Playing Monster Hunter Wilds on PC has been difficult for me lately as I’ve been strapped for time, but the Monster Hunter series has always been great as at least a hybrid (if not fully portable) title, and I say this having cut my teeth on Monster Hunter Tri, just like MOP’s Chris. But as many readers know, I’m also a general fan of portable monster games, like that Pokemon series that’s still around.
And the funny thing is, as often as Monster Hunter has had crossovers, it’s still somehow never done one with Pokemon, even though Smash Bros has at least allowed Pikachu to battle Rathalos. This will not stand! For today’s Massively on the Go, we’re going to talk about five reasons Monster Hunter should host a Pokemon crossover event.
Both involve battling monsters in almost humane ways
Some of you may be a bit angry or confused by that header, so give me a moment to explain. In the Monster Hunter series, you’re not just some big brute that’s supposed to kill everything in sight. I’d argue it was somewhat easier to see in older titles where slaying too many herbivores was super tedious and sometimes prevented a distraction for hungry monsters while draining stamina that was much harder to replenish and maintain (along with weapon sharpness, ammo, and other supplies), but at least the recent games’ stories better describe and show needing a balance between the world of humans and the world of monsters.
Pokemon is basically cute blood sport, but it pulls its punches too. Pokemon faint, they don’t die, and there’s a friendship meter in most games that give benefits like surviving a killing fainting-blow or shaking off a status effect so the trainer won’t worry. Interestingly enough, the MH series did go more Pokemon in Monster Hunter Stories 2, and while the results were mixed, it did show that the fanbase was willing to go with the Pokemon formula.
It goes both ways, though. Pokemon Legends: Arceus showed that Pokemon players are willing to stealthily hunt monsters for a research team a la Monster Hunter, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet added that, as well as in-game field multiplayer and using ‘mon parts to craft, though not (yet) anything like hats and swords. Ultimately, the two are inching closer anyway, so a crossover is far less Farfetch’d than it may have been 10 years ago. That being said, Monster Hunter has been in the 3-D multiplayer crossover-hosting space longer, so it naturally seems like the safer game to host a crossover.
Someone out there is probably also thinking that The Pokemon Company wouldn’t be OK with players skinning Pikachu to make hats, and we’ll address that later. But both series treat their monsters with some respect. They’re not robots or evil aliens to endlessly kill, even if functionally they’re still stormtroopers for us to mow down. In both series, capturing monsters is harder than defeating them.
Many MH monsters give more rewards when taken alive, though there are some rare ones you can get only from a kill. And Pokemon who faint can’t be captured at all, and they’re the prize you’re mostly after. So even though we’re battling these monsters, we’re always given some substance as to why, from paper-thin excuses like needing to cull dangerous monsters, self defense in tall grass, or things like massive potential environmental damage, sometimes on a global scale, for both series’ worlds.
Both use elemental weaknesses
I mean, it’s not uncommon to have Fire weak to Water in video games, but it does make some translations between games easier. Not so much Dragon elements with these games, as Pokemon Dragons are kind of resistance gods, but both games do make them weak to themselves and (often) Ice. That obviously would make it easier for, say, Haxorus to become a huntable MH monster.
There could be changes, though. Since Pokemon Electric types are weak only to Ground and there’s nothing like that typing in Monster Hunter, a battle against, say, Gigantamax Pikachu could involve tripping it, which is like Ground damage, and attacking legs to knock a monster down is pretty common in the MH series. And since monsters of a certain size, such as Zorah Magdaros, don’t get defeated, just repelled, it seems reasonable that using Dynamax or Gigantamax ‘mon combined with less lethal attacks or weapons (like Fairy Stuffed weapons to attack a Dragon-type) could help both series interact without stepping on too many toes.
Both have fashion reflecting in-game monsters
While Pokemon’s monster-themed fashion options are often just shirts with pokemon prints or phone cases reflecting a specific pokemon, Monster Hunter obviously is a little more on the nose, sometimes having tails, claws, or other bits standing out from the monster you’ve murdered to make your gear. Still, as I noted above, we wouldn’t necessarily have to kill pokemon make, say, a Pikachu coat. Maybe we just collect some fur that happens to fall off of it during the fight. That brings us to…
Both involve crafting from monster parts
Now obviously the method of collecting parts isn’t wholly the same between the games. Cutting off slowpoke tails (which grow back anyway!) makes you a bad guy, but cutting off a Barroth tail makes you a party hero. That said, in modern games, you can actually collect some parts just off the ground, though Monster Hunter monsters may need to be smacked a little to get their parts. Again, combined with non-lethal fighting methods or simply by making the pokemon huge, this wouldn’t be too much of a problem for a crossover. Even so, it’s not exactly unheard of for pokemon to actually do this thing themselves.
Pokemon already essentially play Monster Hunter
Never mind that canonically, Escavalier steals and wears Shelmet’s armor or that some “hats” or even “shells” are the ones in charge; Pikachu itself is clearly out there murking even legendary pokemon to make hats out of them and stealing back costumes other pokemon made of it in the name of marketing. Given the chance, Pikachu here would wear Rajang as a coat. That’s lore enough to put it into MH as a monster that needs to be stopped, but I also think we could get a Pikachu skin for our felyne that can at least wear a few hats of select Monsters.
Seriously, Capcom, reach out to The Pokemon Company. This crossover’s basically already started in terms of mechanics; we just need them onscreen someplace where we can actually hunt and battle!
Massively OP’s Andrew Ross is an admitted Pokemon geek and expert ARG-watcher. Nobody knows Niantic and Nintendo like he does! His Massively on the Go column covers Pokemon Go as well as other mobile MMOs and augmented reality titles!
