Monster Hunter

The main Monster Hunter games are action games taking place in a common fantasy world set some thousands of years after the collapse of an advanced civilization. While there are centers of civilization that remain and flourish, parts of the world remain unsettled due to the presence of monsters that threaten any attempts to settle in these areas. The player takes the role of a Hunter, assigned by the Hunters' Guild to help protect these remote areas by hunting down the monsters, typically alongside the work of a research team that is trying to understand the origin and behavior of these monsters. The player, as the Hunter, uses a variety of weapons and tools, along with the environment itself, to fight against the monsters. The core feature of Monster Hunter is its compulsion loop. The games feature a variety of different weapon classes, ranging from swords, hammers, and bows, with the most recent titles (Generations, World, and Rise) having a total of fourteen classes. Further, players are encouraged to watch their Hunter's health and stamina. Losing all health will force a retreat to a base camp, and after three such retreats, the mission is deemed a failure. Performing certain combat actions consumes stamina, which recovers in a short amount of time; once exhausted of stamina, the Hunter becomes vulnerable as they pause to catch their breath. Monsters and other environmental hazards can also inflict blights and other negative status effects that impair combat abilities. Combat is centered around watching for a monster's tells prior to an attack to be able to dodge it and/or make a counterattack, and looking for openings to unleash strings of attack combos, depending on the Hunter's current weapon. Unlike most other action games, Monster Hunter fights have been compared to a series of boss fights. The noises of Felynes are created using the real-life vocalizations of cats owned by the games' development team, causing them to compile a library of cat noises stretching back to the original Monster Hunter. The noises are sometimes arranged in order to depict a situation that would be impossible to subject a real cat to, such as being attacked by a monster. Most Monster Hunter games released with support for four-player cooperative online modes, allowing the group to hunt down stronger versions of monsters, though this support has since been disabled in older games. The games typically have a main quest line, frequently called "Low Rank" or "Village Quests", which can take up to fifty hours to complete. Once completed, the game opens up with new "High Rank" or "Gathering Hall" quests, featuring stronger versions of monsters they have previously faced, as well as new monsters not yet seen and unique variants of these foes, all of which provide better components for more powerful weapons and armor sets, providing hundreds of hours of potential gameplay following the main quest. == Development history ==

The first Monster Hunter game was one of three titles Capcom had developed to take advantage of the processing power and online capabilities of the PlayStation 2, which according to Ryozo Tsujimoto, who has been the series' producer since Monster Hunter Freedom 2, had begun to match arcade games in capabilities; the other two such titles were Auto Modellista and Resident Evil Outbreak. Tsujimoto considered Monster Hunter to be the culmination of the work of these other two titles once it was released. Enhanced versions of the early games, adding more difficult monsters and end-game quests, were released with a "G" affixed to the end (such as Monster Hunter G for the first such game); for those titles that were released in Western regions, these were often, though not always, affixed with the Ultimate moniker. A second team worked to develop a series for the PlayStation Portable. These games often had a more lighthearted tone and expanded upon the Palico system. In Japan, these games were released under the "Portable" title, while in the west they were released under the "Freedom" title. Even after these naming conventions were abandoned, this established the general tradition of one team releasing games for home consoles and a separate team releasing a portable game a few years later. The series took off explosively in Japan with Monster Hunter G and Monster Hunter Portable/Freedom on the PlayStation Portable and even more so once its sequels Monster Hunter Dos, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd/Freedom 2 and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G/Freedom Unite were released which supported up to four players. Handheld systems are generally more popular in Japan and due to the country's high population density, it was easy to find players to hunt cooperatively with, making it a phenomenon there. James Miekle, writing for PC Gamer, had worked for Q Entertainment and lived in Japan during the release of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, which was the best-selling PlayStation Portable game of all time and described how even during work, impromptu Monster Hunter sessions would break out between employees and there was extensive marketing of Monster Hunter branded consumer goods. Because of the series' limited interest outside Japan, the developers generally focused on Japan market-specific features, such as first releases within the country and in-game events for Japanese players, which reinforced the perception that Monster Hunter was aimed primarily at Japanese players, further alienating Western players from the series. Monster Hunter 4 was the first game in the series to break one million sales in Western markets. In an October 2016 interview, Capcom chairman Kenzo Tsujimoto said they were looking towards increasing the popularity of the games in the Western markets, recognizing that gaming consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have dominance in these regions over handhelds. Monster Hunter: World, the series' first major entry targeting home consoles and computers, was developed to be more alluring for Western markets without trying to make the game simpler, with the main development teams in Japan working more closely with Capcom's Western offices to identify such improvements. A number of changes in gameplay were made that took advantage of the consoles' new technology; notably, while the prior games had split each hunting area into different zones as necessitated by limits of the console hardware, Worlds used seamless zones and several changes to gameplay were made to account for this. Other small gameplay details were added to meet common expectations for action games were also added, such as adding damage indicator values on successful weapon attacks, which the developers found also provided useful feedback to draw in new players. With the success of the changes to the formula defined by World, Capcom decided to continue this approach with the series' next major titles, Monster Hunter Rise for the Nintendo Switch and Windows, and for Monster Hunter Wilds for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Windows. ==Games==

Below is a list of games in the Monster Hunter main series. Each generation has a number of entries that are derivative of the original release. While the first four main titles were numbered, the subsequent installments, starting with World, use a keyword instead of a number to reflect a central concept for that game. While the games have often been split into the numbered mainline games and the portable titles by players, this distinction is not held to the same degree by Capcom, according to Tsujimoto, and instead each title is based on "what it is we want to achieve with this title, what we want the player to experience, which hardware we're gonna target and how it's gonna affect the gameplay. The games just come together the way they end up each time." Main series Portable series Other games ==Other media==

In-game crossovers A female Monster Hunter appeared as a playable character via downloadable content in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. The game also features a stage called "Valkanda", which combines Val Habar from the fourth installment with Wakanda from the Marvel universe. Rathalos and Tigrex, two of the series' flagship monsters, make a cameo appearance in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on hunting missions. Rathalos appeared as a special event monster to fight in Final Fantasy XIV as part of a cross-promotional event with Monster Hunter: World, with the Behemoth appearing in World in return. Final Fantasy XIV would have another cross-promotional event with Monster Hunter Wilds, with Guardian Arkveld, a variant of the flagship monster of Wilds, appearing as a special event monster in Final Fantasy XIV, and Omega Planetes, a unique entity inspired by the Final Fantasy XIV iteration of the recurring Final Fantasy superboss, appeared in Wilds. In 2018, Rathalos also appeared as a boss character and a summonable Assist Trophy in the crossover fighting game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, while several Mii Fighter costumes based on Monster Hunter were added post-launch in March 2021 a few weeks ahead of Rise release. In 2020, Rathalos made a limited appearance in Cygames' mobile title Dragalia Lost as part of an in-game event. In 2023, Rathalos made an appearance as a limited-time boss in the mobile game Arknights, as part of the latter's Monster Hunter crossover event titled A Flurry to the Flame. The Monster Hunter games themselves have offered crossover events with other Capcom and third-party properties, allowing users during the event to earn armor and weapons inspired by the other property. For example, Monster Hunter World has had promotional events that include Resident Evil, Mega Man, ''Assassin's Creed, and The Witcher'' series. Anime A series of anime shorts titled MonHun Nikki Girigiri Airū-mura Airū Kiki Ippatsu (:ja:モンハン日記 ぎりぎりアイルー村) was broadcast beginning August 10, 2010. A sequel, MonHun Nikki Girigiri Airū-mura G, was produced. An anime series based on the franchise premiered on October 2, 2016. Manga and comics A manga titled Monster Hunter Orage was published jointly by Kodansha and Capcom in April 2008. The author of the manga is Hiro Mashima. There are four volumes total with the last volume published on May 4, 2009. An English release of Monster Hunter Orage first took place on June 28, 2011. A second manga, Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter, was published beginning in May 2011. It was written by Keiichi Hikami and illustrated by Shin Yamamoto. The series ran for 10 volumes, with the final volume released on May 20, 2015. The English edition was first published on April 12, 2016. Elements from Monster Hunter were later included in the Worlds Unite comic crossover from Archie Comics, which featured several other Capcom and Sega franchises making guest appearances in the previously running Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man comic lines. Card game A trading card game titled Monster Hunter Hunting Card was released in October 2008 with periodic updates planned. Merchandise In 2013, several Monster Hunter 4 figures were given away as prizes in Japan, including ones based on Felynes. In 2014, a Mega Man crossover toy was released, a set of Felyne-themed 3DS XL accessories, as well as a 24 karat gold Felyne statue that cost almost $30,000 to celebrate the series' 10-year anniversary. In 2017, a highly detailed doll of a Felyne was released by Capcom for 162,000 yen. More unusual products include Felyne toilet paper-holders. Beyond merchandise, a Felyne-themed car was used to promote the series at the Odaiba Motor Festival. In 2022, merchandise featuring the characters was utilized in a public safety promotion as part of an ongoing partnership between Capcom and local Japanese police. Film The conception of a film based on the series started in 2012 by director Paul W. S. Anderson. The film was formally announced by Capcom in October 2018, with production starting that month with Impact Pictures and Constantin Film and was released in the United Kingdom and China on December 4, 2020. The film is based on a United Nations task force falling into an alternate dimension where Hunters fight off monsters and the force joins the Hunters to prevent monsters from returning through the portal to Earth. The film starred Milla Jovovich, Ron Perlman, T.I. Harris, Diego Boneta and Tony Jaa. Animated film In 2018, Capcom and Pure Imagination Studios announced that they are working on a 3D animated film Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild. The special was written by Joshua Fine, and features a fledgling hunter taking down an Elder Dragon. Originally slated for a 2019 release, the film was released on August 12, 2021, on Netflix. Digital collectibles On 21 May 2023 Capcom released the first digital collectible NFTs of Monster Hunters on the Veve platform. ==Reception==

The Monster Hunter series surpassed 100 million units sold by May 2024, with nearly half of those sales attributed to World, Rise and their associated expansions, and making it Capcom's second-best selling series after Resident Evil, with Monster Hunter: World being the company's best-selling game. On completion of its fiscal year on March 31, 2025, Capcom reported its twelfth straight year of profit growth, which they attribute in part to the Monster Hunter series games from World onward. Monster Hunter Wilds sold over 8 million units after the first three days of launch, making it the fastest selling game in Capcom's history. The augmented-reality mobile game Monster Hunter Now has also been considered a success for Capcom, with over 15 million players using the app. Several commentators consider the series' Felynes or Palicoes to be an integral staple of Monster Hunter. The Palicoes in Monster Hunter: World received a great deal of social media publicity when their vocalizations attracted the attention of real-life cats of players. ==See also==