Monster Hunting on the Wii

Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 22, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.

According to developer duo Kaname Fujioka and Ryozo Tsujimoto, Monster Hunter Tri is the title that makes the best use of the console’s graphics performance – the console itself was not modified. The Wii version of the series also features animals with revised facial expressions and movement, as well as new game levels to discover, such as an underwater world containing gigantic sea monsters.

Almost “Real” Monsters

In role-playing mode, the player completes tasks as a hunter that are embedded in a larger narrative: the player must discover what is causing the earthquakes threatening the hunter’s village. A touch of “Settlers” atmosphere surrounds the fighter when the meat from slain monsters is converted into various raw materials that can in turn be traded.

However, the game does not encourage hunting at any price: monsters and hunters are components of a functioning ecosystem. The game developers transferred the behaviour of real animals to the monsters. Every creature in the game therefore acts completely individually and according to its species. Smaller animals, for example, run away to protect their nest. They display territorial behaviour and attack a larger monster that comes too close to their nest. The monsters are then occupied with one another before turning their attention back to a hunter.

Hunting Without an Energy Bar

When monsters are weakened, they try to get away. By consuming calories in the form of smaller monsters, they return strengthened to battle with the character. “Real living creatures do not have a life-energy bar either,” explains Silja Gülicher, head of the press office at Nintendo Germany. “That makes the game more exciting, because instead of watching a display, you have to watch the monster to determine the creature’s condition. The monsters all behave differently, and you first have to learn that in order to hunt successfully.” Players must also consider when they want to take the risk of hunting at all, because sometimes it is smarter simply to let monsters be monsters.

European Design Competition

Nintendo launched a competition in Europe that gave players the opportunity to design new weapons for the game. The background is that the Monster Hunter community is enormous in Japan. Two days after its 2009 launch, half a million Wii players there were already hunting monsters. In Germany, by contrast, the community was still in its infancy, according to Silja Gülicher. A competition proved to be a good way to make the game better known and create or strengthen a community. Who would not like to say, “I designed this weapon?”

The European game version therefore also contains more weapons than the Japanese version. Another difference: control through the Wii Speak microphone is also possible in European living rooms and makes online communication during hunts easier through voice commands.

The Wii offers varied gameplay options, so many gamers will get their money’s worth. Monster Hunter Tri can be played online in multiplayer mode, by two players in arena battles, or in single-player mode. In the latter, however, the player is not completely alone. The companion character Cha-Cha provides helpful support to the single player.

Capcom and Nintendo have also installed a server network for Monster Hunter Tri’s online features that operates exclusively for monster hunters in Europe.