Capcom, Bring Back These 10 Monsters to Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, Please!
We’re still a few months away from the Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak expansion, but the Monster Hunter bug has bit me again to kick off 2022. I’ve played through all of Monster Hunter Rise again with its PC release, and I couldn’t stop itching to hunt more monsters, so I did the next best thing.
I went back and replayed Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate.
Yes, it’s a Monster Hunter game before World and it is “old Monster Hunter” - and I fell in love with it once more. I had a blast revisiting a ton of the series’ veteran monsters, and there were quite a few I’d love to see back in Sunbreak. I’ll deliberately be avoiding the Variant and Deviant versions of existing monsters to keep this list fresh and varied. If you’ve never seen some of the older monsters in the series, you’re in for a treat.
10) Najarala
Starting off this list is the delightful gigantic snake always trying to encircle you before a big chomp. The Najarala is one of those monsters that looks way more terrifying than it actually is in combat. It loves to burrow underground to sneak up on you too. What I love about the Najarala is the way it slithers about the battlefield; there’s something satisfying about how smooth its animations are, and it makes me wonder what a modern rendition of it would look like. There’s also something to be said about how eerie the sound design can be throughout its fight with all the constant hissing.
9) Seregios
If a pinecone could become a dragon, then it’d be Seregios. This monster is a fairly straightforward fight, aside from its ability to shoot out scales from a distance. If you get hit by it enough, it can inflict the bleed status ailment as well. The coolest thing about this monster, to me, is the way its neck scales frequently open up throughout the fight, which really does add to its pinecone aesthetic. Seregios is also referred to as “Steve” among the Monster Hunter community because before when its design was initially revealed, the Capcom representative was not allowed to share its name, thus referring to it as Steve in the meantime.
8) Seltas Queen + Seltas
This one is a bit of a cheat entry, but there’s no way to fight the Seltas Queen without a Seltas. You can fight the Seltas alone at lower ranks, though. Fighting these two is tricky if you’ve never seen them before. The Seltas is a freaky giant mosquito, while the Queen is more of a beetle. Thankfully only the Queen has to be taken down to finish the hunt. The Seltas won’t make that easy unfortunately, as it’s free to annoy and irritate you throughout the entire fight. Even if you slay the Seltas first, the Queen will just call over another one to hop in.
Their strength individually isn’t too threatening; together, they pack a punch. Normally, the Queen has low mobility on her own but the Seltas can dock onto the Queen’s head to form a deadly duo. During these phases of the fight, the Seltas accelerates the Queen’s charge attacks and can even lift her around the battlefield - even going so far as chucking her at hunters. It’s one of the more uniquely designed fights in the Monster Hunter series and one I’m curious to see how it would manifest in a modern Monster Hunter title.
7) Gammoth
Next up on the list is a member of The Fated Four. Gammoth is one of the largest, thickest monsters in the entire series. Although Gammoth’s size limits its mobility, it has a few nasty tricks up its sleeve. From large tremors caused by its frontal stomps and the ability to severely slow down hunters with a fun-looking snowman debuff, the Gammoth has several ways to hamper hunters to hit them hard when it counts. My favorite Gammoth animation is when it lifts its front legs and somehow nearly turns 180 degrees on its hind legs alone just to hit unsuspecting players thinking they’re in a safe spot. It can also chuck stupidly big snowballs at you too, because why not. Imagine riding this titan in Rise.
6) Nibelsnarf
The Nibelsnarf’s design often makes me laugh. I’m not even sure how to even describe it. This creature loves to swim underground constantly. It only usually pops out to try and grab a bite of its prey. Hunters will often be exposed to the innards of its mouth, either from the creature’s exhaustion or aggression. Nibelsnarf’s aggressive behavior can work against it if the thing it snags up happens to be a large barrel bomb though. Good old Nibelsnarf only likes to fire out sand blasts too if hunters try to keep their distance. The fight itself can feel like a slog without the proper tools to deal with it. Instead of chasing it around, treat the Nibelsnarf hunt as a fishing trip with your lure being barrel bombs and the bait being well… you.
5) Tetsucabra
Moving on up, the Tetsucabra is one of the all-time greats for me in Monster Hunter. It’s visually distinct. The comically large tusks relative to the rest of its body really make the whole thing for me, especially when the Tetsucabra extremely extends its jaw to hold onto an entire boulder with its mouth. The Tetsucabra itself is a nice, compact monster that loves to jump around and make life miserable for hunters. Sometimes it’ll place a boulder on the ground and jump to the other side of it as a shield. If it makes a comeback in Sunbreak, I hope to see some new rock attack patterns. It’s almost guaranteed to be a hellish fight
4) Brachydios
Very few color schemes in the Monster Hunter franchise can match, let alone exceed, the Brachydios’s dark royal blue and neon green palette. Of course this means the armor and weapons you make from it tend to look great, but the fight itself is brutal if you aren’t accustomed to it. Brachydios’s fists and horn ooze with this neon green slime substance that can get on hunters hit by them; if left unattended, they’ll explode and do a lot of damage. It can also leave slime puddles on the ground that explode after a set amount of time. On top of all that, Brachydios just generally loves to move a lot making it tricky to find windows to push damage. The hipchecks on this monster can come out pretty fast with little-to-no tells either, so hunters will really have to earn its set if they want it. Since monsters have generally become more aggressive since World, I can’t imagine what the Brachydios would be like if it made a return.
3) Gore Magala
Gore Magala is one of the most infamous monsters to grace Monster Hunter. It is one of the very few monsters to bring a unique mechanic into play - the Frenzy Virus. Throughout the fight with this terrifying creature, it will naturally start “evolving” as the virus within it gets accustomed to its environment. What seems like a mundane fight at first soon turns into a race to the finish as Gore Magala transforms into a sort-of awakened state. It becomes much faster and its attacks are much deadlier.
On top of all this, the Frenzy Virus can infect hunters too. There’s an incubation period that can’t be gotten rid of, unless they travel back all the way to camp and sleep on the bed there. Nulberries can prolong the incubation period though once it manifests, a player’s natural healing abilities will be disabled temporarily and has to rely solely on items to heal. Plus, they’ll also take more damage from frenzied monsters, so if Gore Magala is in that awakened state while a hunter has the virus, they better pray an attack doesn’t hit them.
While this sounds scary, the incubation period for the Frenzy Virus could be utilized as a boon for hunters too. If a hunter deals enough damage before it comes to fruition, they’ll not only be disinfected, but also get an affinity bonus to further boost their damage for a set period of time. What I’m saying is that Gore Magala could really shake up things in a cool direction if it somehow makes it into Sunbreak, because that Frenzy Virus mechanic doesn’t just stop at it and the players.
If you happen to love dark, edgy weapons and armor sets, Gore Magala is the one you’re crossing your fingers for.
2) Malfestio
Who doesn’t love a gigantic aesthetically-pleasing owl? Malfestio is fairly simplistic, aside from a single unique mechanic that will either make or break you as a person. It possesses a handful of attacks that can place a hunter in a confused state and in Monster Hunter that means… it reverses all your movement; up is down and right is left for a limited amount of time. Malfestio can also put hunters to sleep but other than that, I just absolutely love its design and the fight is entertaining when you see other hunters struggle with reversed controls. Since Sunbreak is guaranteed to have quite a healthy population for months, I think random matchmaking into Malfestio hunts would be a treat. The greater movement options that the Wirebug provides will be a clear indicator in seeing who is really missing the mark with reversed controls.
1) Zamtrios
Zamtrios is easily the #1 monster I hope makes a return in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, and I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request. I was surprised to see Zamites (the small shark monsters at Frost Islands) in Rise, but no Zamtrios so I think it’s only a matter of time.
Anyway, what isn’t cool about Zamtrios? It is a huge shark that can go on land and shoot water gun blasts from afar. Like Nibelsnarf earlier, it’ll often go into the ice and jump out for a bite - you know, classic shark stuff. The coolest thing about Zamtrios is that it cycles through multiple forms throughout the battle. It can secrete a fluid to harden its skin, like putting an extra armor piece that gives Zamtrios a more intense, menacing appearance. Of course, this enhances its attacks as well.
Zamtrios’s other form is so good. It pretty much swells up immensely into a ginormous blob that tries to jump, flail, and roll all over the place in an attempt to crush hunters. All three forms were mountable, so if it returns in Sunbreak, I fully expect it to be rideable in all of them as well. I just want to ride my big blob shark. That single thought was probably the reason I made this list, honestly.