Smash Up’s Big in Japan expansion pays homage to Godzilla, Sailor Moon, Power Rangers and Digimon

Smash Up, the ‘shufflebuilding’ card game designed by Paul Peterson, has always been one to wear its pop culture heart on its sleeve, but the game’s next expansion looks to take its love to another level.

Smash Up: Big in Japan will introduce four new factions to the game, joining a roster that already includes pirates, dinosaurs, zombies, Lovecraftian monsters, ninjas and aliens.

Although we don’t officially know the names of the new decks, the front artwork of the box appears to show very clear influences from Japan’s cinematic and anime legacy.

As you might predict, the most prominent figure on the packaging is a Godzilla-like kaiju, who stands in front of three characters which we reckon strongly recall some of Japan’s most iconic television creations.

Front and centre is a Sailor Moon-like woman dressed in a similar dress, oversized bow and headband. Joining her is a red Power Range-like figure (with a pig-like helmet shape) and a cartoon dinosaur – which might be a nod to Pokémon, but we were reminded more of fellow 1990s monster-battling phenomenon Digimon.

Smash Up publisher AEG declined to give more details about the expansion as part of its 2017 plans, but did confirm that Big in Japan would be out this autumn.

If you’re desperate for more Smash Up in the meantime, the publisher is offering a free sheep-themed faction for the game if you sign up and complete a survey on its site.

The free deck will apparently be sent to those living in the EU in the last quarter of this year – so if you’re a Brit, you might want to get in now.