Passion Republic Games Talks The Explosive Final Ascension

Spoiler warning for Gigabash Final Ascension DLC

In the games business, getting to work on a game long after it releases is both rare and a labor of love. If you're not a live service game, the likelihood that you have a community passionate enough to ask for more in a way that makes business sense just isn't that high. 

Despite this, we spoke to Jin and Hazim, Game Engineer and Narrative Designer on the game about a story years in the making- Gigabash Final Ascension, the latest DLC for the local Tokusatsu loveletter fighter. In the new story update, we see the culmination of title character Gigaman's story- as he deals with his hunt for the kaiju Rawa in a globe-spanning chase that features team-ups with Thundatross and ROJAK, as well as fighting off other characters like Balzarr and the debut of the new final boss Zargorah. 

Big Man Means Big Problems

Its setup is not uncommon- you play as Yuuki, host of Gigaman who has been worn down over the years. His story mode is about that call to action, and hits a lot of the same beats you might see in other superhero media as he remembers what it means to be a big hero. 

"So for the story of Gigaman, we wanted to put an emphasis on more relatable human emotions because he's a larger-than-life character for sure, but literally physically large, yes. And also like, you know, emotionally and presentationally. So we wanted to kind of bring him down to earth a little bit by focusing more on like regrets and failures", Hazim says.

I mean, the present-day part of the story starts with Yuuki dejected and in his bedroom. Despite Thundatross and ROJAK making appearances, they all hold Gigaman in high esteem- yet in the face of the pressure of being the world's favorite hero, Gigaman finds himself full of doubt and self-loathing.

"I wanted to inject all of that, all of those feelings into the story and hopefully, you know, a lot of people, maybe right now, they find themselves in a rut and they don't know how to make it out. So maybe Gigaman's story will inspire them", Hazim says. 

Hype Moments And Such

However, that doesn't mean they left out the spectacle usually associated with Tokusatsu either. In their big love letter to their fans, they made sure to include all the flashy cool things you'd normally see in a big tokusatsu movie. 

"One thing I can point out that is very easily seen is our final boss, Zargorah. It's a fusion monster between Rawa and Balzarr. If you have been following not just Ultraman, a lot of Tokusatsu content recently. Yeah, it's the boom right now, fusion monsters. So you can use old monsters and make them into something cooler, stronger even. So we explored the same thing and made it also very interesting for our character, Zargorah. That is one of the obvious inspirations and I think it turned out very well", Jin says.

"So the human connection between the main character, and his Ultraman power giver god character, Gaya, is very much inspired by the human host connections a lot of the Ultraman series has covered and delved into. That one was also one of the huge inspirations. Of course, not just Ultraman, we still have our rival character, Rawa, who is inspired by Godzilla. So this one, he is the king of the monsters in our story also, just like Godzilla is. So in the story, he also roars to command other lesser monsters to do his bidding, just like that moment from the Legendary [Pictures]' Godzilla, King of the Monsters".

Given Gigaman's supporting cast consissts of two super robots, they got some love too, as Hazim points out. While a full-on gattai sequence didn't make it into the game, Hazim points out they did the next best thing with Thundatross and ROJAK. 

"You know, it's pretty hype when a character uses a different character's weapons, right? It is certainly one of the coolest things for me", Hazim says. 

"So in our original draft we had for the finale scene, Rojak pick up Thundatross's sword and use it to deal the final blow against the enemy, Zargorah. But, you know, as cool as that is, we were like, we could make it more tokusatsu. We could turn Rojak into a weapon. We could have Thundatross wield the Rojak mech as a cannon to fire a beam that will connect with Gigaman's beam that will beam into Zargorah. So we did that", he says.

"As you know, Power Rangers likes to combine their weapons into a cannon. So ROJAK is inspired by Power Rangers. So yeah, we think, why not just let them do that? Let them combine into a cool cannon", Jin adds.

Author's note: this is pure pedantry on our part, but the cannon-combining gimmick is actually from Super Sentai, and many non-expiring agreements have been signed over the years to ensure they be referred to as separate entities.

Thanking The Fans

For many developers, the idea of their game resonating in the way Gigabash has is a pipe dream. Years after release the game's getting new characters, with threads on reddit clamoring for more guest characters and content in general. 

"Well, I think it's pretty heartwarming", Hazim says. "The fact that people all around the world, and all around the internet, think of our little, funny little game from Malaysia and then hold it in their hearts. And then also like, they want to see their Blorbos in the game. You know, it's like, it's nice".

"It's one thing to look at numbers or reviews or like ratings or whatever. And it's another thing to actually read the words of the people who like your work. And like, they feel so strongly about it", he continues. 

"They reach out to you and then they express how much fun they had playing the game (especially how much they want to put Wooly on the cross). That kind of passion, well, is what drives us going forward. And, you know, the game is fueled by our respective childhood nostalgia. But, the reality is for a lot of people out there, GigaBash is going to be their childhood game. So we hope that this will inspire maybe the next generation of GigaBashers to make their own thing inspired by us".

"So mostly I do feel surreal", Jin says.

"Like Hazim said, it's like I'm just coming to work and program. I never see the faces of our players, right? So when I jump into Reddit or our Discord channel, it's very surreal to see, wow, there's actually a lot of people playing, of course not just my game per se, our game. So it's very surreal. I really don't know how to describe it", he adds. "It's like, there's a lot of people playing, but I've never seen their faces, but there are fans out there wanting more from our game. So from that, I was also, I feel very glad for it. It also gives me a lot of motivation to keep going and I want to make the fans happy. So for the fans out there that want your character to be in the game, we are listening and we're trying our best".

"The most important thing I want to say to our fans is that although it's a bit corny and it's a bit, you know, you heard this said more times than not, but it's real. I'm very thankful for the support you've given us. And I'm happy if I'm able to make things that you like because from your support, you also give me a chance to actually make things that I like. And even heroes from my childhood came to life because you guys gave us the support and gave me the chance to do it. So yeah, thank you very much", he says.