Wonder Momo is a 1987 beat 'em up arcade game that was developed and published by Namco exclusively in Japan. It was ported to the PC-Engine in 1989, with both versions of the game later ported to the Wii Virtual Console , and ported to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as part of Arcade Archives . The game was also included in Namco Museum Encore for the PlayStation . Wonder Momo inspired a webcomic series in 2012, an anime miniseries in 2014, and a sequel game by WayForward Technologies in May 2014.
83-460: Wonder Momo is a loose parody of a typical Ultraman -style superhero series, and utilizing a then-rare female protagonist. When the game is first started, players are treated to a parody of the MGM logo featuring Momo instead of a lion and a "Modoki" instead of a mask. The game then cuts to a scene of a theater stage, where a play begins starring Momo, a young woman who gets super-powers . At this point
166-640: A TV series that he called Project Ultraman , unaired as of late March 2008, a joint project in China featuring their own Ultraman and attaching Hong Kong star Ekin Cheng to the project. On 23 August 2006, Tsuburaya Productions filed a new lawsuit against Chaiyo for copyright infringement and plagiarism (concerning their three original Ultraman characters), and the court case was taken to China . The Chinese courts in Beijing opened "The Ultraman Copyright Study Group" in response to
249-435: A bionic tokusatsu superhero who possesses telescopic limbs. Bravoman and Alpha Man set out to stop Dr. Bomb and prevent him from taking over the world. Bravoman was the creation of Namco composer Norio Nakagata, who joined the company in the mid-1980s. He had previously directed the arcade game Genpei Tōma Den (1986), a hack and slash platform title that is claimed to be an early precursor to Bravoman . His goal for
332-747: A cameo appearance as one of Anise's dolls in Tales of the Abyss , had her normal self appear as one of the various floats that appear in the bonus stages of Marvel Land , and had her "Wonder" costume appear in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 and in Catalogue 4 in the Xbox 360 game The Idolmaster . Her latest appearance lies in the PSP strategy RPG Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos . A theme based on Wonder Momo , with
415-655: A further appeal by 4 March 2020, they were to pay US$ 4,000,000 (approx. 400,000,000 Japanese yen) in compensatory damages, as well as other various court fees. The resulting victory has reached Thailand as well and the Thai Supreme Court ordered a ruling in favor Tsuburaya Productions as the legitimate copyright owner of the shows listed in the License Granting Agreement alongside ownership over Hanuman vs. 7 Ultraman (and its remake, Hanuman vs. 11 Ultraman) and Jumborg Ace & Giant. Sompote had made an appeal to
498-748: A massive energy infusion, as when Mebius ' allies revived him with their energy after his defeat by Alien Empera's army. Ultras always try to avoid battles in inhabited areas or near innocent bystanders and try to minimize collateral property damage. If these concerns cannot be met, a city like Tokyo could be destroyed. The show Ultraman was followed by many other series. Sequels to the original series are: Ultraseven (1967, TBS ), Return of Ultraman (1971, TBS), Ultraman Ace (1972, TBS), Ultraman Taro (1973, TBS), Ultraman Leo (1974, TBS), Ultraman 80 (1980, TBS), Ultraman Tiga (1996, MBS ), Ultraman Dyna (1997, MBS), Ultraman Gaia (1998, MBS), and Ultraman Cosmos (2001, MBS). After that,
581-418: A name the company never did business under), and repeatedly contested the issue. In the course of the legal battle, Sompote presented photos of himself sharing his photos of Thai Buddhist edifices, stating that Eiji had based Ultraman's face on those edifices, a claim which he has continued to hold since the dispute began. No other evidence supporting this claim is known to exist. After an eight-year battle in
664-505: A popular idol named Akiho Mazo who was inspired by the original Wonder Momo, later revealed to be Momoko's mother. Wonder Momo also made several appearances in Shiftylook's concurrent Bravoman webcomic and webseries, voiced by Romi Dames in the latter. The comic concluded with its 200th page in March 2014, following the announcement of ShiftyLook's closure. Wonder Momo , an anime miniseries,
747-403: A published book by Udon. An animated adaptation of the comic by Copernicus Studios premiered via ShiftyLook's YouTube channel on May 20, 2013, and ran for twelve episodes, concluding on February 12, 2014. The series was written by Moylan and Jim Zub , and featured the voices of Rob Paulsen as Bravoman and Alpha Man; Dee Bradley Baker as Dr. Bomb and Black Bravo, renamed Anti-Bravoman as in
830-452: A random powerup item. These include rice balls and noodles that will refill a portion of his health, a star that gives him the ability to fire atomic blasts from his fists, a drink that grants temporarily invincibility, and a bullet train that will warp him to the end of the level. The game features 33 stages. Some of these levels take place underwater and transition the gameplay into a horizontal-scrolling shooter, transforming Bravoman into
913-539: A result of the ruling, which implied that, although Chaiyo owned the right to some of the Ultraman series, it did not own the right to Ultraman and his brothers, including the design. Chaiyo gained permission to merchandise the original series, but lost the right to create and market its own Ultraman, or even use the original, without Tsuburaya's consent. On 5 February 2008, Thailand's Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tsuburaya Productions of Japan after they made an appeal to
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#1733094543273996-753: A selectable track for the Pac-Land stage. Pac-Man 99 also features a Bravoman visual theme as downloadable content. As part of Bandai Namco's ShiftyLook initiative to revive older properties, a new Bravoman webcomic was created in collaboration with Udon Entertainment , titled Bravoman: Super Unequaled Hero of Excellence . Written by Matt Moylan and illustrated by Dax Gordine, the strip premiered on March 9, 2012, and focused on comedic elements such as Bravoman's poor control of his powers, Alpha Man's lackluster attempts to teach Bravoman, Dr. Bomb's misuse of Engrish , and various examples of metahumor . The comic also introduced two new characters that never appeared in
1079-510: A single being with various modes used by different hosts). In 2013, the Ultra Series was cited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the record-holder for the most spin-off shows. The Ultraman brand generated $ 7.4 billion in merchandising revenue from 1966 to 1987, equivalent to more than $ 20 billion adjusted for inflation. Ultraman was the world's third top-selling licensed character in
1162-496: A strong cultural sense of justice and duty, a majority of Ultramen joining the Space Garrison ( 宇宙警備隊 , Uchū Keibitai ) to maintain peace in the universe from alien invaders and monsters. The Ultras that are sent to other worlds are given Color Timers, or "warning lights", which blink with increasing frequency and turn from blue to red if an Ultra's energy supply dwindles or he is mortally wounded. Due to human pollution and
1245-422: A submarine that can fire missiles at enemies. Most stages feature a boss at the end that must be defeated in order to progress. The most common boss the player fights is Black Bravo, an evil clone of Bravoman that mimics his attacks. Other bosses include the cyborg ninja Waya-Hime; a mechanical version of the king of Atlantis ; and Pistol Daimyo, a shogun with a cannon attached to his head. The first level acts as
1328-459: A subsidiary of Navarre Corporation announced they had acquired the DVD license to Ultraman from distributor Golden Media Group Inc., a Hollywood-based distributor, who secured the rights from Tokyo-based UM Corp. Inc., acting as the global agent for Chaiyo. A three-disc box set containing the first 20 episodes of the series was released on 18 July 2006, followed by a second three-disc box set containing
1411-514: A tornado icon, or spins around by herself, she can turn into Wonder Momo and can also attack using the Wonder Hoop , which can be reused as long as she is Wonder Momo. After the Wonder Hoop is thrown, she will not be able to throw anymore, while she will have to wait for it to bounce back to her. She can also shoot small waves of energy in whichever direction she faces (while she is crouching), which
1494-468: A tutorial, with a robot alien named Alpha Man teaching the player how to play the game. In the last level, the player must fight Dr. Bomb himself. Some levels act as bonus levels, featuring many power-ups and little to no enemies. The storyline in Bravoman is told through the game's attract mode sequence, alongside various pieces of promotional material. When Japanese car insurance salaryman Hitoshi Nakamura
1577-613: A year starting from 16 December 1997, when the original lawsuit was filed. In 2009, the Thai Intellectual Property Court and the Tokyo District Court both ruled in favour of the Thai company. This led to the Tokyo District Court on 30 September 2010, ordering Tsuburaya Productions Co. of Japan to pay damages of 16.36 million yen (Bt5.9 million) to Sompote Saengduenchai of Thailand for violating his overseas copyrights on
1660-675: Is a caricature of Namco's then-president Masaya Nakamura , who the game was dedicated to. It is Namco's only video game to use pressure-sensitive buttons, which were reportedly easy to break. It was ported to a handful of systems, including the TurboGrafx-16 , Japanese mobile phones , and the Wii Virtual Console . In Japan, Bravoman was widely successful, receiving high praise for its gameplay and humor. It received much more negative coverage from western publications, who disliked its mechanics, difficulty, and inferiority to other games in
1743-520: Is a 1988 beat'em up arcade video game developed and published in Japan by Namco . Described as a "comical action game", the player controls the titular character, a bionic superhero with telescopic limbs, as he must defeat the villainous Dr. Bomb ("Dr. Bakuda" in Japan) before he takes over the world. Bravoman can use his arms, legs and head to defeat enemies, and can also crouch and jump over them. The game ran on
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#17330945432731826-478: Is a Japanese science fiction media franchise owned and produced by Tsuburaya Productions , which began with the television series Ultra Q in 1966 and became an international pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into many television shows, films, comic books, and other media publications, becoming one of the most prominent productions in the Japanese tokusatsu and kaiju genres and pioneering
1909-441: Is a horizontal-scrolling shooter notable for its outlandish theme and strange character designs. Bravoman appears as a playable character in the 2005 PlayStation 2 game Namco x Capcom , developed by Monolith Soft , where he is paired up with Wonder Momo ; Waya-Hime also appears in the game, first as an enemy then later as a playable character. Bravoman is also featured in the tactical role-playing game Namco Super Wars for
1992-542: Is based on the similar move by the Ultraman characters. Her most powerful attack is the Wonder Typhoon , a more powerful version of her small energy wave attack which shoots numerous small energy waves towards the left and right sides of the screen simultaneously, while she is spinning. The game is notable for featuring some slightly risqué content for the time, in the form of fanservice (at Momo's expense). When Momo jumps,
2075-522: Is based on the story from the 2012 ShiftyLook webcomic. The series was produced by Graphinica and spanned five seven-minute episodes, which were released weekly on streaming sites Niconico and Crunchyroll beginning on February 6, 2014. The voice cast includes Yuka Fujiwara as Momoko, Misaki Komatsu as Akiho, and Haruko Momoi reprising the role of the original Wonder Momo. A side-scrolling action game developed by WayForward Technologies and produced by ShiftyLook , titled Wonder Momo: Typhoon Booster ,
2158-731: Is centered on a race of aliens nicknamed the "Ultras". As revealed in Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy , they are a technologically advanced civilization originating from a planet within the M78 nebula ( M78星雲 , Emu-Nanajūhachi seiun ) , three million light years away from Earth (not to be confused with the Messier 78 nebula)—colloquially called the Land of Light ( 光の国 , Hikari no Kuni ) —who were originally identical to humans. They had evolved into their current state of being following
2241-519: Is co-copyrighted by both Toei (and its subordinates, Toei Video and Ishinomori Productions) and Tsuburaya Productions. As of 2013 , Tsuburaya Productions accepts 36 Ultramen as official (counting Ultraman Legend, the combined form of Ultramen Cosmos and Justice, as a separate entity). This figure does not account for Thai-produced Ultramen (the figure is 38 if Next, Noa, and Nexus are counted as separate entities — it has been revealed in Nexus that all three are
2324-463: Is the American English dub of Ultraman Tiga by 4Kids Entertainment that aired in 2002. The dub considerably distorted the characterization and general mood of the series, and it achieved only limited success. In 1993, Tsuburaya Productions and Toei Company co-produced Ultraman vs. Kamen Rider , a crossover with the original Ultraman and Toei's Kamen Rider . This direct-to-video feature
2407-403: Is walking home one day, he encounters a strange, humanoid-like alien named Alpha Man, who claims to be from the planet Alpha. He informs Nakamura of a mad scientist named Dr. Bomb, who plans to destroy Earth and enslave the human race through his army of robots and a deadly superweapon. Alpha hands Nakamura three items; a metal rod, a tuning fork, and a ¥100 coin, which transforms him into Bravoman,
2490-795: The Kyodai Hero subgenre. The Ultraman series is centered on a fictional alien race of superheroes who often combat kaiju or other aliens. In Japan, the Ultraman brand generated $ 7.4 billion US dollars in merchandising revenue from 1966 to 1987. This makes it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. Ultraman was the world's third top-selling licensed character in the 1980s, largely due to his popularity in Asia. References to Ultraman are abundant in Japanese popular culture , much like references to Superman in Western culture. The Ultraman series
2573-682: The 1966 Ultraman television series . In 2003, Dark Horse Comics published a comic book based on Ultraman Tiga . Since 2020, Marvel Comics started publishing an initial new Ultraman comic book limited series titled The Rise of Ultraman , written by Kyle Higgins & Matt Groom with art by Francesco Manna. It debuted in September 2020 and concluded in January 2021. A second series titled The Trials of Ultraman premiered in March 2021, with Higgins, Groom and Manna returning and concluded in August of
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2656-465: The Namco System 1 arcade board. Conceived by Namco composer Norio Nakagata, Bravoman is a homage to 1960s tokusatsu films, parodying common tropes found in the genre, and Nakagata's love for synthesizer music. Many former staff members from Toei Animation were hired for the project, leading to the game's distinct art style influenced by anime . Bravoman's real identity, known as Hitoshi Nakamura,
2739-457: The PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on June 8, 2023. Bravoman received high praise when it was first released in arcades. The video game publication Gamest gave it several awards, including 3rd Grand Prize, 3rd Best Ending, and 12th Annual Hit Game. In their 1991 mook The Best Game , they commended its gameplay for being fun and balanced in terms of its difficulty, and also praised
2822-533: The WonderSwan Color . The arcade game Marvel Land features a parade float in the design of Bravoman fighting Waya-Hime. In 2005, Japanese company Yujin released a gashapon figure of Waya-Hime as part of their "Namco Girls" collection. One of Taki's alternate costumes in Soulcalibur II is also based on Waya-Hime. The fighting game Super Smash Bros. For Wii U features the soundtrack for Bravoman as
2905-700: The 1980s, largely due to his popularity in Asia. The Ultraman manga , which began in 2011, has sold more than 2.8 million copies as of 2018. At the Tokyo Comic Con on 7 December 2017, Tsuburaya Productions revealed that an anime adaptation of the manga was planned for release in 2019. It was released by Netflix . Ultraman content, products and services have been distributed in more than 100 countries worldwide,as of March 2018 . Tsuburaya has officially made their Ultraman and non-Ultraman content widely available on their YouTube channel, even simulcasting several of their series with English subtitles,
2988-852: The 1987 Hanna-Barbera co-production Ultraman: The Adventure Begins (in Japanese , Ultraman USA ), an animated movie; Ultraman: Towards the Future (in Japanese, Ultraman Great ), produced in Australia in 1990 and Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero (in Japanese, Ultraman Powered ), produced in the United States in 1993. The Ultraman series have also been dubbed into various languages, including English ( Ultraman , Ultraseven , Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Max), Spanish ( Ultraman , Ultraseven , Return of Ultraman , Ultraman Great and Ultraman Tiga ), Portuguese ( Ultraman , Ultraseven , Return of Ultraman and Ultraman Tiga ), French (only Ultraman ). Also of note
3071-466: The TurboGrafx-16 port received mostly negative reviews. Frank Provo GameSpot , who described it as "a blueprint of how to make a bad action game", was critical of its poor English translation, rough character designs, and bland backgrounds. He also disliked the player's hitbox for being too large, which as such made the game too difficult. Provo further labeled the game as "utterly atrocious" and one of
3154-802: The UA-TV's version, which their Los Angeles office, UltraCom Inc., retrieved from a U.S. film warehouse in 1993. In 1994, they provided the English audio for the Expressions in Animation VHS release of the first four episodes, which were sourced for the corresponding episodes in the BCI release. During the time of the legal battle, Chaiyo came up with three of their own Ultras: Ultraman Millennium, Dark Ultraman (an evil Ultra), and Ultraman Elite. These were not used for purposes other than stage shows and merchandise. Chaiyo also created
3237-487: The Ultraman characters. After the announcement of the film Dragon Force: So Long, Ultraman in July 2017, the dispute on the ownership of the franchise has escalated. But on 20 November 2017, through a Los Angeles court ruling by Judge Andre Birotte Jr, Tsuburaya won the lawsuit against Chaiyo and affiliate groups on the rights of the series after the jury concluded that the supposed agreement between Noboru Tsuburaya and Chaiyo
3320-530: The Ultraman programs created after Ultraman Taro , including the theatrical feature Ultraman the Next , throughout the world. Because of the copyright struggle, importing literature on Ultraman into Singapore and Malaysia was prohibited. It also resulted in a slight backlash against Thai Ultraman fans, who were assumed to be outright Chaiyo supporters. In 2005 the American company BCI Home Entertainment (BCI/Eclipse),
3403-455: The activation of the Plasma Spark, which replaced their dead sun. Ultraman and his many kin are usually red-and-silver (although several color variations have been seen in recent years) and have glowing yellow almond-shaped dome eyes (although there are exceptions to both the shape and color) and various abilities, most notably firing energy beams from their crossed hands and flight. They share
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3486-573: The channel has reached over 2 million subscribers. In China, an Ultraman television series received 1.8 billion views on over-the-top media services between July 2017 and March 2018. The manga author Akira Toriyama , creator of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump , cited Ultraman as a formative influence on his work. Peyton Reed , the director of the Ant-Man films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe , said that Ant-Man 's costume design
3569-418: The company took legal actions against the two companies again. On 10 December 2019, it was confirmed by Tsuburaya that the court has rejected UMC and Bluearc's appeal for a retrial, stating the court's first verdict of regarding the rights and ownership of Ultraman to Tsuburaya is still legitimate and final, and that any future appeals by UMC and Bluearc will likely be rejected. As UMC and Bluearc failed to file
3652-590: The course of the Max series, another new hero known as Ultraman Xenon was also introduced. April 2006 saw the 40th anniversary series, Ultraman Mebius , which signaled a long-awaited return to the original universe. Another hero was also introduced: Ultraman Hikari , formerly known as Hunter Knight Tsurugi. The franchise has also had Ultras introduced in movie theaters, starting with Ultraman Zearth and Ultraman Zearth 2 in 1996 and 1997 respectively, as well as Ultraman: The Next in 2004. Foreign productions include
3735-557: The court over the decision, but was dismissed. Sompote believes the decision would affect the former two movies' status as national heritage items, and has appealed to both the Supreme Court and Ministry of Culture on that front. The legal battles with Chaiyo will likely now come to an end as Sompote Saengduenchai died on the 26th August 2021. On 6 March 2014, the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs announced that it had banned
3818-543: The courts of both countries, Sompote Saengduenchai was awarded a favorable decision on 27 April 2004. The exact ruling fell into some dispute: Some said it only gave him merchandising rights for the first six Ultra Series ( Ultra Q through Ultraman Taro ) and Jumborg Ace outside Japan, and broadcasting rights of those shows within Thailand. Other accounts, usually reported in the Thai/Asian media, said that Chaiyo had gained
3901-418: The end of the 1980s, but was cancelled when the developers grew concerned that its concept would not work as a game. In Bravoman , the player controls the titular character, a bionic superhero who possesses telescopic limbs, in his mission to stop the evil scientist Dr. Bomb from taking over the world. Bravoman can punch, kick, and headbutt enemies to defeat them; the game uses pressure-sensitive buttons, where
3984-400: The episodes in question would switch to Japanese audio from English audio to cover the missing gaps. Due to these gaps, BCI's publicity department assumed the original series was edited by UA-TV when it was originally prepared for U.S. syndication. Only minor seconds of extreme violence were trimmed from three episodes, none of which contained dialogue. Tsuburaya Productions had a complete run of
4067-432: The game puts the player in command of Momo. Rather than playing a hero who needs to save the world, the setting is that of a live stage show (set at the "Namco Theater"), and the player is actually controlling an actress who is merely playing the role of Momo/Wonder Momo. The game also features voice samples in Japanese. As Momo, she can only attack using kicks, and in doing so builds up her "Wonder" meter. When she touches
4150-415: The game was a good companion piece to Vigilante and Splatterhouse , writing: "Given the choice between the three, I'd likely give a slight nod to Bravo (even if it doesn't do anything particularly well beyond its kookiness). But it's worth considering a purchase of any one of them to get a sense of that part of Hudson company history." A sequel titled Kaettekita Bravoman was in development around
4233-610: The game was dedicated to. The game's title is a nod to a nickname given to a fellow employee of Nakagata worked with in the past. Bravoman was released in May 1988 in Japan, running on the Namco System 1 arcade hardware. It was ported to the TurboGrafx-16 in October 1990, being the game's first appearance outside Japan. Developed by Now Production , it features numerous changes to the game, such as new and altered stage designs, additional enemy types and Bravoman's attacks being changed due to
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#17330945432734316-416: The game's anime-like artstyle and characters. Bravoman is Namco's only video game to utilize pressure-sensitive buttons, where the harder the player pushed them the stronger their attack was in the game. These buttons were notoriously faulty and fragile, to the annoyance of Namco technicians. Bravoman's real identity, Hitoshi Nakamura, is a caricature of company founder and president Masaya Nakamura , whom
4399-519: The game's characters is featured in Pac-Man 99 , as special DLC. Wonder Momo received a brief adaptation as part of the manga anthology Famitsu Comix: The Shape of Happiness ( しあわせのかたち , Shiawase no katachi ) , published in the Famitsu Comics collection from March 1989, drawn by Tamakichi Sakura. Besides appearing in video games, J-pop singer Haruko Momoi released an album influenced by
4482-580: The game's large sprites, soundtrack and special effects, alongside its simple and easy-to-understand gameplay. The Games Machine magazine found it to be "great fun" for its bizarre premise, gameplay and visuals, while Famitsu praised its large, detailed sprites and catchy soundtrack. Famitsu also praised the PC-Engine version for being a faithful conversion of the arcade release. Ultra Series The Ultra Series ( Japanese : ウルトラシリーズ , Hepburn : Urutora Shirīzu ) , also known as Ultraman ,
4565-423: The genre. The game spawned a shooter spin-off, Pistol Daimyo no Boken , in 1990. Bravoman has since gained notoriety from its revival through the now-defunct ShiftyLook division of Namco Bandai Games , who produced a webcomic and animated series based on the game. ShiftyLook also produced an endless runner based on the comic, Bravoman: Binja Bash! , for cellular devices. A true sequel was in production towards
4648-429: The harder the button is pressed, the stronger the player's attack is. Bravoman can also jump over enemies and other obstacles in his way. He also has a health meter at the bottom-left of the screen, which will deplete when he is hit by an enemy or projectile. Most enemies leave behind small items known as "Fuku" when defeated. Collecting ten Fuku will cause Bravoman's robotic friend Lottery Man to appear, who will give him
4731-420: The initial ruling. The ruling ended the long legal battle by finding Sompote Saengduenchai was not a co-creator of Ultraman. The decision ended Sompote's bid to continue his enterprise, and the court gave Sompote 30 days to stop profiteering from Ultraman. The final ruling saw Tsuburaya Productions as the sole copyright owner. Sompote was also required to pay THB 10,700,000 plus interest at the rate of 7.5 percent
4814-406: The late 1980s. It was to feature Bravoman, now divorced, unemployed, and homeless, fighting to win back the love of his wife and return to his former glory. It was scrapped during the concept stages as the team was not sure if the concept would work as a game. An arcade spin-off, Pistol Daimyo no Bōken , was released in Japan in 1990. Starring the titular Pistol Daimyo, a boss from Bravoman , it
4897-509: The lawsuit. In April 2007, the Thailand Intellectual Property Court ruled in favor of Tsuburaya Productions, ordering Chaiyo to cease and desist making commercial profits from Chaiyo-produced Ultraman characters such as Millennium, Dark, and Elite. The defendants were also fined THB 15,000,000 (approx. JPY 50,904,959 or US$ 428,673.50 c. April 2007) plus interest and attorneys' fees. Project Ultraman went on hiatus as
4980-563: The light filtering effects of the atmosphere, an Ultra can remain active on Earth for a limited span of minutes before its energy is depleted and they die. This forces an Ultra to either assume a human form or merge with a human host body. The latter process has healing properties that include reviving a recently dead person with their own life force. Ultra beings also appear to be near-impossible to permanently kill, as several times an Ultra being has been killed, only to be revived by another member of their species. An Ultra being can be revived with
5063-415: The new levels for sometimes being frustrating or overly long. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly wrote that the game had responsive controls and had a strange yet interesting theme, but that its concept was done many times already and in better quality. They were also critical of the game's constant voice overs for being generally annoying and overused. The Wii Virtual Console re-release of
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#17330945432735146-458: The original Bravoman game: Bravowoman, a no-nonsense female superhero, and Braveman, a self-obsessed television actor based on the North American box art for the TurboGrafx-16 version of Bravoman . The series concluded with its 300th strip on March 16, 2014, shortly after the announcement of ShiftyLook's closure. The comic is no longer available for viewing, though its first 130 strips received
5229-449: The parodies and spoofs of Japanese pop culture and movies. They also liked the game's level variety, randomness, and colorful graphics. The character of Bravoman was given the first place award for Best Character based on reader vote, while the game itself was placed at the 23rd spot for the best arcade games of all time up to that point. The TurboGrafx-16 conversion received more mixed coverage. Japanese magazine Monthly PC Engine said it
5312-598: The playable characters in the Japan-only, tactical RPG title Namco x Capcom , partnering with Bravoman , while Amazona appeared as an enemy character. Momo often covered herself, alluding to the original game. Some artifacts, models and costumes based on Wonder Momo appeared in some other Namco titles. She appeared as a magnus card in the Namco RPG Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean , made
5395-582: The player can visibly see her underwear. Momo also needs to be wary of photographers in the theatre audience, who are determined to get a peek under her miniskirt. If one is successful, Momo will be "embarrassed" (stunned) for a short period of time. Additionally, one of the images that appears on the theater curtain (at the beginning and end of some acts) is Momo wearing only a towel. The titular character made numerous appearances outside of her video game, mostly in Namco's other video games. Wonder Momo appeared as one of
5478-442: The project was to create an arcade game based on things he personally enjoyed, such as synthesizer music and films from the 1930s. Nakagata was heavily inspired by Japanese tokusatsu movies and kaiju monsters such as Godzilla . Much of the game's content was made to parody common tropes found in tokusatsu films and other video games. Toei Animation assisted in character design and sprite animation, after taking an interest in
5561-512: The publication of an Ultraman comic book Ultraman: The Ultra Power "due to contents that were detrimental to public order". Social media users later noticed that a page in the book described the character of Ultraman King (from the film Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy ) as a god, which in the Malaysian language is the Arabic word Allah . The Home Ministry later confirmed that the use of Allah
5644-620: The remaining 19 episodes was released on 7 November 2006. Both sets feature the Japanese stereo audio, created by Tsuburaya Productions and Pioneer for their Japanese R-2 DVD release in 1999, as well as the English -dubbed version produced by United Artists for North American syndication. The original Japanese monaural was not included. The English audio for Episodes 5 through 39 were not all complete, as BCI sourced private home off-air audio recordings from an unknown television broadcast, which were cut to provide for more commercial time. Therefore,
5727-424: The rights to those six shows everywhere outside Japan. The latter could be taken as Chaiyo's side of the story, as Tsuburaya was reported in the Japanese media to continue taking further action against them. Tsuburaya decided not to market any of the disputed six Ultra Series outside Japan until it had completely settled the rights issues with Chaiyo, although the company continued to merchandise and distribute all of
5810-637: The same year. A third series titled The Mystery of Ultraseven , which will be written by Higgins and Groom, and drawn by Davide Tinto, David Lopez, and Gurihiru, was released on August 17, 2022. During Anime Expo 2022, Groom teased a crossover event between the current Ultraman comics with the Marvel Universe for 2023. In May 2024, Marvel and Tsubaraya officially announced the Ultraman x Avengers limited series to debut for release in August 14, 2024. Bravoman Chōzetsurin Jin Bravoman
5893-422: The son of the late Eiji Tsuburaya, had given him and his company a contract which had given him rights to everything Ultraman outside Japanese territories in exchange for a monetary loan. In spite of the fact that the document failed to state clearly and specifically exactly what had been given to Tsuburaya in exchange for these rights, Japanese and Thai courts accepted this contract as real and binding because of
5976-471: The studio made an attempt at reinventing the series through the Ultra N Project, which involved three stages: Ultraman Noa, the mascot of the Ultra N Project, who was mainly used for live stage shows and merchandising in late 2003, Ultraman Nexus (2004, CBC ), and Ultraman: The Next (2004, Shochiku ). This was followed by a return to the old-school series' style in the form of Ultraman Max (2005, CBC). In
6059-625: The subject of a prolonged legal dispute between Tsuburaya Productions and Chaiyo Productions (also called Tsuburaya Chaiyo Co. Ltd) based in Thailand . Tsuburaya had previously collaborated with Chaiyo on the production of two movies, The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army and Jumborg Ace & Giant —the latter of which featured another Tsuburaya superhero, Jumborg Ace —in 1974. Sompote Saengduenchai , founder/president of Chaiyo Productions, claimed and maintained that in 1976 that Noboru Tsuburaya,
6142-438: The supposed hanko of the late Noboru Tsuburaya, who had died in 1995, in the document. Tsuburaya Productions insisted and maintained that the contract was a forgery (due to factual errors, including the faulty titles of the series in the document, such as Ultra Q being called Ultraman 1: Ultra Q, Ultraseven being called Ultraman 3: Ultraman Seven , and Tsuburaya Productions being called Tsuburaya Prod. and Enterprises ,
6225-559: The system lacking pressure-sensitive buttons. The TurboGrafx-16 version was digitally re-released onto the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, followed by the arcade version in Japan in 2009. Bravoman was ported to Japanese mobile phones on October 28, 2010 for the EZweb , i-Mode and S! Appli network services, featuring new stages and remastered visuals and audio. Bravoman later joined the Hamster Corporation's Arcade Archives series on
6308-403: The title Wonder Momo: Battle Idol in March 2012. The series, illustrated by Omar Dogan and written by Erik Ko and Jim Zub, is set 25 years after the original game and focuses on Momoko, an idol who, after failing a TV show audition, encounters a race of aliens who give her Wonder Momo's powers. Learning to harness them, she begins battling evil aliens as well as rival hero Amazona, who is actually
6391-412: The video game fully titled as WONDER MOMO-i〜New recording〜 (a pun combining her last name with the name of this game). It utilizes both the game's main gameplay theme and the "henshin" (transformation) theme. Yujin released a gashapon figure of Momo as part of the "Namco Girls" collection. Wonder Momo was resurrected as an internet comic strip on Namco Bandai's comic strip website ShiftyLook with
6474-536: The worst games available for the Virtual Console. Nintendo Life ' s Corbie Dillard was also critical of the game. He said that, outside of its good soundtrack, it was bland in design and suffered from poor visuals and sometimes unresponsive controls. Dillard only recommended Bravoman to hardcore side-scroller fans. Lucas M. Thomas of IGN was the most positive towards the game, specifically towards its presentation for its wackiness and bizarre nature. He said
6557-614: Was "not authentic". Despite UM Corporation and Chaiyo filing a counter-dispute, on 18 April 2018, the legal court came to a definite close where a final judgement states that the dispute and the document was deemed invalid, forbidding UMC to use the Ultra Series and all its related characters and forced them to pay Tsubaraya damages for its infringement of its rights. With the release of the sequel film Dragon Force: Rise of Ultraman [ zh ] ( Chinese : 钢铁飞龙之奥特曼崛起 ; pinyin : Gāngtiě fēilóng zhī àotèmàn juéqǐ ), issues between UMC, Bluearc and Tsubaraya had reignited and
6640-412: Was an excellent port of the arcade original, and liked its new levels and refinements to the gameplay. Maru PC Engine also liked the port for its accuracy, but criticized its difficulty for being too high and making the game unnecessarily frustrating. Famitsu applauded Namco for their efforts in translating the arcade game to an underpowered console, but criticized the difficulty for being too high and
6723-599: Was indeed the reason for the ban, claiming that the comparison may "confuse Muslim children and damage their faith". This highlighted the larger ban to prevent non-Muslims in Malaysia from using the word Allah , despite its common usage in Bahasa Melayu to refer to any god, as well as a suit from the Catholic Church of Malaysia over its usage. Between 1993 and 1994, Harvey Comics published two comic book series based on
6806-838: Was influenced by Ultraman along with Inframan , another tokusatsu superhero from China. Video game designer Hideki Kamiya (known for games such as Resident Evil 2 , Devil May Cry , Viewtiful Joe , Ōkami , Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101 ) said he loved Godzilla and Ultraman as a child. It was announced in November 2019 that Marvel Comics has partnered with Tsuburaya Productions to publish Ultraman comic books in 2020. As of March 2021 , Bandai Namco has sold 101.87 million Ultraman soft figures (heroes and monsters) since 1983, while Bandai Namco Arts (including Bandai Visual ) has sold 8.48 million Ultraman home video units between January 1988 and March 2021. Ultraman's licensing rights outside Japan have been
6889-621: Was released for Android devices and Macintosh in 2014, with a PC version planned for a later date. Following ShiftyLook's closure, the PC version was cancelled, and the Macintosh and Android versions were delisted in 2015. In Japan, Game Machine listed Wonder Momo on their April 1, 1987 issue as being the fourth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. Reviewing the PC-Engine home conversion, German publication Aktueller Software Markt (ASM) liked
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