A duology that remains a fascinating piece of history.
What They Say:
Raise, train, and battle just like in the original!
You can acquire, train, and battle with all kinds of monsters just like in the original “Monster Rancher” games.
On the Nintendo Switch™, you can train monsters anytime, anywhere, and also take advantage of the online features of the game.
Content:
The Monster Rancher series is one that I never played the games of, but certainly enjoyed the anime as a child. As a Pokemon and Digimon fan growing up, it interested me, of course, so the chance to play the first two games for the very first time was something that I could not pass up.
In the end, I discovered that Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX for Switch is a fascinating piece of history, if not one that is a bit odd to play in 2021. For those who are looking for some games that are overwhelmingly similar to Pokemon and even Digimon, you will be sorely disappointed as it has only surface-level similarities to those series.
Sure, the crux of Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is fairly familiar: you are a trainer who is there to raise various types of monsters, collect them, and then use them to win matches and earn money. From here, though, the similarities drop, though, as Monster Rancher focuses so heavily on certain aspects, like training and the strange way that you collect the monsters.
The original Monster Rancher games were known for their bizarre method of collecting monsters through physically inserting CDs into the console and then scanning it to generate a monster. It is a gimmick of a bygone era and one that certainly cannot work with a system like the Switch that couldn’t even boot up a CD even if you wanted to.
Instead, the solution is that there is a built-in music database with numerous artists, albums, and songs from real life that you are able to select and generate a monster with. You have to pick wisely, too, since you are limited to training one monster at a time when you start the game.
By far, the most fun that I had with Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX was the song generation part of it. I have unforgettable memories of sitting one night when booting up both games and hanging out with family members as I asked for requests for songs to choose to generate a monster.
To our surprise, we started out with 90s songs assuming that it would only include artists from that time period of when these games came out, but it actually includes newer songs to even down to some that released this year. I was quite amused by this, leading to us seeing what thank u, next from Ariana Grande would generate and so on.
At the same time, we would listen to the songs that we pulled up and had a fantastic time starting both games. That said, that was the bulk of the enjoyment that I got out of these games as the actual training and battling parts do leave something to be desired at this time.
Not having the nostalgia for these games like others might, I was immediately put off by the fact that you are limited to certain stores and places in the city using a menu-based system and then your ranch. Exploration is mostly a no-go in these games as you focus on training your monster in various stats, feeding it different types of food, and sending it out on jobs.
To its credit, the training and stats of Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX are pretty intense and you could definitely spend a lot of time analyzing what would work best for each of the decently designed and varied monsters. Once you have trained a monster enough, the ultimate goal, though, is to participate in the tournaments in the game.
The tournaments feature multiple battles that the monster will engage in and they are generally a bit challenging, especially if you have not grasped what stats work for each monster. I’m not a fan of the battle system, though, as it employs a more active-based system where you are able to keep fighting almost nonstop, instead of the traditional turn-based systems of other monster-collecting games.
The best example would be the gameplay system that Pokemon Go uses but a bit longer at times and not nearly as fun. Even though there is not a lot to explore in these games, there are a lot of monsters to collect and plenty of progression to dig into if you really enjoy the games unlike me. While I do not think it is for everyone, especially those who are newcomers like myself, I think the more clear and sharper graphics (minus the horrible cutscenes) can make it appealing to those who played the originals.
In Summary:
For the most part, Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is a bundle that is meant for veterans who fondly remember the originals and want to play them again. As a newcomer, there was not too much enjoyment that I got out of them other than the hilarious few hours that I spent looking up modern day songs and artists to see which bizarre but sometimes cute or ferocious beast would appear.
Outside of the novel and welcome monster-collecting method, the battles and exploration leave something to be desired. That said, if you can get into the rhythm of training your monsters, feeding them, sending them out on jobs, and the like, there is a lot of depth that you can discover that will keep you playing for a while.
Grade: C-
Developer: Koei Tecmo
Publisher: Koei Tecmo
Age Rating: 13+
Release Date: December 9, 2021
MSRP: $29.99 (Standalone)
Platform: Switch (reviewed), PC
This review was done with a review copy provided by the publisher. We are grateful for their continued support.
