Reader Player One: 10 Biggest Changes From The Book

The climactic battle sequence of Ernest Cline's novel offered up a major fan-pleasing spectacle: Sorrento and Parzival do battle in the form of Mechagodzilla and Ultraman, with Ultraman naturally emerging victorious.

While audiences unfamiliar with these daikaiju icons might not have fully appreciated the significance of such a showdown, it would still have made for a hell of a fight. Unfortunately, when the film went into production the character of Ultraman was the subject of a legal battle in Japan, leaving the rights off the table.

Instead, we see Mechagodzilla taken down by another Japanese fan favourite, anime mech suit Gundam - and instead of putting Wade at the helm, the movie puts Daito in control. On top of which, Mechagodzilla faces a double threat, with The Iron Giant also part of the fight.

Much as with putting Samantha into IOI HQ instead of Wade, this delegation of the many awesome feats Wade performs in the book makes sense in terms of dramatic pacing, and goes a long way to balancing out responsibility for the final victory across the High Five.

On top of which, we might consider it rather more culturally sensitive to have a Japanese character piloting a Japanese pop culture icon which has such a vital role to play in the grand finale.