Tsuburaya Productions and The Licensing Group have just announced that Elevated Games will be developing the first Ultraman videogame to be produced in North America in decades with Ultraman: Kaiju Kombat. Gameplay will focus on the original, beloved Classic Ultraman characters.

Today Ultraman Galaxy is sitting down with Elevated Games Co-Founder Jaron Hinds to chat about the game, the alpha version of which will see release Fall 2020. Elevated Games is a game design and production studio located in Playa Vista, California, the heart of game country. They are one of the first companies to obtain the Ultraman license under the new global campaign. We’ll talk about the history of Elevated Games, what drew them to the Ultraman universe and of course what players will experience when playing the title.

What can players expect as far as gameplay in Ultraman: Kaiju Kombat?

The game is going to be an auto-chess battler. You’ll start with one Ultra on a chess board facing off against another player. Let’s say you send out Ultraman and he fights Baltan and defeats him with his Spacium Beam. Ultraman moves to the next round, but now its two on two. Maybe it’s Ultraman and Father of Ultra fighting two Kaiju. Or, maybe you’ve recruited a Kaiju to aid Ultraman. What we eventually end up with is a ten on ten all-out battle, with beam and Kaiju attacks flying across the field. We really want to emphasize to the player is that these are 140-foot Ultras and Kaiju who are knocking down buildings and causing absolute chaos.

How did you come up with the game’s concept?

My co-founder and I came together in February of last year with the idea of creating a fighting game where Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin and a banker throw down in a bar. We ended up deviating from the original concept to a game where you (the player character) would put chips into your arm and turn into a mech, with new moves unlocking as you acquire new chips.

That March, I binge watched the entire Anime ULTRAMAN series on Netflix and realized, as a game designer that this was a little too close to the concept we were working on. From there we reached out to The Licensing Group and Tsuburaya with our pipe dream of using the classic Ultraman characters in the game, not really expecting to hear back. Then the stars aligned, and we met with Danny Simon and the next thing you know, we’re working on an Ultraman videogame.

What can players expect in terms of interacting with the characters and world of Ultraman?

We have access to many of the characters from the golden age of the franchise, such as Ultraman, Ultraseven, Ultraman Taro, and Ultraman Ace, as well as all of their Kaiju and alien opponents, so there will be plenty of variety. Of course players can level their characters up, which makes them more powerful, but we also want to give them the ability to customize the environment around that chessboard. We also want to give players the opportunity to become more intimate with the media surrounding Ultraman as they build their teams.

When will players be able to get their hands on Ultraman: Kaiju Kombat?

The soft launch of our alpha is slated for release in September 2020.

Now for the most important question of the day, who is your favorite Ultraman?

After pondering for about 30 seconds, it has to be the original Ultraman, or as I like to call him: the OU!

Players can currently sign up for the pre-launch and receive an Ultraman Sticker for iMessenger at https://Pre.KaijuKombat.com