As part of their attempts to develop their own weapons, the JSDF began developing their own cruise missile. Using what they had learned from the development of the ASM-1 as a basis and assigning the project to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, these efforts bore fruit in the creation of the Type 88 surface-to-surface missile (SSM).

Large trucks carried the SSMs in groups of six and they had a range of 180 km. However most of the time, they operated from distances of 100km or less from the coast. With the use of a radar homing system on the missiles that received information from separate radar vehicles, the missiles could hit their targets with impressive accuracy.

Designed for killing enemy warships, the Type 88 SSM would instead receive its baptism of fire when Godzilla, the king of the monsters, suddenly reappeared in 1999 in the city of Tateyama. Surprisingly, they operated right alongside the front-line troops of the Self Defense Forces (SDF). Not surprisingly, they suffered heavy casualties at the hands of the monster as he easily brushed them aside while their missiles had no effect on Godzilla's nearly indestructible skin.

They would later go into action again when Godzilla emerged from Tokyo Bay and went on a rampage in the Shinagawa ward of Tokyo as the JSDF attempted to buy time as the repairs on the cyborg monster known as Mechagodzilla or Kiryu neared completion. Although they suffered harsh losses during the fighting on the bay and in the streets, their sacrifice would not be in vain for the repairs on Kiryu were soon complete and the cyborg monster arrived and won an impressive victory over the king of the monsters.

One year later, the Type 88 SSM would see action again as Godzilla returned from the dark eternal depths of the ocean and headed straight for Tokyo. When Godzilla emerged from the ocean, ground radar immediately picked him up and soon the trucks that carried the Type 88 SSM launched their deadly payloads, the missiles screaming high in the sky over the city of Tokyo before they all headed in and exploded right on Godzilla or in his general vicinity. Though it seemed that the SSM inflicted no damage, they did their job as they brought the front-line ground troops precious seconds to position the last of their forces before they engaged Godzilla directly from the shore.