Nakarkos, The Corpse Wyvern, Is The Least Of Your Worries In Monster Hunter Generations

Many of you will be surprised to hear that the “final boss” of Monster Hunter Generations’ Caravan Quest line Is Glavenus – one of the Fated Four who uses his tail as a blade – and that It ends at Six Star difficulty. Sure, you’ll unlock the ability to fight Shagaru Magala at that level, but the real baddies – Teostra, Chameleos, Kushala Daora, to name a few – those are unlocked in multiplayer Guild Quests.

And the real face enigmatic shadow of danger in the multiplayer Guild Quest line is Nakarkos – the Corpse Wyvern – whose den is known as “Wyvern’s End” among hunters who are (un)lucky enough to be sent away to slay it. Though more often than not it is Nakarkos who does the slaying.

Unrest breaks out among the Hunters Guild as ship after ship are sent to investigate missing expeditions and dwindling predator numbers, ultimately becoming another lost expedition in the process. By the time the Hunters Guild has final discovered Wyvern’s End, you’ve climbed the ranks, and they send you in to investigate on foot.

Your first encounter with Nakarkos is brief, an Urgent Quest given to you before breaking into 4 star difficulty Guild Quests, but it will haunt you until your second meeting. Its battle theme alone, like something taken out of a Metroid title, is enough to make your hair stand on end. (In fact, the air about Nakarkos and its den reminds me quite a bit of walking into the Impact Crater in Metroid Prime.)

The sound of shaking bones, an eerie warning sound that takes root deep in your instincts not unlike that of a rattlesnake telling you to back off, paired with the familiar skulls equipped by the false hydra’s two heads it uses to assault you with, left me with a lasting impression. I know what it feels like to fight a Nakarkos, and that’s something the Monster Hunter series has always done a great job with.

You can read more about Nakarkos’ biology, habitat, and true identity in an earlier piece we did on the monsters’ early concept work – because that’s not really what I want to talk about here. You only run into Nakarkos twice in the entire game – once as an Urgent Quest breaking into 4 star Guild Quests, and then again as an Urgent Quest when you get to the end of High Rank Guild Quests. Nakarkos is only “End Game” in the sense that it appears at the end of the game.

The real end game content comes in the form of Hyper Monsters (previously called Furious Monsters in Japanese) and Deviant Monsters. (Previously known as Variant Monsters in Japanese.) These will put all of your skill to the test and, with the exception of Lagombi if you’re good enough, absolutely require multiple people to down. I’ll talk about that in more detail later.