Koei Tecmo announced that the classic monster collecting game franchise Monster Rancher is set to return as a retro collection set to release later this year on December 9th. The collection brings Monster Rancher and Monster Rancher 2, two games that were originally released on the original PlayStation in 1997 and 1999 respectively, to the Nintendo Switch as well as PC.
In the announcement video, executive producer Kazumi Fujita stated that the franchise would also be returning for its 25th anniversary. Both of the games in this collection will feature multiplayer support and rebalancing for the monsters.
For players unfamiliar with Monster Rancher, a major element to the game was collecting monsters to battle with in-game. The player accomplished this with a cooler gimmick than that of Psycho Mantis telling you to remove your controller. On the PlayStation players needed to remove the Monster Rancher Disk during the game and insert other game disks, with each turning into a creature in the game. Other Koei Tecmo games often offered extremely powerful creatures.
This feature will be making a return, albeit in a more streamlined way for a new generation. in a press release Koei Tecmo stated:
This feature has been re-worked in Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX, allowing players to search a database to find their desired CD and generate a monster from its data. Enjoy searching a vast database of songs from around the world and generating monsters based on some of your favorite music!
Both games contain over 100 monsters. Search around for the one you want (which will always be Mocchi) you can train them, nurture them, send them on missions, or just battle against your friends. Koei Tecmo will also be including several quality-of-life features, these include additional save slots, freeze slots, as well as a monster hall of fame slots.
Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX launches on December 9, 2021, for the Nintendo Switch and PC.
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