Godzilla: Save the Earth Monster Profile - Jet Jaguar

While we just had a look at Godzilla: Save the Earth at Atari's recent press event, we've now had the chance to get a peek at a new member of the game's roster of combatants. Godzilla: Save the Earth includes a who's who of giant monsters, like its predecessor did, but it gets extra brownie points for the inclusion of Jet Jaguar, a giant robot who appeared in the classic 1973 flick Godzilla vs. Megalon. For the unwashed masses, the colorful bot was created by a Japanese scientist and was initially used by the villainous Seatopians to aid Megalon, the Seatopians' guardian monster, who was sent to retaliate against humankind for its destruction of the Seatopian kingdom.

Kitsch-culture mavens, rejoice--one of the most obscure Godzilla characters ever, Jet Jaguar, is available for play in Godzilla: Save the Earth.

Thankfully, like all giant robots, Jet Jaguar came to his senses and broke free from the Seatopians' control, siding with Godzilla to take out Megalon and Gigan in an epic battle. Although he only appeared in one film, the robot has gained his fair share of fans and was actually slated to be included in the original game but missed out on his chance. Thankfully, Atari and developer Pipeworks managed to get Jet in Godzilla: Save the Earth and stopped by to give us a look at his role in a work-in-progress version of the Xbox game.

Jet Jaguar is a character you'll have to unlock in the game. Whereas the original Godzilla required you to finish adventure mode with the available monsters to unlock the extra ones, Godzilla: Save the Earth will merely require you to use points you earn in the action mode to access Jet. What will your hard-earned points get you? Besides a happy disposition and a shiny exterior, Jet will have a good array of moves. In addition to having basic punches and kicks, he'll be able to fire off a laser attack from his hands and perform some spectacular throws. Jet will also be able to grow bigger and smaller, which affects his performance during a fight. Jet's small form will let him move fast, but he won't be too powerful, while his large form will give him strength at the cost of speed. Purists will note that the mighty bot wasn't packing this much of a punch in his film appearance. On celluloid, his big claims to fame were his abilities to change size, fly, and talk to other monsters, and these modest abilities didn't help him much against enemies. Thankfully Atari and Pipeworks have beefed him up some. The newly buff Jet handles well and is capable of kicking butt, which should please fans.

The demo showed Jet in arenas in Tokyo and New York. They looked good and broke up nicely when giant monsters stomped through them. For a peek at some exclusive footage of Jet and a Jet-centric developer interview, check out our media page. For exclusive shots of Jet in action, go to our screenshot index, which also includes some exclusive shots of Mothra in action in the game. Godzilla: Save the Earth is currently slated to ship this fall for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It will even feature online multiplayer modes to ensure that fans will get some epic monster battles on without the hassle of having to suit up in their homemade outfits.