Where You Buy Monster Hunter Stories In Japan Matters

Capcom recently released a flood of information about their highly anticipated Monster Hunter RPG: Monster Hunter Stories. The game’s release date is set here in Japan for October 8 – and electronics stores like Joshin, Yamada Denki, Geo, and even convenience stores like 7-11 have opened pre-orders for the game. In fact, for a limited time, you’ll be able to obtain special monsters depending on where you purchase your game:

• Ordering from Amazon will give you access to a special Qurupeco whose elemental property is water instead of fire
• Buying your copy at Edion Games will get you a special Zinogre whose elemental property is ice instead of electric
• Buying your copy at Game Tsutaya will give you a Tigrex whose elemental property is fire.
• Buying your copy at Aeon will get you a Lagombi whose elemental property is electric instead of ice

• Buying a copy at Geo will get you a Rathalos whose elemental property is ice instead of fire
• Buying a copy at Joshin will land you a Yian Kut-Ku whose elemental property is ice instead of fire
• Buying a copy from 7-11 will land you a Brachydios whose elemental property is lightning instead of blast (or whatever they decide to make it in the game proper)
• Buying a copy at Toys’r’Us will land you a Ludroth whose elemental property is ice instead of water

• Buying a copy at B.i.c. Camera will land you a Lagiacrus whose elemental property is fire instead of electric
• Buying a copy at Furu-Ichi (a used-goods chain) will land you a Nargacuga whose elemental property is electric
• Buying a copy at Yamada Denki will land you an Arzuros whose elemental property is electric
• Buying a copy at Yodobashi Camera will land you a Khezu whose elemental property is water instead of lightning

• Picking up a copy at Wonder GOO Games will land you a Rathian whose elemental property is water instead of poison
• Finally, buying a copy from the Capcom Store will land you a Zinogre whose elemental property is fire instead of lightning

So, why it a big deal? Well, more properly translated, each of these Wyvern Buddies…okay, let’s just call them Myverns from here on out, have inherited different elemental genes. To know why that’s big, you have to turn to the Monster Hunter Stories official website.

On May 26, Monster Hunter Stories’ official twitter page released this image, describing how characteristics can be passed down from one Myvern to another:

Each Myvern has a 3×3 grid that is unique to it – that is to say, the arrangement of open slots varies between each Myvern even if it is the same monster (THERE’S your motivation to collect more than just one of each!). These slots can be filled with tokens called “tether genes” (by no means an official translation of絆遺伝子) which, when lined up properly, will grant a Myvern the ability to use the power imbued by those genes.

You can transmit these genes from one Myvern to another by bringing them to this guy:

So, in this instance. Yian Kut-Ku can pass on one red tether gene to the same slot on Lagombi’s grid. Since that slot happens to be empty, Lagombi gains the tether gene, effectively lining up three, and awakening its ability to breathe fire. Now, the assumption is that if even if every slot is open, each Myvern can only learn up to three additional powers. That said, what it can pass on is just as important as what it receives.

So! Scroll back up to those retail distributions and take a look at those “elemental characteristics” again. Maybe you can make an Ice Zinogre? Or a Fire Ludroth? An Electric Rathalos? Maybe, just maybe, you can pass on Aptanoth’s Banana-Slipping Body Slam to someone like, say, Lagiacrus? These monsters are only available for a limited time, so they really will be something special.

Personally, I’m in a tight spot deciding between an electric Brachydios or Icy Ludroth.

Monster Hunter Stories is set for release in Japan on October 8, 2016 for 5,800 yen at retail or 5,546 yen on the eshop, not including tax. No plans to localize the title have been announced yet.