Although Monster Rancher isn't a well-known franchise, it has retained a cult following over the years thanks to its unique monster collection mechanics similar to Pokemon or Digimon. Western fans often remember the anime adaptation or some of the older games but given that much of the series is exclusive to Japan, it's no surprise that it often flies under the radar of most gamers.
Koei Tecmo released remasters for Monster Rancher and Monster Rancher 2 on the Nintendo Switch back in 2020 but it was exclusive to Japan. Recently, it was also announced that the games would be arriving on December 9 for the rest of the world. With the collaboration between Monster Rancher and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania as well, it seems that the Monster Rancher revival is in full swing for its 25th anniversary. Although the franchise is a cult classic, it's likely that newcomers will want to know more about the games before their release.
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The Basics of Monster Rancher
While Monster Rancher has drawn comparisons to Pokemon over the years, it's actually far more similar to the breeding and virtual pet mechanics found in Digimon. A lot of the adventure and role-playing elements found in traditional Pokemon games aren't as prominent in the Monster Rancher series.
Many of the games revolve around the player raising different monsters to enter into battle tournaments. Much like other virtual pet games, players must train, feed, and battle with their monsters in order to progress the game. However, Monster Rancher also featured a unique mechanic in its unlocking system where players could use physical CDs or DVDs to generate new monsters. By inserting any CD or DVD into the console, the game would read the metadata and map the values to the characteristics of the monsters.
The Monster Rancher games even managed to produce thematically related monsters such as Christmas albums giving a hare named Santa or Harry Potter movies and games giving an Owl that resembles Hedwig. Over the years, the mechanic would change to reflect growing technology with the Nintendo DS games relying on Gameboy Advance cartridges and the new Switch version having a searchable CD database.
The Return of Monster Rancher
Although Monster Rancher has continued its cult following in Japan, it has been over a decade since the games have appeared in the West. With the announcement of Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX, it seems that the series will finally be making a return. While there are a lot of minor changes with the remastered versions, the franchise's fundamentals remain the same. Since most people don't use CDs or DVDs anymore, the game has a searchable CD database that players can use to generate new monsters.
There are also numerous quality of life changes such as a turbo mode, more save slots, and a notes feature. However, the graphics remain the same as the original PlayStation release with no distinct changes to the pixelated style of the Monster Rancher games. Nostalgia aside, it'll be interesting to see how the concept of virtual monster breeding will appeal to newcomers to the series. Although the Monster Rancher games aren't known for their stories, the mechanics are surprisingly intricate and have plenty of depth for players to explore.
With the return of Monster Rancher to Western shores, it's also exciting to see where the franchise will go next. The upgraded technology of consoles can help the series adjust to modern standards. For example, the IR camera on the Nintendo Switch is rarely used but IR codes could be implemented for monster scanning or using the NFC reader like amiibos. It remains to be seen whether the remastered Monster Rancher games will see enough success for more mainline games but the revival of the franchise in the West is a good start.
Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX will be available on December 9 for iOS, PC, and Switch.
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