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Kaiju No. 8's Game Version Puts You in the Fight

I love Kaiju No. 8. The way the series takes many traditional kaiju tropes and streamlines them into an exciting battle shounen series with many likable characters means that I'm always in for a good time. Games and spin-offs based on the popular franchise seemed inevitable, so I was curious to see what the upcoming mobile game based on the series was like. At Anime NYC 2025, I had the opportunity to try out the game before it was officially released, and I'm eager to play more of it in the future.

Kaiju No. 8 THE GAME is a turn-based action RPG where you can play as the characters from the series to take on various kaiju. What I like about the game is that you can actually go up against kaiju that the main cast actually can't fight in the series, like the numbered kaiju turned into weapons in the main story. It's exciting to see these kaiju rendered in well-polished, cell-shaded 3D graphics that lovingly re-create the characters from the original manga. You fight these kaiju in teams of four, and you can pick from the extended cast to fill out your team before taking on each one.

Being a turn-based RPG, you attack with your character when it's their turn in order. Every character has a standard attack based on their main weapon, whether it's an impact attack, a slashing attack, or some kind of projectile attack. Everyone has access to a specialty attack that has a shared meter, which slowly recharges, preventing it from being spammed. However, the more each character attacks, the more they fill up their ultimate meter. When those ultimate meters are filled up, you can actually utilize them right away without waiting for those characters to come up again in the queue.

To compensate for the four-on-one approach, the larger kaiju have multiple health bars that you need to whittle down. However, if you attack them in just the right way, you can expose their core, which means that they take extra damage. I wasn't able to experiment extensively given my limited time, but I think that some kaiju are weak to specific styles compared to others, similar to elemental weaknesses in other RPGs. The game was fast, the attacks are kinetic, and I love the use of particle effects to really show off how flashy a lot of these finishing moves can be.

Unfortunately, I didn't have an opportunity to try out the story mode for the game. However, even if it is just a repeat of the original series, it can still be exciting. It looks like it'll be fun to unlock multiple characters and try out different combat styles or different team combinations to take on larger kaiju. I want to learn more about the gacha mechanics and what everyone else's finishing moves look like. Here's hoping that my kaiju-loving heart is satisfied with Kaiju No. 8 THE GAME when it officially releases.

ANN's coverage of Anime NYC 2025 is sponsored by Yen Press!