Mechagodzilla

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Mechagodzilla
Godzilla film series character

First appearance

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Last appearance

Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003)

Portrayed by

Shwa
Ise Mori
Heisei
Wataru Fukuda
Millennium
Hirofumi Ishigaki
Motokuni Nakagawa

Aliases

Bionic Monster
Cosmic Monster
Mecha-G

Super Mechagodzilla
Kiryu

Forms

Fake Godzilla (Godzilla disguise)

Super Mechagodzilla (combination of Garuda and Heisei Mechagodzilla)

Mechagodzilla ( Mekagojira?) is the designated name of three separate

fictional mecha that appeared in the Toho's Godzilla film series. The character first appeared
in the 1974 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla as an extraterrestrial villain opposing Godzilla. In
subsequent iterations, Mechagodzilla is portrayed as a man-made hero fighting against the
villainous Godzilla. In all incarnations, Mechagodziila appears as a robotic doppelgnger of
Godzilla.
Contents
[hide]

1 Overview
o 1.1 Showa
o 1.2 Heisei
o 1.3 Millennium ("Kiryu")
o 1.4 In culture
2 Appearances
o 2.1 Films
o 2.2 Television
o 2.3 Video games
o 2.4 Literature
3 References

Overview[edit]
Showa[edit]
The original Mechagodzilla was created as a weapon of destruction by the Simians, and the
only one to be referred to by numerics within the movies themselves. First appearing in a
pseudo-flesh outer covering and masquerading as the real Godzilla, Mechagodzilla begins a
few attacks against Japan. Mechagodzilla then overpowers Godzilla's ally Anguirus and
forces him to flee, but in the process damages his disguise. Godzilla then appears from a
warehouse and destroys the pseudo-flesh disguise, forcing Mechagodzilla to reveal itself in
full. Their initial battle resulted in a tie as Godzilla was severely wounded and Mechagodzilla
was forced back into the Simian's base for repair. Fearing for the robot's advance, a
priestess of the Azumi royal family, awakened King Caesar, an ancient Okinawan deity.
Despite the shisa golem's best efforts, the rebuilt Mechagodzilla soundly trounced the
guardian. However, Godzilla joined the fight and cooperated with King Caesar in decapitating
Mechagodzilla, causing the robot to detonate in defeat.
The Simians, though, rebuilt their dreadnought in Terror of Mechagodzilla. Having learned
the value of teamwork firsthand, the Simians recruited the shunned oceanic scientist Dr.
Mafune to enslave the aquatic dinosaur Titanosaurus as an ally. The mecha was further

modified with living human brain cells and had its control circuitry integrated into the body of
Dr. Mafune's daughter Katsura. Godzilla tried to exploit the flaw found in their last brawl, but
this time the Simians prepared for it and had installed a secondary head to allow the mech to
operate without its head. Mechagodzilla was once more defeated after Katsura committed
suicide, destroying the mech's controls and freezing it long enough for Godzilla to use his
atomic heat ray on Mechagodzilla's headless body, causing it to explode in a massive fireball
and finishing off the imposter once and for all.
Showa Mechagodzilla is 50 meters (164 feet) tall, weighs 40,000 metric tons (44,092 short
tons), and can fly at speeds of up to Mach 5.

Heisei[edit]
The second incarnation of the character appeared only in Godzilla VS. Mechagodzilla.
Created by the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center using Futurian technology
scavenged from the remains of Mecha-King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla was designed as a
weapon to counter Godzilla and other kaiju. Mechagodzilla first fought Godzilla in Kyoto,
where it was defeated by a voltage backsurge caused by Godzilla. Mechagodzilla was
recovered in a relatively intact state and merged with the smaller airship Garuda to
form Super-Mechagodzilla ( Supa-Mekagojira?). This combined mecha
later fought both Fire Rodan and Godzilla. It proceeds to crippled Godzilla by destroying his
secondary brain and mortally wounds Rodan. Rodan then sacrificed his energy to revive
Godzilla, who then uses his new red spiral atomic breath to destroy the weakened SuperMechagodzilla.
Heisei Mechagodzilla is 120 meters (393 feet) tall, weighs 150,000 metric tons (165,346
short tons), and can fly at speeds of up to Mach 1 in it's standard form. Combined with the
Garuda as Super Mechagodzilla, it weighs 150,482 metric tons (165,878 short tons), and can
fly at speeds of up to Mach 2.

Millennium ("Kiryu")[edit]
The Millennium incarnation, Kiryu ( Kiry?) (derived from Kikai ryu ( machine
dragon?)) was featured in two films: Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla andGodzilla: Tokyo
SOS. When a second Godzilla appeared in 1999, the Japanese military created a
Mechagodzilla built around the skeleton of the original Godzilla from 1954. Four years later,
this machine was finished and inducted into the military under the codename Kiryu. During
its first battle with Godzilla, Kiryu's genetic memories of its 1954 incarnation were awakened
as it proceeded to attack the city free from the controls of its pilot, Akane Yashiro. Kiryu's
rampage ended when its power supply ran out and was hastily recalled. After additional
repair and upgrades, Kiryu was redeployed with Akane at the ROV controls again. Kiryu's
receiver was damaged during its second battle with Godzilla, prompting Akane to pilot the
cyborg directly and fight Godzilla to a draw. Godzilla was forced retreat after suffering
horrible injuries while Kiryu was sent back after receiving severe damage.
In Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, Mothra's fairies warned Japan that the creation of Kiryu from the
bones was a violation of the natural order. They also claimed that Mothra would gladly take
the cyborg's place in protecting Japan, should they agree to dismantle the mechanical beast.
Since Kiryu had been built partially to defend against a second attack from Mothra herself,
the Japanese declined at first. Godzilla eventually appeared after killing a Kamoebas,
prompting Mothra and Kiryu to cooperate with each other. Despite their efforts, the adult
Mothra was killed and Kiryu's transmitter damaged once again. Just like Akane before him,
Yoshito entered Kiryu for repairs, but was forced to remain inside the mech during the rest of
the battle after Godzilla's atomic breath had accidentally struck both of the hatch doors

damaging and jamming them. Teaming up with the newly hatched twin Mothra larvae, Kiryu
was able to use his drill in his right arm to injure Godzilla's chest even more, eventually
reaching, and tearing up his insides, causing Godzilla to bleed. While Godzilla screamed in
pain, Kiryu fired his Triple Hyper Maser at Godzilla. Godzilla's resultant roar enabled Kiryu to
pass his memories to Yoshito, whilst Godzilla was restrained and subdued by the web of
Mothra's twin larvae. Unable to fight and severely injured, Godzilla fell to the ground and
could not return to his feet. Breaking free of Akiba's control, Kiryu carried Godzilla out to sea,
and after releasing Akane and Yoshito to safety, plunged into the depths with his counterpart
and was never seen again.
As Kiryu is a true cyborg the DNA-enhanced computer systems the it used (and the spirit of
the original Godzilla) enabled Kiryu to act independently of any form of control, and as a
result was capable of making decisions and taking certain actions on its own, performing
movements and actions not programmed by any of the control systems, usually at
catastrophically inopportune moments. Kiryu can seemingly express emotion or make
decisions outside of its human pilots; this was never intended by its creators and was an
unforeseen development, however it proves to be a pivotal ability in Tokyo S.O.S., as Kiryu
makes the decision to take the modern Godzilla out to sea rather than kill him completely by
itself. Also unlike the previous Mechagodzilla incarnations, this one proved to possess some
form of self-awareness, as well as an understanding of human language, communicating
only once with Yoshito, a human who had worked with and on the cyborg extensively,
directly in Tokyo S.O.S. and indicating that it had been aware of Yoshito by name, though
exactly how long Kiryu had been aware of him by name is never made clear. Unfortunately
for the JSDF, building this incarnation of Mechagodzilla on the bones of the original Godzilla
also had the initial side effect of making the machine go berserk if it heard the pained roars
of Godzilla (an issue that was mostly fixed by the time Kiryu needed to be put out into battle
again to aid Mothra against Godzilla).
Kiryu is 60 meters (196 feet) tall and weighs between 36,000 metric tons (39,683 short tons)
and 40,000 metric tons (44,092 short tons).

In culture[edit]
The various incarnations of Mechagodzilla has appeared in other media associated with the
series, such as video games, television shows or comics. In the 5th season episode of 30
Rock, "Chain Reaction of Mental Anguish", Kiryu appears as one of the characters in a
theme restaurant.
Showa Mechagodzilla was rated Number 15 of the 50 Best Movie Robots by The Times,
beating other such legends as C-3PO from Star Wars, the T-1000 fromTerminator 2:
Judgment Day, and Optimus Prime from Transformers.[1]
In Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One, the main antagonist transforms into
Mechagodzilla during the climatic battle in a virtual reality environment.
In the game Bulletstorm there's a level where the player controls a mechanical version of a
Hekaton (which is the game's equivalent to Godzilla) as well as the song being played during
this part of the game being called "Mecha-dzilla"
Godzilla and Mechagodzilla make a cameo appearance in Ugly Americans (Season 1:
Episode 7 Kong of Queens) in which King Kong fights Godzilla (King Kong's children
watching the movie Godzilla vs. King Kong) and another when Kong punches a wall (after an
argument with Mark Lily on the phone), the Showa-era Mechagodzilla was seen having
breakfast.

The Shwa Mechagodzilla appears in the video games Godzilla: Monster of Monsters for
the Nintendo Entertainment System, Godzilla for the Game Boy, Super Godzilla for
the Super Nintendo (American release; replaces the Heisei version from the Japanese
release, due to the fact that the Heisei incarnation's film had yet to be released in America
when the game was released), Godzilla: Battle Legends for TurboDuo, Godzilla
Generations for the Dreamcast (erroneously using his Heisei counterpart's sound effects)
and Godzilla Generations: Maximum Impact for the Dreamcast and the Wii version
of Godzilla: Unleashed.
The Heisei Mechagodzilla appeared in the video games Super Godzilla (Japanese version,
replaced by the Showa Mechagodzilla in the English release) and Godzilla: Monster War,
both for the Super Nintendo, Godzilla: Domination! for Game Boy Advance, Godzilla: Save
the Earth for Xbox and PlayStation 2, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee for Xbox and
the Nintendo GameCube, and the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions of Godzilla: Unleashed.
Kiryu first appeared in the Japanese version of Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee on
the Nintendo GameCube. Since the Millennium Mechagodzilla duology would take a few
years to reach US stores, it was dropped from the American version of the game but did
appear as an exclusive in the Xbox version. Kiryu was next playable in Godzilla: Save the
Earth for the Xbox and the PlayStation 2 under the title "Mechagodzilla 3"; this would be
Kiryu's first PS2 appearance in the United States. Kiryu also appears in both versions
of Godzilla: Unleashed, for the first time under the name "Kiryu" as opposed to its names in
the two previous games; "Millenium Mechagodzilla" and "Mechagodzilla 3".
Like the other kaiju in the game, the backstories of all three Mechagodzilla incarnations are
altered slightly, to fit the context of the game. The Heisei Mechagodzilla and Kiryu are manmade mecha created by the G.D.F. (Global Defense Force) faction to defend Earth from the
Vortaak and their kaiju of the Aliens faction. The original Showa Mechagodzilla was salvaged
and rebuilt by the Vortaak to be used in their kaiju force.

Appearances[edit]
Films[edit]

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) - as Mechagodzilla

(1974).
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) - as Mechagodzilla (1974).
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) - as Mechagodzilla 2.
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) - as Kiryu.
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) - as Kiryu.

Godzilla Island (1997-1998)

Godzilla: Monster of Monsters (NES - 1988) - as

Mechagodzilla (1974).
Godzilla / Godzilla-Kun: Kaijuu Daikessen (Game Boy 1990) - as Mechagodzilla (1974).
Battle Soccer: Field no Hasha (SNES - 1992) - as
Mechagodzilla (1974).

Television[edit]

Video games[edit]

Super Godzilla (SNES - 1993) - as Mechagodzilla (1974)

and Mechagodzilla 2.
Kaij- Godzilla / King of the Monsters, Godzilla (Game
Boy - 1993)
Godzilla: Battle Legends (Turbo Duo - 1993)
Godzilla: Monster War / Godzilla: Destroy All
Monsters (Super Famicom - 1994)
Godzilla Giant Monster March (Game Gear - 1995)
Godzilla Trading Battle (PlayStation - 1998) - as
Mechagodzilla (1974) and Mechagodzilla 2.
Godzilla Generations (Dreamcast - 1998) - as
Mechagodzilla (1974).
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee (GCN, Xbox 2002/2003) - as Mechagodzilla 2 and Mechagodzilla 3.
Godzilla: Domination! (GBA - 2002) - as Mechagodzilla 2
and Mechagodzilla 3.
Godzilla: Save the Earth (Xbox, PS2 - 2004) - as
Mechagodzilla 2 and Mechagodzilla 3.
Godzilla: Unleashed (Wii - 2007) - as Mechagodzilla (1974),
Mechagodzilla 2 and Kiryu.
Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash (NDS - 2007) - as Kiryu.
Godzilla: Unleashed (PS2 - 2007) - as Mechagodzilla 2 and
Kiryu.
Godzilla on Monster Island (AVP Slot - 2011) - as Kiryu.
Godzilla (PS3 - 2014) - as Mechagodzilla
(1974),Mechagodzilla 2 and Kiryu.

Literature[edit]

Godzilla: Rulers of Earth (2013) - as Mechagodzilla (1974)

and Kiryu.

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ Michael Moran (2007-07-25). "The 50 best movie

robots". The Times. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
[show]

Godzilla

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