Nintendo Direct often brings with it a small treasure trove of surprises or shock reveals. This year was no different – yesterday Nintendo unveiled the Japanese release date on a shiny new installment to one of their most popular and iconic series, Monster Hunter X (Cross) alongside a dazzling reveal trailer.
The series seems to be attempting to bring a gameplay flair that has become characteristic of the Monster Hunter MMORPG ‘Monster Hunter Frontier’. Cross heavily features and emphasizes a sparkly new array of attacks for each weapon, seen in the above video.
Though the gameplay seems to have been given something of an overhaul with some ostentatious and awe-inspiring attacks, Nintendo still made sure give some love to the thing that makes Monster Hunter what it is for so many of it’s millions-strong fan-base – the Monsters. Showing off the four beasts that would act as the game’s flagship creatures and spearhead the charge against unwitting Hunters still playing around with their flashy new weapons.
A crystalline looking Wyvern, a giant Mammoth, an oversized aquatic themed reptile, and a T-Rex-looking brute that would make any respectable Deviljho turn tail and run. These were the main players of the trailer that also featured a few new, unseen enemies no current details are known about as well as a slew of returning names such as Rathalos, Rathian, Agnaktor, Tigrex, and -much to the behest of many- the Fourth Generation original Najarala.
Don’t throw away your copy of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate just yet, though. Cross isn’t scheduled to be out until the cold months of Winter – and that’s just in Japan, who knows when and if localization will occur and the West will get their opportunity to venture to the game’s setting, Ariou village, as well as the plethora of other villages from past games Nintendo promised would be featured.
Regardless of could-be, would-be or should-be theories that Western fans of the increasingly popular franchise cook up about its overseas release date, one things for sure – the Cross trailer has lit a spark under many Hunters and prompted them to grab their whetstone, sharpen their greatsword and prepare themselves by bashing in a few monster skulls.
