Controls

A Button: Punch (swing Wii Remote in a direction for additional attacks)
B Button: Kick (swing Wii Remote in a direction for additional attacks)
A + B Buttons: Fierce Attack (swing Wii Remote in a direction for additional attacks)
C Button: Hold to release projectile or charge if energy is depleted
C + Z Buttons: Hold to charge energy, even if not depleted
Z Button: Block, swing Wii Remote to Parry
Z Button + Shake Nunchuk: Rush
Shake Nunchuk: Jump
Shake Nunchuk while moving: Leap
Shake Wii Remote and Nunchuk: Grab
1 Button: Activate Power Surge, press again when surge is about to diminish to release a shockwave
2 Button: Taunt

Game Dynamics

Health Cells: Characters start out with four through six health cells, each of which represents a full bar of health. After depleting the bar, someone will have to perform an attack capable of knocking someone down in order to remove one of the health cells.

Regeneration: A character's health bar will slowly regenerate overtime during a match. There are moments, though, when it will stop regenerating. These instances include: when a player is using C to charge their energy, while their beam is locked with another monster's, burrowing, in the middle of a grapple attack or while they are knocked on the ground.

Energy Cells: All players have four energy cells, and will start with two of them at the beginning of each match or after respawning. If a monster begins to fire its beam, regardless of how long they keep up the blast, it will deplete at least one energy cell. Unlike previous games, energy no longer refills automatically over time.

Locking Beams: When two monsters have their beams lock, they will have to bounce the charge back and forth in order to avoid being struck by a residual blast. This is done by shacking the Wii Remote like a racket to volley the "surge" until it ends up striking one of the players and exploding. It should be noted that if the beams lock too close to each other then they will immediately detonate and injure both monsters.

Rush: When a character rushes, it greatly increases its movement. This also has the side effect of being able to knock down smaller buildings, which will fly up and have a chance to smack nearby monsters, and to destroy Health or Energy crystals that might be in the path. If the rushing character should collide with another, it will damage them slightly, although can't remove a health cell.

Critical Mass

After damaging or destroying enough crystals to fill up the meter, the monster will go into Critical Mass mode. This will cause the monster's body to be bathed in flames before they increase in size and a charcoal red design covers their exterior. While in this mode, the monster's damage and knock back abilities will be increased, although at the cost of reduced defenses. While in Critical Mass, the meter will slowly deplete, although will also fill back up again with successive hits. When the meter is empty, the monster will return to its normal state. Being frozen also will end Critical Mass mode. When a monster ends its Critical Mass cycle it will lose a health cell, unless it was frozen.

It should be mentioned that all crystals help to build Critical Mass, including the "normal" teal ones, the health/energy crystals and the ones SpaceGodzilla can erect in the ground.

Power Surges

The game features a total of seven power surges, and their collection directly impacts the outcome of story mode. Beyond allegiances, the surges also feature unique abilities from each other and also change the outer appearance of the character. When collected, surges can be activated by pressing the "1" button once per a match for a particular surge. The "1" button can be pressed again, before the surge gives out, to end its effect and release its particular "shock" attack. These "shocks" differ depending on the surge used, but most result in a devastating shockwave. Below are their exact effects.

Fire Surge
Effect: Gives character a orange glow and increases physical damage.
Shock: The character releases a powerful red beam from their mouth, or other orifice in the case of some like Moguera. The beam can remove health cells, but can also lock with other beams.

Electrical Surge
Effect: Gives character a yellow glow, with bolts around them, and increases beam damage. Energy regeneration also speeds up dramatically.
Shock: The character releases a shockwave that deals minor damage and stuns opponents.

Speed Surge
Effect: A circular line appears, and pulsates, around the character, allowing them to move and attack faster. While under the influence of this surge, the monster's ability to jump is also increased.
Shock: The character releases a shockwave that greatly slows down enemies within range for a short duration.

Crystal Surge
Effect: Gives character a purple glow and reduces all damage by 85%. Also increases rate that the critical mass meter builds.
Shock: The character releases a shockwave that deals a huge amount of damage.

Radiation Surge
Effect: Gives character a green glow and increases the rate of regeneration of both health and energy. Nearby monsters also have their regeneration capabilities impaired.
Shock: The character releases a shockwave that deals a huge amount of damage.

Shield Surge
Effect: Encases the character in a metal coating that reduced physical damage but also slows the monster. The character is also protected from all damage from grapple moves.
Shock: The character releases a shockwave that deals a huge amount of damage.

Darkness Surge
Effect: The character is surrounded by a dark cloud that blocks all ranged weapons, include the military's efforts.
Shock: The character releases a shockwave that deals a huge amount of damage.

Playable Stages

The game includes nine playable stages, spanning both real-world locations and fictional settings.

Sydney

Due to the chaotic environmental effects of the crystals, Sydney has transformed from a popular hotspot in the Outback to a frozen wasteland. Snow is now a common element, falling continuously while giant monsters do battle.

San Francisco

Though one of the cleaner arenas, San Francisco is still infested with crystal activity, with its boundaries cut off by massive waterfalls and broken bridges caused by a spike in seismic activity.

Osaka

A thick, green cloud of smog covers the city of Osaka. While not harmful to the monsters, it acts to slightly obscure their vision in combat.

Seattle

A massive volcano covers the entirety of Seattle with ash and lava. One of the very few stages to feature environmental hazards, monsters stepping in the flowing lava will receive minor Heat damage.

Monster Island

Shared by kaiju and scientist alike, Monster Island is home to many of the world's most dangerous monsters. As buildings are scarce, monsters are capable of picking up, destroying, or taking cover behind the rocks scattered around the stage.

London

Now floating high in the sky, London and some of its major landmarks are now fair game to the monsters capable of reaching this levitating mass of a city.

New York

While left largely untouched by Mother Nature, New York acts as the landing spot for the cosmic terror SpaceGodzilla. A massive crater and a forest of crystals, caused by the space monster's landing, remain near the city borders.

Tokyo

Suffering from harsh environmental changes like many cities across the globe, the megalopolis Tokyo is now cursed with constant rain. As a result, much if the city is now underwater, leaving only the tallest buildings and some famed landmarks to survive the flooding.

Mothership

Formerly a massive vessel for the Vortaak, the Mothership has now crash-landed on the Earth and suffers a similar fate as many of Earth's cities. Crystals now litter the carrier, and the entire arena is tilted at an angle.

Story Mode

The "campaign" mode in the game allows players to team up with allies, or go it alone, as they wade through the worldwide destruction occurring from the emergence of the crystals. There are four factions in the game, each with underlining goals that will impact how they perceive the player's character, either as an ally or adversary. This is represented in game by a % meter, which shows the player's current standings with the other groups. The player starts with 85% in their own faction if playing as the Aliens or Global Defense Force, 70% if playing as a Earth Defender and finally 50% if playing as a Mutant.

Naturally, attacking someone from a faction will drop the player's affiliation with them, either by -9 or -19. If the monster is defeated, the meter will drop by at least -9, but the exact amount varies dependent on how far in the game the player has progressed. The exception to this is monsters under the influence of a Power Surge, which won't effect the affiliation with that particular group. Transversely, leaving a monster alive and completing a level will add +10 to the player's affiliation with that group. On top of this, there are more specific conditions that will impact allegiances with other factions, which are listed below:

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