Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is a remaster of two classic games that I am very glad to see in 2021, it just kills me that Koei Tecmo waited so long to bring this series to international audiences. The UI needs some work, but the games play really well on PC. In terms of remaster quality, these remastered games check all the right boxes for adding game mechanics that we take for granted in present-day games in older games that weren't so lucky to have these features. While Monster Rancher 1 deserved additional graphical and audio updates, playing the remastered Monster Rancher 2 is nothing short of fun. The new music-lookup monster creation system is a much needed modernization for the series, the FF Mode is a great way to quickly grind out your monster's stats, but I fear that multiplayer may be a letdown. I sincerely hope that these remasters pave the way for a modern Monster Rancher installment, because if these remasters are any indication, Koei Tecmo are on the right track.
Picture this: It’s the early 2000s, you’re in middle school, and you’re bored with Pokemon. You got your hands on this new game for the Game Boy Advance that your friends are obsessed with. It’s like Pokemon, but you create monsters by typing in words and you actually raise them and *control* them in battles. Yep. That was my middle school experience: Investing almost 200 hours into Monster Rancher Advance 2.
The Monster Rancher series is criminally underrated, at least here in the United States. While much of this country (and the world, really) has gone gaga for Greninja and Pikachu, the Monster Rancher series developed a cult following in the US partially because of how little we were given access to the series compared to Japanese audiences. Monster Rancher‘s initial appeal existed in the form of you using your CD collection (if you played on the PlayStation) or knowledge of words (if you played on the GBA) to create monsters and raise them as you saw fit. Your job was to literally raise monsters rather than collect them. As I grew older, I saw less and less of Monster Rancher, as newer additions to the series became exclusive to Japan. That is, until Koei Tecmo announced that for Monster Rancher‘s 25th anniversary, they would be remastering Monster Rancher 1 & 2 for the PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. Finally, Monster Rancher returns to the modern day in the form of Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX.
Let’s get this out of the way now: These games are old, and their graphical age is so evident no amount of graphical botox (barring a graphical overhaul) would help. This especially true for Monster Rancher 1, which I reviewed first. Starting up MR1 and seeing blockiness, undefined environments, and generic monsters reminded me of a simpler time of gaming (for a game that released when I was elementary school, no less). This isn’t to say that you will be bored with Monster Rancher 1, but going from MR1 to MR2 is a massive leap in gaming and graphical quality. MR1 seems much more empty and lifeless compared to MR2.
Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX also has an incredibly weird user interface. The best way to describe the interface is to think of playing an Android/iOS game on your PC, with digital buttons on the borders of the screen that are always present, while also being able to control the game with a mouse and keyboard. The default keyboard controls for MR1 were so foreign and unintuitive that I broke out my Steam controller to play. Luckily, the launcher lets you change the default controls before starting the game, but do be warned that you’ll most definitely need to adjust the controls to your liking before jumping in. Beyond the wonky controls, the touch-interface is a smart decision (even on PC), as monster raising can be tedious, so having those gigantic buttons that are clearly designed for fingers is a blessing to get through the tedium.
The first upgrade to Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is its monster generation. The original games, which were PS1 games, required you to insert CDs that you owned into the console to generate monsters. Now, monster generation involves you going to the Shrine and using a music search engine to search for artists or tracks. Like a good queen, I first typed in Lady Gaga…which brought up nothing. Then, I typed in…Beyonce. Also nothing. For a game that claims to have “all” the popular music assigned to a monster, I’m very confused as to why these two artists in particular were missing. I tried another artist: RuPaul. I was then presented with a list of RuPaul’s songs. I chose one…and I created a raptor with a floral print skin (which, I have to say, is ironic). This I’m 100% unsure if some of these songs and artists were intentionally assigned to specific monsters, but I’m excited to see what the community finds.
Monster Rancher 2 lets you generate monsters from searching music AND a “Slate” function, which essentially copies a monster you saved (via freezing) from MR1 to MR2. Searching for Artists/Tracks seems to differ between MR1 and MR2. While reviewing Monster Rancher 2, I obtained a Galaxy Monol (which was initially only available by inserting the Star Wars: Episode 1 soundtrack; consider searching for a cartoon band’s first album…) using the same music search I used in MR1 to get a…festive…Hare. There are your two spoiler-free suggestions for the Shrine. Go summon some Monsters!!
I mentioned prior that Monster Rancher 2 is miles ahead of MR1: it very much is. Koei Tecmo claims to have made graphical improvements to add life to monsters on your ranch, and I would like to say that I do feel like monster in MR2 feel more alive than I remember them to be. If this means that there is a future for Monster Rancher, and they’re testing out slight model variations, then I’m all for it. MR2 also features an entirely remastered soundtrack, which I think is great. The new tracks really do sound pleasant, and I wish that the same level of audio improvement was added to MR1.
In the Monster Rancher series, it can be really fun to spend time using the Shrine to create unique monsters (sometimes with really good stats and abilities from the start), freezing these monsters, and then combining them with others to see what happens. Koei Tecmo is saying that monsters that were initially exclusive to Japan and unobtainable are now able to be found in MR2. I don’t think I’ve found any yet, but I do intend on keeping track of the community to see what we find.
The second upgrade to the remastered Monster Rancher games is the addition of FF Mode, which drastically reduces the tedium of raising monsters. Enabling FF Mode is something I honestly wish existed in the original games, and makes the grind a lot less evident. While I wrote this review, FF Mode sped through multiple training sessions and battles, both of which have long animation sequences. I highly recommend that you enable this option before you start playing, as you won’t miss too much (other than some animations that don’t really add that much to begin with). Autosave was added, too, and I’m very thankful for this addition, as I lost many hours when I was younger because I would forget to save.
Enabling the FF Mode makes grinding manageable, which is a massive benefit for a game that simulates the raising of monsters, which can be just as tedious as training Pokemon. For example, in Monster Rancher 1, I was able to get a monster from level E to level D in under an hour because of how much fluff I skipped over. This could also be because of the balance changes that Koei Tecmo made to the game, but I honestly cannot tell you what changes were made to make monsters strong/weaker/balanced in these remakes. I’d like to take Koei Tecmo on their word here, but I will reserve my judgement until I see a full changelog. I will say that the early game (first six months of owning a new monster) is much less punishing at lower loyalty levels, and stat gain seems to be better for Dinos, Hares, Monols, and Jells. I have yet to unlock any of the item-based monsters yet (but I’ve found lots of ??? monsters!), but I can’t wait to see if they’re still overpowered as they were in the original games.
Although this game can be considered emulation in that you’re playing what feels like a mobile port on PC, the game is incredibly smooth without a loading screen to be found. That is, unless you go into the multiplayer from the main screen. When I tried out Vs. mode, it took quite a long time for my frozen monsters to be uploaded to their servers.
Indeed, a new addition to Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is the Vs. Mode, which is advertised as a mode that allows you to upload your monster to the cloud and battle other monsters and compete in tournaments. In theory, this is an interesting concept, but it functions similarly to Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection and Mortal Kombat 11, in that you upload your character to the cloud and have it fight for you against AIs of other monsters. That said, you can control your monster in these battles, but this multiplayer-lite is more of a simulation experience rather than playing against other monsters in real time. I understand that it’s logistically easier to play against AI of other players’ monsters, but having the option to battle other players in real time on the PC would be fun. During the review period, there weren’t that many monsters to fight (as the game was technically unreleased while I was playing), but I would imagine that the multiplayer will load faster upon release. I have high hopes that the tournaments will be a fun addition, and I’m excited to see what Koei Tecmo do with cultivating an international multiplayer experience. Hopefully, this means more Monster Rancher in the future.
Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is a remaster of two classic games that I am very glad to see in 2021, it just kills me that Koei Tecmo waited so long to bring this series to international audiences. The UI needs some work, but the games play really well on PC. In terms of remaster quality, these remastered games check all the right boxes for adding game mechanics that we take for granted in present-day games in older games that weren’t so lucky to have these features. While Monster Rancher 1 deserved additional graphical and audio updates, playing the remastered Monster Rancher 2 is nothing short of fun. The new music-lookup monster creation system is a much needed modernization for the series, the FF Mode is a great way to quickly grind out your monster’s stats, but I fear that multiplayer may be a letdown. I sincerely hope that these remasters pave the way for a modern Monster Rancher installment, because if these remasters are any indication, Koei Tecmo are on the right track.
