Twenty years in the past, the unique Monster Hunter first launched gamers to its ever-expanding arsenal of weapons and memorable monsters. Since then, the collection has grown in recognition world wide, and been refined into one of many best multiplayer experiences gaming has to supply. There’s nonetheless a particular satisfaction that comes from taking down an unfathomably large creature by the pores and skin of your enamel, coordinating along with your fellow hunters, and utilizing everybody’s weaponry and talents skillfully to topple essentially the most fearsome foes on the market.
To have a good time 20 years of the collection – and Monster Hunter Wilds’ upcoming February 28 launch – let’s study how the collection advanced alongside PlayStation since its 2004 debut.
Monster Hunter | PS2
The most important behemoths usually emerge from humble beginnings. The sport that began all of it was launched in Japan in March of 2004, with a North American launch a couple of months later in September and a European launch in March of 2005. It launched the core gameplay that will outline Monster Hunter within the a long time to come back: quest-driven development, useful resource gathering and administration, weapon and armor crafting, and the necessity to method and assault ferocious monsters with technique, planning, and perseverance to succeed.
By the collection’ present requirements, Monster Hunter appears a bit sparse, with solely seven weapon sorts and thirty monsters (together with many now-famous creatures just like the Rathalos), however the recreation supplied fairly a little bit of selection in quest sorts and issue. Additionally, the sport was designed round on-line multiplayer when that was nonetheless considerably of a novelty, even providing particular occasion quests that would solely be performed on-line.
Monster Hunter did very nicely in Japan, and whereas Capcom labored on the follow-up, they launched Monster Hunter G, an improve with enhancements, new options, extra monsters, and higher-difficulty quests.
Monster Hunter Dos | PS2
The true Monster Hunter sequel would emerge late into the PS2 period–and solely in Japan. Monster Hunter Dos launched for the PlayStation 2 in February of 2006, with new weapons, the additions of subquests, a singular day/night time and season system, and the addition of armor upgrades, amongst quite a few different small tweaks and enhancements. Monster Hunter Dos was warmly obtained in Japan, and was the ultimate Monster Hunter recreation on the PS2. However for the bigger international market–and the way forward for Monster Hunter–Capcom was trying in direction of the PlayStation Moveable.
Monster Hunter Freedom | PSP
Even earlier than Monster Hunter Dos launched, Capcom wished gamers to have the ability to take the hunt on the go. Monster Hunter Freedom, often known as Monster Hunter Moveable in Japan, launched in December of 2005 in Japan and in Might of 2006 for the remainder of the world. It was primarily based closely on the aforementioned Monster Hunter G, providing up each new monsters (together with the debut of Yian Garuga) and high-level “G” rank quests for gamers to get pleasure from
Looking back, it’s simple to see why the PSP felt like a real “residence” for Monster Hunter: the PSP’s functionality for adhoc native community play, together with its superior graphical capabilities and analog management, match the gameplay of Monster Hunter like a vambrace. It was adopted up by Monster Hunter Freedom 2, which took cues from Monster Hunter Dos by increasing the weapon repertoire (including collection staples just like the Searching Horn and Gunlance to the armory) and revisiting Dos’s numerous locales.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite | PSP
“Phenomenon” is precisely the phrase to explain how large the follow-up to Monster Hunter Freedom grew to become in Japan. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite launched in 2008 in Japan as Monster Hunter Moveable 2nd G, increasing on the success of the earlier recreation and reworking Monster Hunter right into a family title. Freedom Unite would go on to promote a whopping 3.8 million copies globally, with a lot of these gross sales coming from Japan.
Constructing on Freedom 2, Freedom Unite supplied a number of quality-of-life enhancements to the core expertise whereas including extra environments, extra monsters, extra monster behaviors, and a number of latest high-difficulty quests. It launched the idea of CPU-controlled helper characters by giving solo gamers use of a Felyne companion to help in battle–a characteristic which later video games within the collection would construct upon.
Monster Hunter Moveable 3rd | PSP
Hitting the PSP on the finish of 2010, Monster Hunter Moveable third is one other Japan-exclusive Monster Hunter title–although that didn’t cease it from changing into one among Capcom’s fastest-selling video games ever. Moveable third pushed the PSP to the utmost, showcasing a few of the best-looking visuals on the system and setting an ordinary for high-quality visible designs that the collection would proceed in later installments. Moveable third additionally marked the primary look of Zinogre, a fan-favorite monster to today.
Monster Hunter World | PS4
If there’s a turning level the place the fervor for Monster Hunter grew to become international, it’s in all probability 2018’s Monster Hunter World. Headlined by the fearsome Elder Dragon Nergigante, Monster Hunter World was an amazing evolution of the collection each graphically and gameplay-wise, utilizing the PS4 to create a seamless searching expertise–in additional methods than one.
Not solely had been the tutorials and early-game expertise improved for collection novices, however the numerous “zones” that made up the big searching environments (and necessitated transitional load instances) had been streamlined into one large, open house for an epic monster pursuit. And, for the primary time ever, a Monster Hunter recreation was launched concurrently worldwide, permitting gamers from all around the globe to staff up and expertise the fun of devising new searching methods collectively. True to the secret’s setting, it felt like a New World had opened up for the Monster Hunter collection.
Monster Hunter World proved to be so profitable globally that an growth, Iceborne, launched the subsequent yr, reintroducing a few of the cold-weather mechanics seen in earlier Monster Hunter titles. Monster Hunter World continues to have an energetic participant base to today.
Monster Hunter Rise | PS5, PS4
Monster Hunter Rise, alongside its major monster Magnamalo, vaulted onto PS5 and PS4 in early 2023. It introduced with it a number of distinctive gameplay additions: the fast-traveling, aerial-launching Wirebugs, a brand new sort of Canyne companion referred to as a Palamute, and “Rampage” battles the place hunters had been tasked with defending the village of Kamura from an onslaught of a number of monsters abruptly–together with notably harmful Apex monsters. Plus, alongside searching and capturing monsters, you could possibly truly commandeer the large beasts for a quick time with the Wyvern Using characteristic.
The already huge journey grew even larger with the Sunbreak growth, taking hunters to the far-away Kingdom, including a number of new monsters (together with new main beastie Malzeno), extra searching locales, and quite a few new expertise for all the weapons.
Monster Hunter Wilds | PS5
The evolution of Monster Hunter from cult favourite to Japanese sensation to international recognition has been fairly a journey, and the anticipation for the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds has already hit a fever pitch. From putting new climate results to new talents enabled by a birdlike mount referred to as a Seikret, there’s a mountain of latest options for gamers to think about.
Final yr’s closed beta drew loads of curiosity from outdated and new gamers alike. Fortuitously for these of you itching to get that Searching Horn again out for a visit to the Forbidden Lands, you gained’t have to attend an excessive amount of longer– Monster Hunter Wilds can be releasing on February 28.
