Capcom To Release A Ton Of News Related To The ‘Monster Hunter’ Franchise At 2016 Tokyo Game Show

The 2016 Tokyo Game Show is less than a week away and many gaming fans who love their Japanese titles are looking forward to it. This is especially true for fans of Capcom’s popular Monster Hunter franchise. At the event, there will not be one, but three new Monster Hunter games showcased.

According to a written report by Gematsu last month, Capcom would be featuring numerous games and panels at the upcoming 2016 Tokyo Game Show this coming weekend. The list of games and panels are as follows.

• Monster Hunter Spirits for the Arcade
• Monster Hunter Stories for the Nintendo 3DS
• Monster Hunter Explore
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
• Toraware no Palm
• Street Fighter V
• Megami Meguri
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 15th Anniversary Talk
• Sengoku Basara
• Dragon’s Dogma Online

Though not on the list, it is also believed that Capcom will announce the highly rumored Devil May Cry 5, or whatever installment in the Devil May Cry series the developer/publisher has in store. It is also believed the upcoming Devil May Cry game might be a reboot (or possible sequel) to DmC: Devil May Cry and that Capcom will take back the reigns from Ninja Theory and fix all the mistakes they made with the reboot in the first place.

Besides all of that, the one detail that will get a lot of attention is the fact that there are three Monster Hunter games being featured at the 2016 Tokyo Game Show. They are Monster Hunter Spirits, Monster Hunter Stories, and Monster Hunter Explore. Also from what we know about the three games, they may take on a different direction from the core Monster Hunter games, kind of like Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village for the Sony PlayStation Portable.

Starting with Monster Hunter Spirits, it is an arcade game that is a lot like playing “Simon Says.” According to Destructoid, the game can only be played in arcades (for the time being) because the cabinet for it consists of locket-like accessories which can be plugged at the right. The head-up display (HUD) features four circular screens with rotating symbols. All of it is used in quick time event (QTE) presses. The plunger in the middle of the arcade cabinet is used to highlight one of the four circles while the single button on the right is used to select a highlighted circle. The game does get faster as a means of increasing difficulty.

Despite the fact that Monster Hunter Spirits is an arcade game, at its heart, it is like a traditional Monster Hunter franchise title. Monster Hunter Stories on the other hand goes a different direction by turning the real-time action JRPG into a turn-based story JRPG. According to a written article by IGN, Monster Hunter Stories is a character-driven video game in which players take on a protagonist who explores the world to become a Monster Hunter master per se. Sounds a lot like the Pokémon series but with Monster Hunter. As shown from the trailer and screens, the game is set to be a fantastic story worth playing.

As for Monster Hunter Explore, the Monster Hunter game for smartphones is technically already out in Japan since last year, so it must be an update they are reporting on. Because the title was already released and Capcom has shuttered any chance of it being released outside of Japan, as reported by Touch Arcade, there is little to no news on it.

The Tokyo Game Show 2016 is happening right now (since it is technically Saturday in Japan at this moment). Though Capcom is one of the biggest third-party publishers to appear there, for the second year in a row, Sony is dominating especially with all the VR stuff they are showcasing.

[Featured Image by Capcom]