First off, I know this is a fairly niche topic, and also tldr because this post is ramble city. 😅 I got the idea to write about this after checking out fellow Blaugust participant Naithin’s Monster Hunter posts. It seems like everyone’s gone back to Monster Hunter World recently, especially with all the trailers and info coming out for Wilds (2025). Might I just say, this game is a whole genre in and of itself that has yet to be replicated by any other title since its inception 20 years ago.

Monster Hunter Tri – 2009 (NA 2010)

Fourteen years ago, Monster Hunter Tri released for the Wii. I can’t remember why I decided to pick the game up… Back then I had just finished university and was pretty tuned in to Japanese entertainment. Tri was my first Monster Hunter game.

Okay, this game terrified me and my sisters. 😅 I distinctly remember hunting my first big monster—a Great Jaggi. I was dilly dallying purposefully trying not to make progress when I finally encountered it and saw the ! mark above its head that flashed in conjunction with that iconic startling sound effect that would always take me by surprise. It didn’t take long to get hooked. I also made a friend through multiplayer that I still keep in contact with to this day. This was the only MH game with underwater combat…and I wish they’d bring it back.

For reasons I can’t remember, I mained the lance from the start until Monster Hunter World, which is when I switched to the hunting horn. Back in the day, the lance wasn’t exactly popular, and it seems like it still isn’t widely used as it still comes in dead last or 2nd to last in usage statistics out of all 14 (or fewer) weapons. 😭 It’s deceivingly slow and also clunky feeling until you get used to it, but you can hop and slide around a bit and the shield makes you almost invincible. Unequipping it takes a while and you can’t roll around with it out, but you can literally triple backhop away out of one shot moves, like Teostra’s supernova, while your teammates potentially perish. 😌

Favorite Tri monsters

Gobul (Tri debut; has since been sent to the shadow realm)
Me and my friends hated this monster until we needed to get parts and figured out how to deal with him. There’s this fun gimmick where you can get some free hits in if you go to area 4 on the map and fish him out. My role was to break his lantern when he was on land since the tip of my lance could reach, but if that didn’t happen it’d get done underwater. His music was great (technically the map theme) and I loved his creepy attack where he’d eat the players.

Lagiacrus (Tri debut; basically sent to the shadow realm after Generations)
Lagi was the flagship monster of Tri. The lance had a lot of advantages in the water with the shield, but it was different with Lagi since he had lightening attacks that shields couldn’t block? Or maybe I’m remembering wrong, it could be that he just shocks you from behind so the shield wasn’t effective at times. Another monster with a standout theme song.

Agnaktor (Tri debut; basically sent to the shadow realm after Generations)
This was one of the scarier monsters since he has this fire laser move that can one shot you. The tell is so iconic. He clacks his beak a few times before firing the beam. Later in the fight he would swing his head around while firing it. My sister played a bowgun and was absolutely no help as she’d stay at the edge of the map and leave as soon as she heard him clacking. 🥹

Jhen Mohran (Tri debut; has since been sent to the shadow realm)
I really had a lot of fun memories with Jhenny and his gimmick hunt. He’s a goliath sand-swimming monster you fight while on a ship. My favorite part was when he’d coming swimming at the ship from afar straight ahead and you’d have to basically time your harpooning of him or get wrecked.

Deviljho (Tri debut; basically in every game since?)
I think Deviljho is my favorite monster in the entire series. He was terrifying. Peak ridiculous monster design. When Jho loads into your map or POPPED UP OUT OF THE GROUND, the current boss music stops and then his excellent boss music would play. I love how they do his roar combined with the animation of him stretching to the sky. Whenever he shows up, HE’s the boss. Leaving poisoned meat on the ground and seeing him gobble it down was always hilarious. Jho is a hungry pickle.

Gigginox (Tri debut; has since been sent to the shadow realm)
Khezu’s cooler cousin (although Khezu’s boss music is better😌). Gigginox, or as me and my friend called her, Giggles, was a creepy one. She lives in caves, crawls on ceilings, and lays eggs. I think we’re due for a return in 2025… Please?

Monster Hunter 4 – 2013

After Tri, I got MH4 for the 3DS and surprisingly enough, the game is perfectly playable, just as hard, and fun on such a tiny screen. I mained the lance yet again. Too bad I can’t remember too much from it. What I do remember is how silly Congalala was… Some stand out monsters (not necessarily specific to 4) were Brachydios the boxer; Zamtrios the bloated shark; Gravios the chonker; Tetsucabra the boulder roller; Khezu, Gigginox’s wack cousin); and Teostra the detonating kitty.

Favorite monsters encountered in MH4

Rajang (Monster Hunter Freedom 2 debut)
Another monster that’s up there with Deviljho and Bazelgeuse in terms of menacing auras. He’s tiny but packs a punch. His boss music is also excellent and a standout. Being a lancer user was a benefit with him!

Zinogre (Monster Hunter Portable 3rd debut)
I love his design and the way he harnesses electricity but hate fighting him =( It’s his dog-like qualities… Same goes for Odogaron in World. Boss music’s amazing.

Tigrex (Monster Hunter Freedom Unite debut; first fought in MH4)
This lizard dino doesn’t know when to quit. I really love his animations and the theme music is another banger. Tigrex is yet another monster that wasn’t a problem with the lance.

Monster Hunter X (Generations?) – 2015

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the game. Around this time, let’s say I was busy with things going on in life… There were a lot of monsters in this title lol Because of the 3DS format, I kind of just considered it MH4 version 2.0. There’s only a couple new monster encounters I can remember, like Malfestio and Nargacuga, other than what I mentioned before. I played it exclusively multiplayer and quite mindlessly. =( Needless to say, I didn’t finish the game.

Monster Hunter World – 2018

I played this for about 70 hours when it first came out. Ended up happily double dipping and bought the game on Steam once it was available as I wanted to sell my PS4. I finished the base game and took a super long break despite having just bought Iceborne. It’s only been a couple months since picking the game back up. Playtime so far is 165-ish hours and there’s still more to do!

Started out with the lance as usual but then I switched to the hunting horn and got addicted to that. There’s really nothing else like MH because just by switching weapon types everything is brand new again! Right now I’m using the sword and shield though, and that’s also a lot of fun; looks can be deceiving.

Favorite World monsters

Bazelgeuse (World debut; has since been in Rise)
Bazelgeuse, AKA B-52 Bomber, AKA Bagel reminds me so much of Deviljho. He’s another big monster that shows up to the party uninvited to cause chaos. Bagel’s boss music and roars are also so unique.

Pukei Pukei (World debut; has since been in Rise)
Although he’s a punching bag, I just love everything about his design. Add me to the list of people disappointed that the little bird in the Wilds trailer wasn’t a baby Pukei Pukei. 😔

Monster Hunter Rise – 2021

Great game, I just hated what they did to the hunting horn. But thanks to that, I switched over to the gunlance halfway through for the first time. It’s similar to the lance but operates very differently in a few ways…

I finished this game and ended up selling my Switch (had enough with Nintendo for all sorts of reasons). This game did what it had to given the limitations. Still, I can’t help but compare it to World since that game is just sooo detailed in creature behavior and such. I also wasn’t a fan of everyone just Spidermanning around. It’s the Devil May Cry of Monster Hunter lol All of the monsters attack on sight. Actually, they didn’t even have to see you to come charging at you. And meal time was the most disappointing. Although it made me crave dangos, all the combinations just looked so lackluster. Can you tell that this isn’t my favorite installment? ><

And that’s it

Overall, I like all the monsters, except for Shrieking Legiana. May we never meet again lol

Super random, but part of me feels bad while playing MH sometimes because you’re just destroying these majestic beasts. Seeing them limp away or hearing them whimper is just…sad. I also dislike attacking monsters that don’t attack you first; it’s like Rom the spider from Bloodborne who was just minding her business. 😣 But it’s just a video game, it’s just a video game.

I also realize that I’m just not a fan of any kind of the flying dragons. I don’t know why, but I just don’t find dragon interesting and I can’t remember any of them having a super cool boss theme. I do enjoy fighting them, though!