For the past couple of years, Monster Hunter Rise has been supplying the MH fan base with all of their titan-hunting needs. First released in March 2021 for Nintendo Switch, the game served as an experimental counterpart to the more grounded Monster Hunter World. The franchise’s low fantasy setting was bolstered by a colorful oriental aesthetic, and major new mechanics like monster riding were introduced. Thanks to fan demand and the success of Monster Hunter World's PC port, Monster Hunter Rise migrated to computers in January 2022, with the Sunbreak expansion releasing in June 2022 for both platforms.

While not reaching Monster Hunter World numbers, Monster Hunter Rise has led a fairly successful era for the franchise. There were some issues with the game lacking a proper ending or endgame at launch, but both have since been addressed. With Sunbreak and the title updates rolling out on both platforms, the future looks bright for Monster Hunter Rise players. Those unable to try it are about to get another chance, as Capcom just announced that the game is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in January 2023. Not only is this good news for players, but it also marks a surprising first for the Monster Hunter franchise.

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Monster Hunter Games Are Often Trapped In One Place

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From its inception, Capcom seemed committed to releasing at least one Monster Hunter title on every popular game system, and often played favorites. This trend started with the first Monster Hunter, which was initially released for the PS2 in 2004. It was re-released as Monster Hunter G the following year, and that version was upgraded further into the PSP title Monster Hunter Freedom. Finally, Japan got a Wii port of Monster Hunter G in early 2009, which was packaged with a demo for the upcoming Monster Hunter Tri. This is a microcosm of how Monster Hunter behaved until World arrived in 2018, and certainly didn’t make it any easier to jump into the series.

PC and Xbox got their time to shine with the launch of the MMORPG Monster Hunter Frontier Online. This eroded as expansions came out, eventually spreading Monster Hunter Frontier to the PS3, PS Vita and Wii U. Tragically, even though this level of availability was a major first for the Monster Hunter series, Frontier was only available in Japan and ended service in December 2019. Similarly, many older Monster Hunter titles that used online services have had their plugs pulled, though dedicated fans have resurrected popular entries such as Tri and Freedom Unite.

Monster Hunter Rise Is The Most Accessible Monster Hunter Yet

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One side of Monster Hunter continued on PlayStation systems, Frontier ran in the background on everything, and the mainline games jumped to Nintendo devices for several years. The 3DS was where the biggest games in the franchise would release for quite some time, causing the E3 2017 announcement of Monster Hunter World for PS4 and Xbox One to come as a surprise. Even more shocking for North American fans was its PC release a few months after its initial launch. Monster Hunter Rise returned to Nintendo handhelds via the Switch a few years later, but the swift announcement of its own PC port indicated something was different.

Rise has now followed Monster Hunter Frontier in becoming available on every platform, making it the first Monster Hunter to reach worldwide audiences on all major concurrent game systems. The lack of Rise's cross-play and cross-progression is sorely felt, but at least these new versions take advantage of their powerful hardware. This could mark the beginning of a new era for Monster Hunter, with the next main title potentially launching on every available platform. If it can accompany that first with the addition of cross-play, then Monster Hunter will have truly entered an era of universal availability.

Monster Hunter Rise is available now for PC and Nintendo Switch with PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X versions launching January 20, 2023.

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