Monster Hunter (モンスターハンター, Monsutā Hantā) is a Japanese video game series that began with the first game, Monster Hunter, released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004. Players can enjoy the series on many devices, including personal computers, home consoles, portable consoles, and mobile phones. The games are created and published by Capcom.
The games are action role-playing games. Players take the role of a Hunter who fights or captures large monsters in different environments as part of quests given by local characters. Some quests require collecting specific items, which can lead to encounters with dangerous monsters. Players use items obtained from defeating monsters, gathering resources, and completing quests to create better weapons, armor, and tools. This helps them face stronger monsters. Most main series games allow up to four players to play together, but they can also be played alone.
Early Monster Hunter games were popular in Japan and other Asian countries, partly because of the ability to play with friends quickly on portable consoles. These games received good reviews in Western countries but sold fewer copies there, partly because they were challenging to learn. In 2018, Capcom released Monster Hunter: World to attract a global audience using advanced gaming technology. The game sold the most copies of any Monster Hunter title in three days and became Capcom’s best-selling game ever, with 21 million sales by July 5, 2022, more than 70% outside Japan. By May 2024, the series had sold over 100 million copies, with nearly half from Monster Hunter: World and Monster Hunter Rise and their expansions. In 2025, Monster Hunter Wilds became the fastest-selling Capcom game in three days, as it was released globally and on all platforms at the same time.
Monster Hunter games are usually divided into two groups: mainline games for consoles and portable versions for handheld devices. Other games with different styles have also been made for consoles, computers, and mobile devices. The franchise includes an anime based on the game Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village, an anime called Monster Hunter Stories: Ride On based on Monster Hunter Stories, a manga titled Monster Hunter Orage, and a book called Monster Hunter Episode. A movie directed by Paul W. S. Anderson was released on December 3, 2020. An animated film titled Legends of the Guild was released on Netflix on August 12, 2021.
Gameplay
The main Monster Hunter games are action games set in a fantasy world that exists thousands of years after an advanced civilization fell. Some areas of the world have thriving cities, but other regions are dangerous and unsettled because of monsters that make it hard for people to live there. Players take the role of a Hunter, who is sent by the Hunters' Guild to protect these remote areas by hunting monsters. Hunters often work with research teams that study the monsters to learn about their origins and behavior. Hunters use weapons, armor, and tools, as well as the environment, to fight monsters.
A key part of Monster Hunter is a cycle that keeps players interested. Unlike traditional role-playing games, the Hunter does not grow stronger or gain special abilities. Instead, the Hunter’s skills depend on the weapons and armor chosen. Players select gear that helps them complete missions. If successful, Hunters earn in-game money ("zenny") and items from the monsters they defeat. These items, along with resources gathered during missions, can be used to create or improve weapons and armor. Better gear allows Hunters to face tougher monsters and take on harder missions, continuing the cycle. Harder missions require a Hunter’s rank, which increases as the player completes specific tasks. Rewards from missions are often random, so players may need to defeat the same monster multiple times to get the right items. Weapons and armor have special effects that help or hurt against certain types of attacks, and they can also provide unique abilities that players can combine by mixing different pieces.
The games include many different weapon types, such as swords, hammers, and bows. Recent games have 14 weapon classes. Each class has its own fighting style, based on attack speed, power, range, and effects that help or harm monsters and allies. Combat uses "animation priority," meaning players must finish a move before they can do another. This can leave the Hunter vulnerable to attacks. Players must watch their Hunter’s health and stamina carefully. If the Hunter loses all health, they must retreat to a base camp. If they retreat three times, the mission fails. Using certain moves uses stamina, which slowly regenerates. When stamina runs out, the Hunter is vulnerable while resting. Monsters and environmental dangers can also cause effects that weaken the Hunter’s abilities. Combat focuses on watching for signs that a monster is about to attack, dodging or countering it, and finding opportunities to attack in quick sequences. Unlike most action games, Monster Hunter battles are often compared to boss fights.
Most Monster Hunter games have a single-player mode where the Hunter is often joined by a Felyne or Palico, a cat-like creature that helps in battle with limited attacks. Felynes also help the player cook food, care for gardens, and return them to camp if they are defeated. The sounds Felynes make are based on real cat noises recorded by the game’s developers. These sounds are sometimes used in creative ways, like mimicking situations a real cat could never experience, such as being attacked by a monster.
Many Monster Hunter games support four-player cooperative online play, allowing groups to hunt stronger monsters. This feature is no longer available in older games. The games usually have a main story called "Low Rank" or "Village Quests," which can take up to 50 hours to complete. After finishing this, players unlock "High Rank" or "Gathering Hall" quests with tougher monsters and new challenges. These quests provide better materials for stronger weapons and armor, offering hundreds of hours of gameplay. Most games also include a "G Rank" or "Master Rank" difficulty level, added later as downloadable content. These levels introduce new monsters, locations, weapons, and armor sets.
Development history
The first Monster Hunter game was one of three games Capcom created to use the power and online features of the PlayStation 2. Ryozo Tsujimoto, who has led the Monster Hunter series since Monster Hunter Freedom 2, said the PlayStation 2 had become similar to arcade games in power. The other two games were Auto Modellista and Resident Evil Outbreak. Tsujimoto believed Monster Hunter combined the best ideas from these other games once it was released. He also said the game was designed for teamwork so players of all skill levels could work together to defeat large creatures and feel proud of their achievements. Monster Hunter was a success, selling over 1 million copies, mainly in Japan. Later versions of the early games added harder monsters and new challenges, and were named with a "G" at the end, like Monster Hunter G. In Western regions, these games often had the word "Ultimate" added to their names. A second team worked on a Monster Hunter series for the PlayStation Portable. These games had a more fun tone and expanded the Palico system. In Japan, these games were called "Portable," while in the West, they were called "Freedom." Even after these names changed, the tradition of one team making home console games and another making portable games a few years later continued.
The series became very popular in Japan with Monster Hunter G and Monster Hunter Portable/Freedom on the PlayStation Portable. Its popularity grew even more after sequels like Monster Hunter Dos, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd/Freedom 2, and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G/Freedom Unite were released. These games allowed up to four players to team up. Handheld systems are more popular in Japan, and because Japan has a large population, it was easy to find people to play with, making Monster Hunter a big hit there. Ryozo Tsujimoto said that Freedom 2 was released when people in Japan rarely played games together at friends' houses. The networking features of the PlayStation Portable helped Freedom 2 succeed and increased sales of the series. James Miekle, who wrote for PC Gamer, worked for Q Entertainment and lived in Japan during the release of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, which was the best-selling PlayStation Portable game. He described how coworkers would often play Monster Hunter together during work, and there was a lot of Monster Hunter-themed products sold.
While Monster Hunter was successful in Japan, it was not as popular in Western markets like North America and Europe. Unlike Japan, Western markets preferred home consoles and computers in the mid-2000s. Because Western countries have fewer people living close together, most players used online games instead of playing with people nearby. The series also had a steep learning curve, which made it less appealing in Western markets. Because Monster Hunter was not popular outside Japan, developers focused on features for the Japanese market, such as releasing games first in Japan and holding in-game events for Japanese players. This made it seem like Monster Hunter was only for Japanese players, which made Western players feel left out.
Monster Hunter had little popularity in the West until Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate was released for the Nintendo 3DS, a console that became popular in Western markets. Even though Monster Hunter was still mostly liked by a small group of Western players, Capcom saw the chance to grow its audience and worked to make future games more appealing to a global audience. Starting with Monster Hunter 4, Capcom focused more on helping its localization teams improve the game’s interface, tutorials, and dialogue to suit a wider audience. Monster Hunter 4 was the first game in the series to sell over 1 million copies in Western markets. Capcom began to create games for a global audience, partly because of the success of Resident Evil 7. In an October 2016 interview, Capcom chairman Kenzo Tsujimoto said the company wanted to increase Monster Hunter’s popularity in Western markets, recognizing that consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are more popular in these regions than handhelds.
Monster Hunter: World, the first major game in the series aimed at home consoles and computers, was designed to attract Western players without making the game simpler. Japanese development teams worked closely with Capcom’s Western offices to improve the game. Changes were made to take advantage of new console technology. For example, earlier games split hunting areas into separate zones because of hardware limits, but World used seamless zones. Other small changes were added to meet expectations for action games, such as showing damage values after attacks, which helped new players understand the game better. World became the best-selling Monster Hunter game, selling over 21 million copies by 2022. It became Capcom’s best-selling series after Resident Evil.
After the success of World, Capcom continued making changes to the series. The next major titles were Monster Hunter Rise for the Nintendo Switch and Windows, and Monster Hunter Wilds for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Windows.
Games
The Monster Hunter main series includes several games. Each generation has games that are based on the original release. The first four main games had numbers, but later games, beginning with World, use a keyword instead of a number to show the main idea of each game. Although players often separate the numbered games from the portable versions, Capcom does not follow this division strictly. According to Tsujimoto, each game is created based on what the developers want players to experience, which hardware they will use, and how it will affect gameplay. The games are made in different ways depending on these factors.
Other media
A female Monster Hunter character became playable in the game Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite through downloadable content. The game also includes a stage named "Valkanda," which combines elements from Val Habar (a location in the fourth Monster Hunter game) and Wakanda (a place from the Marvel universe). Two major Monster Hunter monsters, Rathalos and Tigrex, appear in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker during hunting missions. Rathalos was a special event monster in Final Fantasy XIV as part of a cooperative promotion with Monster Hunter: World, while the Behemoth from Final Fantasy XIV appeared in Monster Hunter: World in return. Final Fantasy XIV later had another cooperative event with Monster Hunter Wilds, where Guardian Arkveld (a version of Wilds' main monster) appeared as a special event monster in Final Fantasy XIV, and Omega Planetes (a character inspired by a Final Fantasy XIV boss) appeared in Wilds. In 2018, Rathalos was a boss character and a summonable Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Later, in March 2021, Monster Hunter-themed Mii Fighter costumes were added to the game. In 2020, Rathalos briefly appeared in the mobile game Dragalia Lost during an event. In 2023, Rathalos was a limited-time boss in the mobile game Arknights as part of a Monster Hunter crossover event called A Flurry to the Flame.
The Monster Hunter games have included cooperative events with other Capcom and third-party games, allowing players to earn armor and weapons inspired by those games. For example, Monster Hunter World had events featuring Resident Evil, Mega Man, Assassin's Creed, and The Witcher series.
An anime series titled MonHun Nikki Girigiri Airū-mura Airū Kiki Ippatsu began airing on August 10, 2010. A sequel, MonHun Nikki Girigiri Airū-mura G, was later produced. An anime series based on the Monster Hunter franchise premiered on October 2, 2016.
A manga titled Monster Hunter Orage was published in April 2008 by Kodansha and Capcom. The author is Hiro Mashima. The manga has four volumes, with the last released on May 4, 2009. An English version was released on June 28, 2011. A second manga, Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter, began publication in May 2011. It was written by Keiichi Hikami and illustrated by Shin Yamamoto. The series had 10 volumes, with the final one released on May 20, 2015. The English version was first published on April 12, 2016. Elements from Monster Hunter later appeared in the Worlds Unite comic crossover from Archie Comics, which included characters from other Capcom and Sega franchises in existing comic series like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man.
A trading card game called Monster Hunter Hunting Card was released in October 2008 with planned updates.
In 2013, Monster Hunter 4 figures, including ones based on Felynes, were given as prizes in Japan. In 2014, a Mega Man crossover toy, Felyne-themed 3DS XL accessories, and a 24-karat gold Felyne statue (priced near $30,000) were released to celebrate the series’ 10th anniversary. In 2017, a detailed Felyne doll was released by Capcom for 162,000 yen. Other unusual products include Felyne-themed toilet paper holders. A Felyne-themed car was used to promote the series at the Odaiba Motor Festival. In 2022, Monster Hunter merchandise was used in a public safety campaign as part of a partnership between Capcom and local Japanese police.
Plans for a Monster Hunter film began in 2012 with director Paul W. S. Anderson. The film was officially announced by Capcom in October 2018, with production starting that month by Impact Pictures and Constantin Film. It was released in the United Kingdom and China on December 4, 2020. The film follows a United Nations task force that enters an alternate dimension where Hunters battle monsters, and the group joins the Hunters to stop monsters from returning to Earth. The film stars Milla Jovovich, Ron Perlman, T.I. Harris, Diego Boneta, and Tony Jaa.
In 2018, Capcom and Pure Imagination Studios announced a 3D animated film titled Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild. The film was written by Joshua Fine and features a young hunter defeating an Elder Dragon. Originally planned for a 2019 release, it was released on August 12, 2021, on Netflix.
On May 21, 2023, Capcom released the first digital collectible NFTs of Monster Hunter characters on the Veve platform.
Reception
The Monster Hunter series sold more than 100 million copies by May 2024. Nearly half of these sales came from the games World, Rise, and their expansions. This makes Monster Hunter Capcom's second most popular game series, after Resident Evil. Monster Hunter: World is Capcom's best-selling individual game. By March 31, 2025, Capcom reported 12 years of continuous profit growth. The company says the success of Monster Hunter games starting with World helped this growth.
The game Monster Hunter Wilds sold over 8 million copies in the first three days after its release. This makes it the fastest-selling game in Capcom's history.
Capcom's mobile game Monster Hunter Now, which uses augmented reality, has more than 15 million players.
Total worldwide sales of Monster Hunter games passed 1 million units by December 2025.
Many experts say the Felynes, also called Palicoes, are an important part of the Monster Hunter series. In Monster Hunter: World, the Palicoes' sounds caused real cats owned by players to react, which received a lot of attention on social media.