Picokaiju (ピコ怪獣)

You are one big monster with an appetite for destruction. This turn-based rogue-like PICO-8 game is all about that stomping, smashing, grabbing, and chomping your way through a procedurally generated hapless city and its tiny citizens.

How to Play

This PICO-8 game uses a gamepad that is also controllable via the keyboard.

Function	Keyboard	Gamepad (PICO / PS)
Walk	Arrow keys	D-pad
ROAR (skip a turn and heal), Cancel menu	Z, N, C	O / X
Open abilities menu, Confirm	X, M, V	X / Square
Pause, Pico-8 Menu	Enter	Start

Mobs

Mobs have a chance to spawn every other turn they are:

• Civilians Spawn every turn. Scared and immobile protein shakes.
• Cop Car Deals 1 DMG. Range 1 tile in all 8 directions. Protein shake in a can.
• Copter Same as Cop Car but flies over buildings except for tall ones.
• Tank Deals 2 DMG. Range 5 tiles in cardinal directions (Up, Left, Down, Right).
• Mad Scientist (UFO) Same as Copter but also adds 1 Poison DMG per turn. There is no antidote.

Pro-Tips

• To regain energy, first select GRAB in the abilities menu and select a mob to grab, then select CHOMP in the abilities menu to eat the mob.
• To regain health, use the ROAR button. You start out with 1 hp regen per roar.
• Points are multiplied by a combo meter. Combo increases if you do several destructions in a row and resets on no destruction.
• Do hold on to an enemy you've grabbed for a later snack. CHOMP will also increase the combo meter.
• All mobs may be grabbed and walked on. Even the helicopters and the mysterious mad scientist.

Credits

Game design, SFX, GFX and Programming by @spoike. Music is tracked in PICO-8 with following compositions in mind:

• Opening: A Night on Bald Mountain - Mussorgsky
• In Game: Alterna (from Shin Godzilla) - Shirō Sagisu
• Ending: Funeral March - Chopin

Testers: @extarscube, @dlehman, @galactical1100, Gouspourd, FReDs72, Yolwoocle, netpork, Groove,M.D., sourencho, Thombis Falafel, John-Victor Dahl

Noteworthy inspirations for this title are Kaiju/Movie Monster genres and other Gojiralike games such as 7DRL game Chomp! from 2017 and Crush, Crumble and Chomp! from 1981.

Game is also available on PICO-8 BBS.

Videos