Monster Hunter Through The Ages

Monster Hunter’s 10th anniversary takes place this year, and the publisher has a number of festivities and events planned as part of the anniversary celebration. As part of this effort, they’ve shared a look back at every Monster Hunter game through the ages.

The video above shows off opening movies, promotional movies and in-game footage all the way from the original Monster Hunter on PlayStation 2 to Monster Hunter 4 on the Nintendo 3DS. It’s an interesting look at how the series has improved over time, especially in regard to the animations of the various monsters, which have greatly improved since Gen 2.

Another point of interest is what the opening movies for each game focus on. I quite like the opening movie for Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Freedom Unite) with its focus on crafting equipment, but I’m also a big fan of the worldview presented in Monster Hunter Tri’s opening, which is far more focused on the ecosystem and food chain.

Beyond the above video, Capcom’s first major anniversary celebration event will be “Monster Hunter the Real 2014,” which is being held in Japan from February 1st in collaboration with Universal Studios Japan. This event will feature large-scale replicas of the series’ monsters.

Meanwhile, the next game in the Monster Hunter series is Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate for the Nintendo 3DS. Japan will get this game in autumn, while North America and Europe will see it sometime in early 2015. Capcom said in a press release they plan to add “many new features” to the game, while maintaining the worldview of Monster Hunter 4.