Ultraman: Kaiju Kombat

Ultraman: Kaiju Kombat was an unreleased fighting game starring classic Ultraman characters from Elevated Games.
==Gameplay==
The originally planned auto-chess battler gameplay involved Ultras versus kaiju on a chess board. New pieces would be added each round leading up to a "ten on ten all-out battle", emphasizing giant sized combat. Character leveling was expected, as well as customizing the environment around the chess board.https://web.archive.org/web/20200226205332/https://ultramangalaxy.com/ultraman-to-be-elevated-in-new-ultraman-kaiju-kombat-videogame/
After the shift to NFT (non-fungible token) promotion, the game was promoted as "a two player brawler starring Ultraman and his most famous foes" with a single-player story mode and challenge mode & a versus mode with local and online play. Described as a "Community Driven Fighting Game", Kaiju Kombat NFT ownership through the Ultraman.Market gave buyers early game access, exclusive in-game cosmetics & actions, and the ability to give input on the product. NFT owners also got access to a special Discord, called #UltrasOnly and future Kaiju Kombat NFT news.https://web.archive.org/web/20211014022355/https://kaijukombat.com/https://web.archive.org/web/20211014000044/https://ultraman.market/
Elevated Games employee Chris Conde claimed that the game could be played without the use of NFTs. Conde also claimed that the NFT product input were for "specific content additions" instead of being the only feedback taken into account.https://twitter.com/chrisconde4/status/1444004612806217730https://twitter.com/chrisconde4/status/1444005495744958470
==Characters==
* Ultraman
* Ultraseven
* Yullian
* Father of Ultra
* Alien Baltan
* Aboras
* Banila
* Gomora
* Zetton
* Ultraseven Dark
File:Kk ultraman.jpg
File:Kk ultrasevenalt.jpg
File:Kk yullian.jpg
File:Kk fatherofult.jpg
File:Kk baltan.jpg
File:Kk aboras.jpg
File:Kk banilla.jpg
File:Kk gomora.jpg
File:Kk zetton.jpg
File:Kk ultrasevendark.jpg
==History==
According to Elevated Games co-founder Jaron Hinds, the game was originally planned as a fighting game revolving around the founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto and a banker in a barfight. This later changed into a game where the player character would turn into a mech, utilizing chips for transformation and upgrades.
After Hinds watched the entire 2019 Ultraman anime on Netflix, he realized the concept for the chip mech game was too close to the anime. He then contacted Tsuburraya Productions and Ultraman's North American licensing agency, The Licensing Group, to make a game featuring the live action Ultraman series characters, not expecting a response. After meeting with the head of The Licensing Group, Danny Simon, they got the license to do Kaiju Kombat.
According to Jeff Gomez, the licensing deal for Kaiju Kombat predated his involvement with the Ultraman franchise, which started in 2018 as part of Tsuburraya's global English promotional efforts for Ultraman.https://twitter.com/Jeff_Gomez/status/1443955083188781064https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Starlight-Runner-Selected-By-Tsuburaya-To-Help-Bring-ULTRAMAN-Back-To-The-World-Stage-20181211https://www.shootonline.com/spw/ultraman-miniseries-sevenger-fight-set-stream-exclusively-global-event-new-transmedia-marketing
The game was officially announced on the now-defunct official North American Ultraman website, Ultraman Galaxy on February 21, 2020. An alpha version of the game was originally planned for September 2020.
Hinds was planned to appear on the Ultraman Day livestream on July 10, 2020. Elevated Games was in charge of the livestream, which had major technical issues to the point where only pre-recorded segments were shown on the stream. Live segments including the live reveal of artist Matt Frank's art for the game were cancelled.https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/july-10-is-ultraman-day-online-broadcasts-virtual-store-opening-1302640/https://tokupedia.tumblr.com/post/623450137223675904/everything-unveiled-on-ultraman-day-2020
Matt Frank's poster art was revealed on August 21, 2020.https://twitter.com/kaijukombat/status/1296612425735630848 In response to a Japanese fan concerned about Yullian's appearance on the poster without her friend Ultraman 80, Frank responded that 80 would appear on an alternate version of the poster.https://twitter.com/spankzilla85/status/1296711353722437633
On September 30, 2021, Elevated Games claimed that play testing would be "starting soon".https://imgur.com/n9KasYX
==Controversy==
On October 1, 2021, author and YouTuber Xiran Jay Zhao posted a Twitter thread highlighting Elevated Games' shift to using Kaiju Kombat as a means of selling Ultraman non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Zhao further criticized Elevated Games for a joke post dismissing the environmental impact of NFTs, as NFTs are known to consume vast amounts of electrical energy, having a direct impact on the wider environment as a result. The joke post was made in spite of Elevated Games advertising use of the "most environmentally friendly" blockchain, EOS for Kaiju Kombat NFTs. In responses to criticisms made about the project on Twitter, Elevated Games threatened artists with "tokenizing" their art (making online images into a sellable NFT without the creator's consent). They also banned people for "being negative" on the alpha testing Discord server.https://twitter.com/XiranJayZhao/status/1443798014372450305
The same day, Chris Conde claimed that the Kaiju Kombat NFTs were a result of a deal made with Tsuburaya "almost two years ago", around 2019.https://twitter.com/chrisconde4/status/1443996800734662677 He also claimed that the NFTs were a "pre-sale" to fund game development to get the game out sooner, instead of using more traditional monetization.https://twitter.com/chrisconde4/status/1443998612799856642 Conde also mentioned Tsuburaya's NFT involvement with another company, Veve.https://twitter.com/chrisconde4/status/1443996800734662677
On October 13, 2021, Tsuburaya Productions announced that Kaiju Kombat was no longer considered an officially licensed Ultraman project. This is due to "multiple contract violations" involving the unauthorized sale of Ultraman and Ultraman Series NFTs.
According to Tsuburaya Productions, Elevated Games ignored repeated warnings about receiving Tsuburaya's prior approval in using their Ultraman properties for Ultraman Kaiju Kombat and "any NFT products currently or previously available, or available in the future". Since Tsuburaya are not liable for unauthorized Ultraman NFT products, they "urge everyone not to access these products or make payments or submit your personal information to Elevated Games or their affiliates".https://news.ultramanconnection.com/important-notice-on-unauthorized-product-by-elevated-games/https://twitter.com/TsuburayaGlobal/status/1448468603909574665 As a still officially licensed product, Veve's past and future Ultraman NFT releases aren't affected.
Soon after the announcement, Zhao tweeted that Elevated Games was deleting all evidence and discussion of the announcement on their Discord server.https://twitter.com/XiranJayZhao/status/1448432829126217733
==Gallery==
File:Kklogo1.jpg|Old logo
File:Kklogo2.png|New logo
==External Links==
*Official Website
*Youtube
*Twitter
*Instagram
*Facebook
*TikTok
*Official Discord
*Countdown
==References==
Category:Video Games
Category:Outlaw Content
Category:Outlaw Games