- Orga
- Fire Rodan
- SpaceGodzilla
Unplayable[]
- Battra (airstrike)
- Ebirah (boss in the Godzilla 2000 rail level)
- Millennian (boss in Challenge mode)
Scrapped[]
- Biollante was behind and as a result Atari wasn't able to get the license in time despite being eventually completed and still being present in the game's code.
- Titanosaurus was unable to be acquired by Atari due to license issues and Megagurius was included instead.
- Hedorah was strongly considered but was scrapped due to the limitations of the consoles.
- Battra was to be made playable after the Super X3 was added, but ultimately Battra remained an air strike.
- Varan was not directly considered but according to Simon Strange would have been "their next choice".
- Super MechaGodzilla was considered according to Simon Strange.
- MechaGodzilla 1 was set to be a secret character but did not make the cut due to the presence of two MechaGodzillas already.
- Godzilla 1954 was set to be a secret character but did not make the cut due to the presence of two Godzillas already.
- Rainbow Mothra is depicted on the box art. It is unknown if he was to be truly included or it was merely an art error. During an interview for Godzilla: Unleashed Simon Strange mentions Rebirth of Mothra characters would not be allowed due to Toho considering it a separate series.
Most of these monsters appear in the sequel, Godzilla: Unleashed.
Vehicles[]
- Super X III (airstrike)
- Submarines
- Tanks
- Battleships
- Helicopters
Arenas[]
In-Game[]
These can be changed from day to night.
- Tokyo
- New York
- San Francisco (with AT&T Park)
- Osaka
- London
- Boston (with Fenway Park)
- Monster Island
- Seattle
- Los Angeles
- Mothership (cannot be played during day)
- Boxing Ring (same as the arena from Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee)
- Asteroid Field (Challenge mode M.O.G.U.E.R.A. railer only)
- Ocean (Challenge mode Godzilla railer only)
Scrapped[]
Statue Level was a level briefly described in an interview and seen in concept art that would have involved fighting Destoroyah while trying to activate a statue of Jet Jaguar.
Rodan Railer was a railer seen only in concept art similar to the Godzilla 2000 and M.O.G.U.E.R.A. ones, set in a desert.
Las Vegas is seen in concept art for the game. Toho Kingdom has this screenshot and it is unknown if it is the only concept art of Vegas. The art shows Godzilla 1990's holding the Hard Rock Hotel's guitar, prepared to use it against Mecha-King Ghidorah.
An Ice Level set in Antarctica is shown in two pieces of concept art, one of Titanosaurus and other monsters battling it out. The second includes a description of gameplay in the level. It is a picture of Godzilla 2000 falling into an ice flow with Kiryu watching. It reads "Monsters can fall through ice flow hazards. They will re-emerge in the ocean section of the arena." It is unknown why such an interesting level was cut.
Miscellaneous Scrapped Elements[]
Many of the game's elements were scrapped. Many monsters were cut and the whole story, shown above, was cut, even though most of the time spent on the game was on the story mode. Simon Strange was a man who worked on the game, and he stated that it wasn't the "feel good" project that Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee was. Las Vegas, a city, was cut, the Rodan railer was cut; the list goes on. There was originally going to be a robust tokens system, but it was eventually cut. All the cut-scenes were deleted along with the story, and the special effects for Anguirus' roar were changed. The basic idea is that many of the game's ideas were cut due to time constraints and licensing trouble.
Trivia[]
- The Japanese boxart showed the 2001 versions of King Ghidorah and Mothra.
- Anguirus' roar originally had some sort of "shockwave" effect when it was used at full charge. The waves were not correctly drawn at all angles, so they were cut.
- This game is playable on Xbox 360.
- MOGUERA is known as MOGUERA 2 in this game, referencing to Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, where the first MOGUERA was destroyed.
Videos[]
Biollante Gameplay in GODZILLA SAVE THE EARTH ~ Gigan VS. Biollante