Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

Welcome to WatchMojo, and in today’s installment of “Versus,” we’re going to be pitting the King of the Monsters himself against the anti-kaiju weapon known as Mechagodzilla. We’ll be looking at everything from the titans fighting skills to their allies to see who’s the real king.

Are you team Godzilla or do you prefer his mechanical enemy? Let us know in the comments!

Round 1: Offense

There’s a lot more to Godzilla’s offensive capabilities than just his famous Atomic Breath. The Big G has actually demonstrated a number of different moves and abilities throughout the years. In a couple of movies, we’ve seen him showcase a powerful Nuclear Pulse attack. This wave of energy was powerful enough to take down formidable enemies like King Ghidorah for good. Speaking of that triple-headed tyrant, we saw Godzilla use a Spiral Heat Ray against it for the first time while the two were battling.The problem with these attacks is that they require very specific circumstances. Since help from other kaiju or a long charge-up time are required, these powerful moves aren’t always convenient in the heat of battle.
Conversely, Mechagodzilla is a veritable armada of weaponry. Mechagodzilla has so many options at his fingertips, it’s kind of ridiculous. Oh, and while we’re on the subject of fingertips, did we mention Mechagodzilla can shoot missiles from its hands? There’s also the Cross Attack Beam that emits from Mecha G’s chest and it could quick-fire Space Beams from its eyes. He even has access to a pair of sweet tasers known as “Shock Anchors.” As if that’s not enough, Mechagodzilla’s Spiral Claw can be used in a close-quarters fight to deliver some devastating damage. This enemy’s ability to hold tons of weapons means there’s no telling what other tricks it has up its metal sleeves until the fight starts.

Although Godzilla’s Atomic Breath is a pretty iconic move, Mechagodzilla has a wider variety of offensive techniques that require a lot less effort to unleash. Its ability to easily fire off a flurry of different attacks in rapid succession gives it the win in this round.

Winner: Mechagodzilla: 1 / Godzilla: 0

Round 2: Defense

Over the years, different movie scientists have marveled at Godzilla’s healing factor. He can come back from wounds that might even make Wolverine a bit wary. In extreme situations, a blast from a nuclear warhead is enough to get a severely injured kaiju back on his feet. But even without an external radioactive assist, Godzilla has demonstrated some impressive defensive moves. His incredibly resilient skin can tank human weaponry and plenty of attacks from other monsters. There’s also a version of the creature that can generate a force field that keeps out any incoming blows. While versions of Godzilla have to worry about a vulnerable second brain in their tail, enemies still have a hell of a time trying to get under this kaiju’s skin.
Since Mechagodzilla was built to combat other large beasts, there are variants of this creature that have formidable armor that can withstand atomic breath. One of the versions of this villain could also create a shield that could keep powerful creatures like Godzilla and King Caesar at bay. Its careful construction means that most normal human weapons aren’t going to stand too much of a chance at piercing its robotic hide. However, if a kaiju gets too close, it can rip off one of some of Mechagodzilla’s mechanical components. And the mechanical villain usually requires external repairs to become functional again. But its biggest weakness has been its control panel. In more than one incarnation, Mechagodzilla falls after an ordinary human damages its controls.
There’s no denying that Mechagozilla has an impressive and extremely intimidating exterior. However, even if you take away its silly control panel weakness, the villain almost always needs extensive help to get rebuilt. By contrast, Godzilla is tough, has less vulnerable weaknesses and is perfectly capable of recovering from battle on its own.
Winner: Godzilla: 1 / Mechagodzilla: 1

Round 3: Backup

They say that it takes a village to raise a child and an army of monster friends to take down threatening kaiju. Although Godzilla doesn’t always play well with others, he has been known to make alliances with other creatures in order to combat a greater threat. He has often relied on monsters like the magnificent Mothra to give him an assist when he’s backed into a corner. The only issue Godzilla has making alliances is that it sometimes requires a battle first. He has a ton of foes that have only sided with him after they’ve gone a round or two. But if the King of the Monsters survives these scraps, his former enemies will usually stand in his corner for the real fight.
The fact that Mechagodzilla is a mechanical creation means that he frequently has other people watching and even helping him make every move. In several of his outings, there’s a crew of humans or aliens making sure he’s doing alright while in battle. We even saw humans throw support behind a version of Mechagodzilla that was nicknamed Kiryu so it could defeat Godzilla. But that’s not to say the mechanical kaiju can’t make friends of its own. In one case, it even managed to work with the terrible Titanosaurus. Admittedly, Mechagodizilla has had less luck finding consistent allies. But it’s definitely more of a threat when it has partners.
While we wouldn’t exactly call either of these monsters friendly, Godzilla still has a better recruitment track record and better allies overall. Mechagodzilla needs to work on making friends if it ever wants to win this round in the years to come.
Winner: Godzilla: 2 / Mechagodzilla: 1

Round 4: Special Abilities

Godzilla is a simple kaiju with simple tastes. He just wants to lumber around, destroy some buildings, and occasionally do a flying drop kick. Godzilla’s straightforward style translates to his relatively simple move set. Most fans expect him to wield strong breath and maybe even glow at times. Over the years, Godzilla has surprised us with special abilities. There was one battle where he became an incredibly powerful magnet at a key moment. Godzilla also used his Atomic Breath to, somewhat awkwardly, take flight. The biggest surprise about special abilities like these is that they often aren’t brought back between films. Fortunately, Godzilla’s reliable atomic breath is usually enough to do the trick.
Being an anti-kaiju weapon definitely comes with advantages for Mechagodzilla. Outside of its varied and plentiful arsenal, it can always be upgraded to overcome its weaknesses. After losing its head in one battle, the next iteration of the creature’s body was still able to do damage on its own. Mechagodzilla is also adaptable enough to add additional weapons from other sources to its body to cause more trouble. That prospect is frightening for enemies because it often has access to a powerful absolute zero energy weapon within its body. Its ability to utilize weaponry in creative ways and possibility for upgrades means that no two Mechagodzillas are going to be the same.
We’ll always love seeing Godzilla spit out atomic breath. But Mechagodzilla's tendency to upgrade and adapt means every iteration of the villain is bound to be one of a kind.
Winner: Mechagodzilla: 2 / Godzilla: 2

Round 5: Win/Loss Record

Godzilla almost always has a bad time against Mechagodzilla. While the organic kaiju is impressive, he often requires assistance to take the metal beast down. The first outing saw Godzilla and King Caesar teaming up to defeat Mecha G. for the final battle. In their second major rematch, the king of the monsters rallies to beat his robotic enemy in a tense fight. And “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2” once again sees the organic kaiju come out on top. Most recently, a last minute team up with Kong led to a resounding victory over Mechagodzilla once more. While the king of the monsters had to suffer in all of these matchups, there were all big wins.
Mechagodzilla is far from a slouch when it comes to fighting. We’ve seen the villain absolutely demolish different kaiju over the years. When it comes to fighting the king of the monsters directly, the villain has actually eked out a few big wins. In 2002’s “Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla” the mechanical beast broke a losing streak by forcing the king to retreat. The mecha creature claimed victory again after teaming up with Mothra’s children a year later. If Godzilla didn’t have so many allies, Mechagodzilla would probably have even more wins under its belt. The mechanical kaiju is definitely capable of stomping away with more triumphs in the future.

Both our kaiju have been able to say they’ve defeated each other in small scraps and big battles. When we look back at their records, Mechagodzilla has definitely won two major matchups against the king of monsters. But after tallying up all the numbers, Godzilla firmly has four wins over his mechanical foe. Neither numbers nor we will lie about who has the advantage here.
Winner: Godzilla: 3 / Mechagodzilla: 2

With a score of 3 to 2, Godzilla once again proves that he’s the true king of the monsters.