Capcom Announces New ‘Monster Hunter’ Spin-Off For 3DS ‘Monster Hunter Stories’

Yoshinori Ono of Capcom speaks during the PlayStation 4 launch event in New York, February 20, 2013. Reuters/Brendan McDermid

The “Monster Hunter” series is about to get expanded. After numerous sequels to the game for various platforms, game publisher Capcom has announced the first “Monter Hunter” spin-off in “Monster Hunter Stories” for the Nintendo 3DS. The 3DS was previously home to “Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate,” which also came out for the Nintendo Wii U earlier this year to critical acclaim.

Unlike previous games in the series, “Monster Hunter Stories” will be heavily anime influenced, with the visuals matching the tone of the story. Another noticeable difference pointed out by the trailer below is that the game will focus on Monster Riders instead of actual Monster Hunters, though why the game wasn’t simply called Monster Riders instead wasn’t revealed.

“After having passed the 10th anniversary last year, this is a new challenge for the Monster Hunter series, that we’ve began designing since about five years ago,” said Tsujimoto to Siliconera.

Another aspect of the game that will differentiate itself from the other “Monster Hunter” titles is that it will follow a storyline between the riders in the game and the monsters they will tame. Also, while the other games were more focused on the hunting and crafting aspects of the game, “Monster Hunter Stories” will be more along the lines of a traditional RPG.

Given that the “Monster Hunter” series has been a huge financial success for Capcom, it was only a matter of time before a spin-off title would be announced. The focus on it being a 3DS title isn’t also much of a surprise since the “Monster Hunter” series has always been popular in handheld platforms like the PlayStation Portable versions and the previously mentioned “Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate” for the 3DS.

“Monster Hunter Stories” is slated for a 2016 release sometime in Japan, though it’s currently unknown if the title will come to Western shores. That being said, Forbes notes that “Monster Hunter 4” was a big hit in the US so it could simply be a matter of time before this new “Monster Hunter” spin-off comes to the west and becomes another big hit for the popular game company.

Contact Writer at: n.parungo@ibtimes.com.au