________ _________ ___ __ \______ ______ /______ ________ __ /_/ /_ __ \_ __ / _ __ `/__ __ \ _ _, _/ / /_/ // /_/ / / /_/ / _ / / / /_/ |_| \____/ \__,_/ \__,_/ /_/ /_/ RODAN FAQ (FOR "GODZILLA: DESTROY ALL MONSTERS MELEE") For play on Nintendo Gamecube Version: 1.01 Last Updated: 8/11/03 Phase: Technically Complete THE FOLLOWING SITES HAVE HOSTING PRIVILEGES: GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) NeoSeeker (www.neoseeker.com) Cheat Happens (www.cheathappens.com) If you are e-mailing me about feedback, questions, or anything having to do with any FAQ, please send it to Blublublublu1129@cs.com. If any e- mail is sent to Blublublublu1129 that does not concern a FAQ, it will be deleted/ignored, as I primarily use this address for FAQ-related stuff. After the Monster Rancher 3 FAQ, I'm going to say this. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. I know that not everyone is instantly going to listen to this, but if you wish to flame me for something on a FAQ, please don't even bother e-mailing because you will be instantly ignored and added straight to my e-mails' blocking lists, so that you can never e-mail me with that address again. Also with the last one, if you feel the need to falsely accuse me of plagiarism, please only do so if you are the author of the item that you felt was plagiarized. If you are not, you will be instantly ignored. Please stop sending me files. I will not download them unless they are someone I know, and by this I mean someone I know -personally- like family or best friends. I have suspected that some files that have been sent to me are viruses (with good justification after being persecuted) and did not download them. This also means not to send me FAQs or any other material to critique. _______________________________________________________________________ UPDATE HISTORY 7/22/03 -1:00 AM Update Got the craziest idea to do a FAQ on Rodan. The rest is history. Did the bio for Rodan just now as well. 7/26/03 -6:50 PM Update Not much added... Just ignore this... 8/11/03 -3:00 PM Update Completed Section 1. -5:30 PM Update FAQ complete. -7:30 PM Update Completely forgot the legal bit. Added it in. Reference credit goes to: Instruction book (some, but not all of the moves) Contents According to Joe ------------------------- Section 1: Introduction 1A: About G:DAMM 1B: Rodan Bio 1C: Ups/Downs Section 2: Using Rodan 2A: Moves 2B: Strategy and Battle 2C: Tips Section 3: FAQ Section 4: Legal Bit Section 5: Thank You and Goodbye ------------------------- / SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION \ ----------------------------- 1A: ABOUT G:DAMM From the early Commodore 64 to even PlayStation, Godzilla fans were delivered games that were merely half-baked concepts and gameplay. For the most part, we were either treated to just monsters battling or just destruction. Half the time, it seemed that the developers had either never actually paid close enough attention to a Godzilla movie or they just didn't care and were taking a chance on making a cheap license title that would make them a quick buck. Infogrames (oddly enough) and Pipeworks, however, were among the first to truly deliver the fans something they've wanted; A combination of monster battling and destruction, with great detail and gameplay. Thus, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee was born. The company did a great job not only animating the creatures to near visual precision, but placing in the trademark roars and attacks that each creature did. Everything from Godzilla's heat ray to Megalon's burrowing ability; From Gigan's massive sawblade stomach to Destoroyah's high-pitched roar. The main reason I chose to do a FAQ on Rodan is that he can be one of the best and worst characters to play as. He's best if you know what you're doing, but worst if you play him like any other creature in this game. He's not a brawler, plain and simple. You don't take him right into the fray and bash away maniacally. This is more of a "get some distance between you and the opponent, then unload anything you can" type of kaiju. 1B: RODAN BIO Of the three series of Godzilla (Showa, Heisei, and Millenium), Rodan only appears in two of them. Each appearance is a different Rodan, meaning he has a slightly different origin in both. You see, Rodan is not much different from Godzilla or Anguius, as you will find by reading the background on Rodan. WARNING: This bio contains ***SPOILERS*** to some Toho films. -Showa Series- Rodan first made his appearance in his own film, appropriately titled Rodan (pronounced Raiden in Japan, named after one of the old Japanese gods [god of war if I'm not mistaken]). It all began with nuclear testing on Pacific Islands. Scientists would explode large nukes all around the sea, testing to see just how devastating their new toys were. No one realized the effect this would have on some of the petrified life on one such Pacific Island. In Kyushu, a small mining community, many miners began to turn up dead in the mines. People eventually found that the culprit was a prehistoric insect called a Meganuron. Local officials worked hard to try to stop these vicious beasts from claiming more lives. One miner ventured further into the mine to find that a giant, winged dinosaur was feasting upon the Meganurons in the cave. The man was eventually found alive. After much therapy, he was able to tell his story of the beasts. At the same time, a huge flying creature was spotted all about the world, attacking planes and even claiming the lives of a young couple who were spending time near the top of one of the mountains in Kyushu. Time eventually revealed that there was not one, but two of these flying creatures. They were called Rodans (or Raidens). They could fly at super sonic speeds and generate powerful gales by flapping their wings. It seemed that there was nothing anyone could do to stop them. However, a military plan eventually defeated them. The female Rodan was struck down by military weaponry and landed in hot lava as the volcano the Rodans inhabited was errupting. Having fallen into the lava, the female Rodan burst into flames. Not being able to bear the loss of his mate, the male Rodan followed suit by plunging into the lava to join his soulmate. The two Rodans died together. Many debate as to whether or not one of the Rodans survived or a new one all together came to be, but some time after the first film, Rodan appeared yet again (in the film "Ghidora, the Three-Headed Monster"). This coincided with a prophecy given to earth from a woman possessed by the spirit of a Martian. Not long after, Godzilla also appeared. The two behemoths eventually met and began a long, even-weighted battle. The two fought to practically a stalemate when Mothra interfered. Mothra's reasons were that a new monster called King Ghidora had appeared and threatened to destroy Earth. Mothra, still in her caterpillar form, failed in convincing Godzilla and Rodan that they should help. She then tried to challenge KG on her own. While King Ghidora was mopping up the floor with her, Godzilla and Rodan showed up to assist the bravehearted caterpillar. Within a few minutes, they had driven King Ghidora off. From this moment on, Rodan would not only be an ally to Godzilla, but somewhat viewed as another of the many "defenders of Japan." Rodan would eventually go on to make some boring cameos in films like Godzilla's Revenge and Godzilla vs. Megalon. The only significant roles that Rodan would play in the remainder of the Showa series would be in Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, in which Rodan assisted Godzilla in once again ousting King Ghidora, and Destroy All Monsters, in which Rodan joined a band of monsters controlled by aliens to destroy, and eventually defend Earth. In accordace to the latter, Rodan retired peacefully on Monster Island, eating all the dolphins he could ever enjoy. -Heisei Series- Since the timeline was started over, any films involving Rodan were pretty much ignored, meaning Rodan hadn't come to be yet. However, when Toho made Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II, they decided to throw Rodan into the film. A group of researchers go to an island that is said to be massively polluted by toxic waste. The waste had an effect on a small dinosaur nest. This resulted in a few of the petrified eggs hatching. As luck would have it, one of them was a pteranodon. The waste caused it to not only grow faster, but mutate to a powerful lifeform that came to be known as Rodan (or Raddon as the dubbed version called him, sadly). Rodan caught sight of the researchers and noticed that they stole an egg. Before he could catch them, Godzilla appeared and made short work of the flying reptile. After some time, the researchers found that the giant egg seemed to be emitting some musical notes. They had chorus sing the notes. This lead to the revival of Rodan in the form of the super-powered Fire Rodan (think of it as SSJ Rodan). In this form, Rodan gained a more reddish tint and possessed the ability to fire a heat ray kind of like Godzilla. Being able to sense where the egg was, Rodan chased it down, even after it hatched revealing itself to be a baby Godzilla. It was believed that he expressed interest in the egg because the baby contained within was viewed as a brother by him. After a while, Rodan was attacked and defeated by MechaGodzilla; the battle left him with a huge hole in his chest. Godzilla would also try his hand at MG, but a new plan was initiated to destroy Godzilla's second brain in order to paralyze him and eventually kill him. After his second brain was destroyed, Rodan mustered the rest of his energy and flew to Godzilla's aid. He then caused himself to disintegrate, giving off massive amounts of radiation which regenerated Godzilla's second brain. Rodan's sacrifice allowed Godzilla to power up and beat the tar out of MechaGodzilla. -Millenium Series- Rodan has yet to appear in the Millenium series. We'll have to wait and see what he'll turn out like, if he appears at all. If he does, he can join Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora, and Mechagodzilla as being one of the few to have appeared in all three series of Godzilla. 1C: UPS/DOWNS Whether or not you see the advantages to Rodan as out-weighing the disadvantages depends solely on the type of player you are. If you are more about maneuvering and strategy, then Rodan may just work for you. Rodan is not a brute force monster like that of Destoroyah. He's also not a close range brawler, like Anguirus. He's almost strictly a long- range attacker, either using his heat ray or throwing buildings/vehicles. -ADVANTAGES- -Rodan's throw attacks are quite powerful. Not only do they have the ability to throw a target a good distance away, but they also cause some great damage for throws. -Rodan's heat ray comes quite handy when there are no buildings to throw and you just need to get a cheap hit in. It can also be helpful when your opponent is down for the count. -It seems that Rodan can cause a bit more damage when throwing buildings. ------------------------ / SECTION 2: USING RODAN \ ---------------------------- 2A: MOVES It's essential. No way around it. If you're going to use someone/thing effectively, you've got to know the moves. Listed here are the different moves for Rodan. The one thing I want to make clear is what is meant by "stick towards" or "stick away". Many of you probably know, but just in case, it indicates which way you want the stick pointing. "Stick away" means you want the analog stick pointing away from the opponent (to your back) when doing the attack, while "stick towards" (which should be pretty self-explanatory) means to hold the analog stick towards your opponent (to your front). ----Basic Moves---- Movement- Analog stick Block- Y Duck- Hold L trigger Run- Hold L trigger while moving Jump- R trigger Grab (opponent, building)- A+B buttons Fly- Hold R trigger ----A Button Attacks---- Wing Punch (one hit)- A Double-Wing Punch (two hits)- A, A Double-Wing Punch and Pounce (three hits) A, A, A Delayed Two-Fist Strike- Stick away+A Head Smack- Stick towards+A Uppercut- Down+A Overhead Wing Rake- Up+A Aerial Wing Slap- A while flying ----B Button Attacks---- Spin Kick (one hit)- B Spin Kick into Knee Smash (two hits)- B, B Swing Sweep- Stick away+B Three-Point Kick- Stick towards+B Stomp- Down+B Bicycle Uppercut- Up+B Drop Kick- B while flying ----X Button Attacks---- Wing Slap (one hit)- X Double-Wing Slap (two hits)- X, X Double-Wing Slap into Flapping Smas (three hits)- X, X, X Flying Wing Knockdown- Stick away+X Flying Windshear- Stick towards+X Flying Sweep- Down+X Flying Hook Attack- Up+X Flying Loop Dive- X while flying ----Throws---- Grab opponent/building- A+B (can only grab a flashing building) Basic throw- A while holding opponent or building Spining Throw- B while holding opponent Air Loop Smash- X while holding opponent ----Special Attacks---- Uranium Heat Ray- Hold Z trigger and release (use C to guide the beam) Flying Heat Ray- Z while flying Bird Turret- A+X when in Rage Rage Note: Rodan has infinite attack energy when he is in Rage Ground Spin- B or X while down 2B: Strategy and Battle -Flight- The first thing you should probably know about Rodan is his ability to fly. Sure, both version of King Ghidora in this game can fly, but they fly incredibly slow. So much to the point that it's almost not worth using their flight ability. Rodan, on the other hand, flies incredibly fast. The best part about Rodan's flight ability is you can get to power-ups really easily, since you don't have to run around all the buildings. You can just fly over most of them. The only tough part is landing. You have to learn how to let go of the R trigger at just the right time, or learn to maneuver Rodan around to your target. The latter can be more difficult, but possible to pull off. You may not land exactly on what you're trying to get, but you could at least land near it. Be sure to also check out some of Rodan's aerial attacks. The only one I recommend you avoid is his Aerial Wing Slap. That only effects enemies in the air, plus it doens't do much damage. Both his B and X aerial attacks are superlative, since they strike downward. The Flying Loop Dive isn't bad. It does a decent amount of damage and flings the enemy a good distance away. The only downside is that enemies can see it coming and defend fairly easily. In such a case, I would recommend using the B button aerial attack, since it's much quicker and harder to block. -Fighting- If you're going in guns blazing with an all out brawl, guess what. You won't stand much of a chance. Not only are Rodan's attacks a bit weaker, but all your opponent needs to do is knock you down once and they can easily tear into you and defeat you. Rodan's defense is very low, lowest out of the pack in fact. So what you need to do is get some distance between you and the others. There are several ways to achieve this: -Just because Rodan's attack is fairly low doesn't mean his attacks are without meaning. The Uppercut, for instance, is an awesome hit. Using it can blow your enemy quite a good distance away. Learn to use attacks just like it to put some distance between you and your enemy. Another good one is the three-hit X combo. That last wing flap, should it land, can send your enemy sailing a decent distance. -Use throws frequently. Rodan can grab opponents from a further distance than any of the other kaiju (since he adds an extra hop into his grab). Once this has been achieved, use any of the throw attacks. I recommend either B or X, since B gets good distance and X does a little better damage with good distance. If you are going to throw, be sure your opponent doesn't hit the wall and land close to you again. This means you may want to throw closer towards the center if you're close to a wall. -Run or use flight. Use Rodan's running only out in open areas. Flight would be pointless out there since there really isn't anything to fly over (using flight also depletes Rodan's attack energy). Use flight when you're in a cluttered area. This can help you to get around all the other obstacles around you, as mentioned before, and get a safe distance from your opponent. Once you've reached a good distance, unleash distance attacks. Use the Uranium Heat Beam to its fullest, but beware your energy level. If you're getting low, either buy some time for it to replenish or find a power-up. I especially recommend you go for a Rage anytime you find it. If you're lucky, you can hit the opponent twice with the Bird Turret attack. Not only this, but you will have unlimited energy when you are in Rage. That means you can unleash all the Uranium Heat Beams you want and fly all you want. As a side note of the Heat Beam, remember to use it any time your opponent gets a building. Be sure to land the hit before they throw it. This will stop a potential building hit, which can do quite a bit of damage to Rodan. Buildings are probably your best allies when using Rodan. Half the time, you may find yourself doing nothing but buildings. Not only does this temporarily stymie your opponent when they hit, but it hits for very good damage. Grab any buildings you can whenever you can (except when you need to avoid one that your opponent just threw at you). Your X attacks are decent long-distance strikes. However, you definitely want to be careful using them. Should your opponent block, you will be wide open. This is why if such an attack fails, get away as quickly as possible, or do anything in your power to put distance between the two of you. Now, does all this mean you shouldn't use up close attacks at all? No, it doesn't. Use them in moderation. It's nearly impossible to fight a battle without a few close-range hits. Do this only when your opponent persists in getting close to you. Unleash some good fast hitting attacks and try to finish off with something that will give you distance. Avoid doing this too much. If your enemy retaliates with heavy hitting combos, you'll be looking at some good damage. The key is to be quick, hit hard, and get away. In short, completely cutting out combos and attacks would be fool-hardy. If you are caught really close to an enemy, a great way to catch them off guard and put some good distance away is using Rodan's get up attack. While you are down, hit B or X to spin around and nail your enemy fairly good. At the same time, do not be close to your enemy when they are down. If you are, learn to jump over, block, or dodge their get up attack. This can mean curtains for you otherwise. No, I don't mean if one hits you. If you don't learn to avoid the hit, you could be taking lots of damage. I learned that the hard way, as I would almost always be standing right next to my enemy when they were down when I first started playing this game. The game's AI isn't exactly the best. Take advantage of this. Whenever you see your opponent just messing around in some remote corner of the game screen, give him a nice assault with your heat ray or a building. -Avoiding Attacks- When you see your opponent go for a building, be ready to fly. Fly out of the way of the building, that way it won't hit you. Try not to fly in just one direction. Scramble yourself around a bit. When your opponent is charging for a beam attack, try to get as far away as possible. Use your flight, if need be, just to get away. You're going to want to conserve every drop of life that Rodan has. Make good use of your ability to block attacks. If you opponent throws a combo or heavy hitting at you and it's blocked, that means their wide open. From there, counter-attack with a throw and get some distance between the two of you. -Staying Aggressive- When you're opponent's down, this is a great time to ready your next plan of attack. This is also a great time to go for any power-ups that might be laying around. Before your opponent can get up, though, you should ready a few different attacks. Wait a second or two and power up your breath attack. Should you release before they get up, use your C analog to aim the attack downward and hit him while he's down. You can also pick up another building and ready that for a good chucking. The only other offense you can pull here may not be the best, or even recommended, but still is not a bad plan. You can use your Down+B attack to nail your opponents while they're down. The only downside to this is that this can cause your opponent get back up more quickly, plus it puts you right near them. If all else fails, just try to get some distance between the two of you and defend until your opponent is ready to attack again. -Individual Monster Tips and Strategies- I'm not listing all the monsters here. Mainly the ones that would give you trouble (Destoroyah, for example). King Ghidorah KG does a lot of attacks that are not only powerful, but a decent distance away. Learn to use your heat ray to an advantage when he takes to the skies. Charge up a decent length, then fire it. Use the C analog to aim it upward. This can blow Ghidora out of the sky. Remember to use buildings whenever you can. One way to get a nice advantage in on Ghidorah is to block until he uses one of his full force, long-range attacks. If you block it, he will be open. From there, grab him and throw. Just be careful not to over-block, since he'll just grab you if you do. Also, if you can help it, try not to get behind King Ghidora since he has a throw attack he can do from behind. Destoroyah Playing as Rodan against Destoroyah can be one of the hardest battles in this game. The key here is to be aggressive, but at the same time defensive. Avoid, at almost all costs, brawling with Destoroyah. Brawling is his specialty and Rodan's weakness. You can see where that will lead you. One of the best things you can do is constantly throw, chuck buildings, and use your breath. Don't be too afraid of being near him when he's down. Hold your block to defend against his tail whip when he gets up. Since he's really slow about doing this, he's wide open after you block it. From there, grab him and give him a really good throw, then follow up with either breath attacks or buildings. Do not voluntarily get close in front of him if you don't have to. This means he'll just unleash his horn attack and do major damage to you. If he knocks you down, use your get up attack. Of all things, try your damnedest to avoid his breath attack. That Micro Oxygen Spray of his can be quite devastating. Mechagodzilla This battle can be a very tough one. The whole distance thing can almost go out the window since MG benefits from distance. His missiles and lasers can make him one of the best long-rangers, but his up close attacks are a bit clunky. Try as hard as you can to get enough breath shots and buildings in on him. If you want to fight from a long distance with this guy, use the buildings as an advantage. You can run behind them to block his lasers and missiles. At all costs, do not let him get the Rage power-up. He can do a devastating Rage attack with it. Your best bet would probably be to block and counter-attack when he attacks and to disrupt his charge when he's going for a laser attack. That's the one attack he seems to use frequently, so stopping that can be nothing more than an advantage for you. Orga This can be a very tough battle to win. Plainly put, do not let him get any throws in on you at all. Orga's throws do tons of damage, especially to Rodan. As well, do not try to brawl with him. Orga's attacks are both fast and heavy. Do not spend too much time blocking to anticipate an attack. This will leave you wide open for a throw (top this off with the fact that Orga can reach further than most of the other kaiju when he goes for a grab). Nail him with all the breath attacks and buidings you can. Your best bet, though, is to throw him and stay on top of him with follow up attacks, all while staying somewhat defensive. On thing that works really well to avoid his long reaching attacks is to jump backwards. If you're lucky enough to evade an attack while you're close enough, capitalize by throwing him. I also noticed that doing the heat beam from the air seems to be quite effective on him, as well as other aerial attacks from time to time. 2C: TIPS -Since Rodan has the lowest defense out of any of the kaiju in this game, you're going to want to keep his life up. Anytime, and I mean anytime, you see a health power up, go straight for it. Since Rodan has flight, you can just fly to it if it's within reach. Pay attention to the next tip when flying after power-ups. -Learn to time letting go of Rodan's flight ability. Since he doesn't instantly land when you let go, you're going to have to figure out how to land close enough to your destination and when to release R to do so, or to maneuver Rodan around until you reach your destination. -Emphasized again... Do not go into too many all out brawls using Rodan. He isn't a brawler. -Playing off the last tip, keep Rodan at a distance for as much as you can. Not only can he use his breath attack, throwing, and grabbing from a decent distance, but his X button attacks also hit from a distance. The only thing you want to be careful of is being to close to the enemy when you knock them over. -Use attacks to put distance between you and your enemy. Either that or throw them. -Grab the Mothra Air Strike whenever you can. While this may not do a whole hell of a lot of damage, every little bit helps and it really wouldn't hurt to grab it. Not only that, but if you're opponent grabs it, that means you'll be losing life when you direly need to conserve. ---------------- / SECTION 3: FAQ \ -------------------- Q: What is a "kaiju"? A: This is what the monsters of the Godzilla series, or any others like it (i.e. Gamera, Gappa, Magma, etc.) are referred to as. This is Japanese for monster, basically, but if memory serves me correctly, in direct translation it means "mysterious creature". Q: Is Kiryu in the Gamecube version? A: Nope. Kiryu is only in the Xbox version. Q: What's the difference between the GCN version and the XBX version? A: The GCN version has less monsters (no Kiryu). That's about all I know. Q: Why aren't Gamera or King Kong in this game? A: They are owned by a company other than Toho (the company that owns Godzilla). Gamera is owned by Daiei, even though Daiei and Toho are somewhat in business together (Toho publishes some of Daiei's films). King Kong is owned by Universal Pictures. Toho once already tried obtaining a license for him to do a remake of King Kong vs. Godzilla, but Universal asked for so much that Toho decided against it. Hence, they are not in this game. Q: Will they appear in future titles? A: Maybe. You never know. There was a rumor that Pipeworks was going to try to acquire Gamera for the next game. I don't think that will happen, though. Q: Where can I get [insert film here] on DVD? A: Try eBay or use a search engine. Q: Are any of the Godzilla films after Godzilla 2000 coming to the US? A: As far as video store releases, no word has been made official, but Godzilla X Megaguirus and GMK are supposedly going to be airing on the Sci-Fi Channel in late August. Q: They still make Godzilla films? A: Yep. Toho just released the trailer for "Godzilla X Mothra X MechaGodzilla: Tokyo SOS." Q: Is the American Godzilla in this game? A: You mean GINO (Godzilla In Name Only)? Thank God no! ---------------------- / SECTION 4: LEGAL BIT \ -------------------------- This FAQ is copyright 2001-2003 to Joe Shaffer, aka BoredGamer. Any use of this FAQ for commercial purposes in any way, shape, or form without confirmed consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This can be used for personal use and freely distributed, as long as there is no profit being made off the FAQ without my approval before hand (this includes magazines). This also cannot be posted on any websites without my solid approval. Any failure to comply with said premises can, and probably will, result in legal actions. ---------------------------------- / SECTION 5: THANK YOU AND GOODBYE \ -------------------------------------- Thanks to you out there! Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and GameFAQs. Greatest game site ever, I don't care what Dave says. Neoseeker. Another great site. Chris and Cheat Happens. Pipeworks for developing this fun little title and Atari for acquiring a Godzilla license. It's stange that about a year before this was announced, I told my friend that the coolest thing they could ever do is a 3D Godzilla fighting game. Well, here it is! Toho for more than 2 dozen great Godzilla films (and some not-so-great, but forgivable) and keeping the Godzilla name alive, even after saying they were going to end it at least 2-3 times. No thanks to Tri-Star for unleashing that CG piece of crap they called Godzilla, but thanks to Tri-Star for at least releasing the Heisei series on video. Toho Kingdom (www.tohokingdom.com). Best Toho site out there, and a great source for Godzilla and more. (c)Joe Shaffer 2003