Monster Hunter
Logo forMonster Hunter
Genre	Action role-playing
Developer	Capcom
Publisher	Capcom
Creator	Kaname Fujioka[1]
Platforms	PlayStation 2,PlayStation 3,PlayStation 4,PlayStation 5,PlayStation Portable,PlayStation Vita,Windows,Wii,Wii U,Xbox 360,Xbox One,Xbox Series X/S,Nintendo 3DS,Nintendo Switch,Nintendo Switch 2,Android,iOS
First release	Monster Hunter March 11, 2004
Latest release	Monster Hunter Wilds February 28, 2025

Monster Hunter (モンスターハンター,Monsutā Hantā) is a Japanesemedia franchise centered on a series offantasy-themedaction role-playing video games, beginning with first installmentMonster Hunter for thePlayStation 2, released in 2004. Multiple devices are used to play the series, including personal computers, home consoles, portable consoles, and mobile devices. The series is developed and published byCapcom.

The games are primarily action role-playing games. The player takes the role of a Hunter, slaying or trapping largemonsters across various landscapes as part of quests given to them by locals, with some quests involving the gathering of a certain item or items, which may put the Hunter at risk of facing various monsters. As part of itscore gameplay loop, players use loot gained from slaying monsters, gathering resources, and quest rewards to craft improved weapons, armor, and other items that allow them to face more powerful monsters. All main series titles featuremultiplayer (usually up to four players cooperatively), but can also be playedsingle player.

EarlyMonster Hunter games sold well inJapan and other Asian countries, popularized by the series' use ofad hoc multiplayer features on portableconsoles, and became a cultural phenomenon. The early games in the series have been critically well received in Western markets, but generally languished in sales, in part due to the games' steeplearning curve. However, withMonster Hunter: World (2018), Capcom aimed to attract a global audience using the power of advanced home gaming consoles and computers and released the title simultaneously worldwide.World became the best-sellingMonster Hunter game within three days of its release, and became Capcom's single best-selling video game of all time with 21 million sales as of July 5, 2022, including more than 70% outside of Japan. By May 2024, the series has sold more than 100 million units, with nearly half attributed toMonster Hunter: World andMonster Hunter Rise and their expansions. The 2025 entry,Monster Hunter Wilds, the first in the series to release worldwide and all platforms simultaneously, became the fastest selling Capcom game within three days of release.

Games in theMonster Hunter are generally catalogued as either part of the mainline series aimed for console players, and portable versions for hand held consoles. A number of spinoff games featuring different gameplay genres have also been developed for consoles, computers, and mobile devices. In addition to games, the franchise has ananime based on the spinoff gameMonster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village,Monster Hunter Stories: Ride On based on the spinoff titleMonster Hunter Stories, amanga,Monster Hunter Orage, and a book,Monster Hunter Episode.^[2] Afeature film directed byPaul W. S. Anderson was released on December 3, 2020.

An animated film, subtitledLegends of the Guild, was released on August 12, 2021, onNetflix.

The mainMonster Hunter games areaction games taking place in a common fantasy world set some thousands of years after the collapse of an advanced civilization.^[3] 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 ofMonster Hunter is itscompulsion loop.^[4] Unlike traditionalcomputer role-playing games, a player's Hunter does not grow and has no intrinsic statistics or attributes whatsoever. Rather, the Hunter's abilities are instead defined by the specific weapons and armor selected. The player can equip weapons, armor, and items most beneficial towards completing a given mission, and if successful, the Hunter is awarded in both in-game money ("zenny") and loot representing parts from the monster. These parts, along with other resources collected while on missions and/or through mission rewards, can be used to forge or upgrade new weapons and armor which then can be used in against more powerful monsters and tackle more difficult missions, completing the compulsion loop. Harder missions are typically restricted by a hunter's rank, which cumulatively increases as the player completes specific missions designated by the quest giver. Mission rewards are often generated randomly, often requiring the player togrind the same monster repeatedly to get the right parts. Weapons and armor have intrinsic bonuses or penalties towards certain types of elemental or physical damages, and may provide special skills which can be fine-tuned through the mix-and-matching of equipment pieces.^[5]

The games feature a variety of different weapon classes, ranging from swords, hammers, and bows, with the most recent titles (Generations,World, andRise) having a total of fourteen classes.^[4] Each weapon class has a unique set of combat maneuvers and reflect a number of different play styles based on speed of attack, damage strength, range and the application of buffs and debuffs to monsters and allies.Monster Hunter games use an "animation priority" combat, committing the player to a move until the animation is completed and leaving them potentially vulnerable to a monster's attack.^[6] 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'stells 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.^[7] Unlike most otheraction games,Monster Hunter fights have been compared to a series ofboss fights.^[4]

Nearly allMonster Hunter games have a single-player mode; in these, the Hunter is often accompanied by a Felyne or Palico, a bipedal sentient cat-like creature that supports the player with limited offensive abilities in combat. Felynes also assist the player in cooking meals, maintaining gardens, and returning them to camp if they are defeated in battle.^[8] 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 originalMonster 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.^[9]

MostMonster 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.^[10][4] Most titles have a third rank of difficulty ("G Rank" or "Master Rank"), released after the base game in the form of a DLC. These add more monsters, locations, weapons and armour sets to the game.^[11][4]

The firstMonster Hunter game was one of three titles Capcom had developed to take advantage of the processing power and online capabilities of thePlayStation 2, which according to Ryozo Tsujimoto, who has been the series' producer sinceMonster Hunter Freedom 2, had begun to matcharcade games in capabilities; the other two such titles wereAuto Modellista andResident Evil Outbreak.^[12] Tsujimoto consideredMonster Hunter to be the culmination of the work of these other two titles once it was released.^[12] He also felt that the game was intended for such cooperative play so that players of any skill level, working with others, could feel accomplished in taking down giant creatures.^[13]Monster Hunter proved a success, selling over 1 million copies, principally in Japan.^[13] Enhanced versions of the early games, adding more difficult monsters and end-game quests, were released with a "G" affixed to the end (such asMonster Hunter G for the first such game); for those titles that were released in Western regions, these were often, though not always, affixed with theUltimate moniker. A second team worked to develop a series for thePlayStation Portable. These games often had a more lighthearted tone and expanded upon the palicoe 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.^[4]

The series took off explosively in Japan withMonster Hunter G andMonster Hunter Portable/Freedom on thePlayStation Portable and even more so once its sequelsMonster Hunter Dos,Monster Hunter Portable 2nd/Freedom 2 andMonster Hunter Portable 2nd G/Freedom Unite were released which supported up to four players.^[14] 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.^[15] Capcom's Ryozo Tsujimoto stated thatFreedom 2 was released at a time when players in Japan would not normally gather at a friend's house to play games together, so the networking capabilities of the PSP helped to drive the success ofFreedom 2 and accelerate sales of the series beyond the original PlayStation 2 titles.^[16] James Miekle, writing forPC Gamer, had worked forQ Entertainment and lived in Japan during the release ofMonster Hunter Portable 3rd, which was the best-selling PlayStation Portable game of all time and described how even during work, impromptuMonster Hunter sessions would break out between employees and there was extensive marketing ofMonster Hunter branded consumer goods.^[14]

WhileMonster Hunter had been successful in Japan, its popularity in Western markets (primarily North America and Europe) languished. In contrast to the Japanese culture, Western markets favored home consoles and computers during the mid-2000s and because of a thinner population density, most players relied on Internet-based gaming rather than local ad hoc networking.^[15][14] The series also struggled with a difficultlearning curve that had made the games off-putting in Western markets.^[17] 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 thatMonster Hunter was aimed primarily at Japanese players, further alienating Western players from the series.^[18]

The series had little popularity in the West until the release ofMonster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the Nintendo 3DS, a console that had gained a sizable foothold in Western markets. WhileMonster Hunter's popularity in the West was still to a niche group, Capcom saw the potential for more growth there and took steps to better localize the next few titles to make the series more attractive. UsingMonster Hunter 4 as a starting point, Capcom put more effort into working with its localization teams to help provide feedback to make the interface, tutorials, and dialogs more appealing to a global audience.^[19]Monster Hunter 4 was the first game in the series to break one million sales in Western markets.^[15] Capcom had begun to shift towards developing their games catalog for a global market for their catalog was buoyed by the success ofResident Evil 7.^[18] 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 thePlayStation 4 andXbox One have dominance in these regions over handhelds.^[20]

Monster Hunter: World, the series's 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.^[17][21] 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,World's used seamless zones and several changes to gameplay were made to account for this.^[4][22] 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.^[18]World became the series' best-selling game, achieving more than 21 million units sold by 2022 and making theMonster Hunter series Capcom's best-selling series followingResident Evil.^[23]

With the success of the changes to the formula defined byWorld, Capcom decided to continue this approach with the series' next major titles,Monster Hunter Rise for the Nintendo Switch and Windows,^[24] and forMonster Hunter Wilds for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Windows.^[21]

Below is a list of games in theMonster 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 withWorld, use a keyword instead of a number to reflect a central concept for that game.^[25] 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."^[26]

A female Monster Hunter appeared as a playable character via downloadable content inMarvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. The game also features a stage called "Valkanda", which combines Val Habar from the fourth installment withWakanda from the Marvel universe. Rathalos and Tigrex, two of the series' flagship monsters, make a cameo appearance inMetal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on hunting missions.^[48] Rathalos appeared as a special event monster to fight inFinal Fantasy XIV as part of a cross-promotional event withMonster Hunter: World, with theBehemoth appearing inWorld in return.^[49] In 2018, Rathalos also appeared as a boss character and a summonable Assist Trophy in the crossover fighting game,Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,^[50] while severalMii Fighter costumes based onMonster Hunter were added post-launch in March 2021 a few weeks ahead ofRise's release.^[51] In 2020, Rathalos made a limited appearance inCygames' mobile titleDragalia Lost as part of an in-game event.^[52] In 2023, Rathalos made an appearance as a limited-time boss in the mobile gameArknights, as part of the latter'sMonster Hunter crossover event titledA Flurry to the Flame.

TheMonster 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 includeResident Evil,^[53]Mega Man,^[54]Assassin's Creed,^[55] andThe Witcher series.^[56]

A series of anime shorts titledMonHun 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.^[57] An anime series based on the franchise premiered on October 2, 2016.

A manga titledMonster Hunter Orage was published jointly byKodansha andCapcom in April 2008. The author of the manga isHiro Mashima. There are four volumes total with the last volume published on May 4, 2009. An English release ofMonster Hunter Orage first took place on June 28, 2011. Elements fromMonster Hunter were later included in theWorlds Unite comic crossover fromArchie Comics, which featured several other Capcom andSega franchises making guest appearances in the previously runningSonic the Hedgehog andMega Man comic lines.^[58]

A trading card game titledMonster Hunter Hunting Card was released in October 2008 with periodic updates planned.^[59]

In 2013, severalMonster Hunter 4 figures were given away as prizes in Japan, including ones based on Felynes.^[60] In 2014, aMega Man crossover toy was released,^[61] a set of Felyne-themed 3DS XL accessories,^[62] as well as a 24 karat gold Felyne statue that cost almost $30,000 to celebrate the series' 10-year anniversary.^[63] In 2017, a highly detailed doll of a Felyne was released by Capcom for 162,000 yen.^[64] More unusual products include Felynetoilet paper-holders.^[65] Beyond merchandise, a Felyne-themed car was used to promote the series at the Odaiba Motor Festival.^[66] 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.^[67]

The conception of a film based on the series started in 2012 by directorPaul W. S. Anderson. The film was formally announced by Capcom in October 2018, with production starting that month withImpact Pictures andConstantin Film and was released in the United Kingdom and China on December 4, 2020. The film is based on aUnited 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 starredMilla Jovovich,Ron Perlman,T.I. Harris,Diego Boneta andTony Jaa.^{[68][69][70][71][72]}

In 2018, Capcom and Pure Imagination Studios announced that they are working on a 3D animated filmMonster Hunter: Legends of the Guild. The special was written by Joshua Fine, and features a fledgling hunter taking down an Elder Dragon.^[73] Originally slated for a 2019 release, the film was released on August 12, 2021, onNetflix.^[74]

On 21 May 2023 Capcom released the first digital collectible NFTs of Monster Hunters on the Veve platform.

TheMonster Hunter series surpassed 100 million units sold by May 2024, with nearly half of those sales attributed toWorld,Rise and their associated expansions, and making it Capcom's second-best selling series afterResident Evil, withMonster Hunter: World being the company's best-selling game.^[75] 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 theMonster Hunter series games fromWorld onward.^[76]

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.^[77]

The augmented-reality mobile gameMonster Hunter Now has also been considered a success for Capcom, with over 15 million players using the app.^[76]

Total worldwide sales forMonster Hunter games exceeding 1 million units, through December 2024 are listed below:^[78]

Several commentators consider the series' Felynes or Palicoes to be an integral staple ofMonster Hunter.^[9][79] The Palicoes inMonster Hunter: World received a great deal of social media publicity when their vocalizations attracted the attention of real-life cats of players.^[80][81]

• Dauntless, a free-to-play game with a similar gameplay mechanic but which requires an Internet connection to play
• Freedom Wars
• God Eater, a video game franchise with a similar gameplay mechanic
• Horizon Zero Dawn
• List of Japanese role-playing game franchises
• Lord of Arcana
• Soul Sacrifice
• Toukiden
• Wild Hearts

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMonster Hunter.

• Official website
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• Video games about dragons
• Fantasy video games
• Video games adapted into comics
• Video games adapted into films
• Video games adapted into television shows
• Video game franchises
• Video game franchises introduced in 2004

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