Main Tropes Index

Troperville

Editing Help

Tools

Toys

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

Custom Search
0 reviews
Monster Rancher
Take the Mons fad of the late Nineties and early Noughties. Throw it into a simulation/management game. Add an action-oriented battle system unlike just about anything else out there, a unique method of obtaining monsters, and some truly unforgiving gameplay. Put it all in a blender and press "puree." Season to taste with a few odd RPG elements, and you have the Monster Rancher series in a nutshell. (Or perhaps a pumpkin shell, considering the Panchoes...)

Monster Rancher (known as Monster Farm in Japan) is a console and handheld RPG franchise that combines the heart-pounding battling action and cute critters of a Mons series with the strategy and challenge of a simulation and management game. The premise of most games? You (yes, you, the player) have recently become a "monster breeder"—someone who raises and trains monsters to, well, do what monsters generally do—to fight. Monster battles are an extremely popular sport, and there's good money in raising strong monsters and winning lots of battles. You have a farm or ranch (as the title implies), and every week, you and your monster engage in some activity. You can train them by putting them through exercise routines, go battle, and, occasionally, go on adventures to various regions. The ultimate goal? To Be A Master and win the ultimate cup of the game, whatever that may be. But nothing lasts forever, and eventually, your epic monster will grow old—you must either retire them, or "fuse" them into a new, baby monster and start again. Although a few games have deviated from the basic formula slightly (most strikingly, Monster Rancher EVO, which is one long Unexpected Gameplay Change), but in every Monster Rancher game, you know you'll find certain traits.

The series has gained some renown among gamers for its extremely unique means of obtaining monsters: Rather than running out and catching them, as is the case in most Mons series, you create monsters from "saucer stones." And what are saucer stones? Ordinary CDs and DVDs! By reading something known as "subcode data" off of CDs, games in the Monster Rancher franchise create monsters from pretty much any disc you can stuff into your Playstation. When the series progressed to the Game Boy Advance, it switched to using "passwords" (simple combinations of letters and numbers). And when the series went to the Nintendo DS, it got three new methods of monster creation: Sound (by using the DS microphone), drawings (using the DS touchscreen), and, in a nod to the originals, by reading the data found on GBA carts in the DS's GBA slot.

Despite its semi-famous gimmick, though, Monster Rancher itself remains something of a cult series, at least in America. (It's pretty well known in its native Japan, though.) It did spawn its own late-90's anime series, though, and it did air stateside. If you're looking for a brainier Mons game, you could do worse than this series—Monster Rancher Advance 2 is recommended if you're a total newbie, as it's relatively forgiving compared to other Monster Rancher games.

And it's still only relatively. Another thing about Monster Rancher games? They're hard. Really hard. This is partially due to their depth—despite looking fairly simple, there's a lot that goes on in the background. There are, in fact, entire websites dedicated to plumbing their depths. Here's a pretty good one should you happen to need one. And you most likely will—trust me.

Monster Rancher isn't a series to everyone's taste, but if you get into them, they're actually quite rewarding. There's nothing quite as satisfying as beating an enormous fire-spewing, skeletal white dragon with an adorable, pink-fuzz-covered little girl-monster called a "Pixie."

The games provide examples of:

  • Action Commands: They're not quite standard "action commands," but the battle system is action-oriented without the games being full-on action-RPGs.
  • Artificial Stupidity: In any battle where your monster is forced to "fight for itself," without your instructions—well, let's just say you'll swear they were never that dumb when you were training them.
  • Awesome But Impractical: Due to their high cost and frequently low accuracy, super-powerful moves tend to be a lot less effective overall than smaller moves used more frequently.
  • Boring But Practical: Consequently, spamming your opponent with many smaller moves can be more effective than trying to pull off big ones.
  • Blood Knight: Jokers often ask you to participate in fights, and enjoy it thoroughly.
  • Brother Chuck: Unlike Pokemon, which adds old monsters to new ones, Monster Rancher arbitrarily deletes old monsters with each new game to add new ones. With 71 total breeds and only about 20 coded into each game, odds are that your favorite monster won't be available in a new game, unless you happen to like only the mascots Suezo, Tiger, Mocchi, Pixie, and Golem.
  • Call A Smeerp A Rabbit: the Tiger is a blue wolf with horns, not feline at all.
    • This is something of a case of Dub Induced Plot Hole, as its Japanese name "Rygar", was simply a Shout Out to a classic arcade game of the same name.
  • Cap: Your monster's stats usually cap at 999. In newer games, they can go as high as 2000, but your monster's stats then have a combined stat cap.
  • Cherry Tapping: And how.
  • The Computer Is A Cheating Bastard: "That move only had a 25% chance of hitting! How'd he pull it off three times in a row?!"
  • Continuing Is Painful: Although you won't necessarily get kicked out of a tournament if your monster is KO'd (unless it's explicitly a tier-style tournament), your monster may get severely injured if it's KO'd.
  • Continuity Nod: Lots of references to earlier games in the series pop up throughout the games, and species that haven't been heard from in several games may suddenly be referenced (or even become available) again.
  • Cute Monster Girl - The Pixies.
  • Dance Battler
  • Exactly What It Says On The Tin: The Hares are... giant rabbits. Giant rabbits of adorable cuddly death.
  • Excuse Plot
  • Fartillery: The Hares have a "Gas" attack that does Exactly What It Says On The Tin. Bakus also have the "Foul Wind" attack, which... well, you know.
  • Final Death
  • Fragile Speedster: The Tigers, though their fragility varies with the game you're playing. And to a lesser extent, Hares, and exclusively to 2, Kato.
  • Fridge logic: Why does your creature age/die but all the creatures you fight in the tournaments always available to fight? Even in year 50...
  • Fur Bikini: The Pixies.
  • Glass Cannon: The Hares—they have high speed and attack, but their HP and Defense are... lacking.
  • God: Oddly enough. He appears only in the backstory, however; a disaster struck the world, the people called for help, and the monsters of the game were the result. Then the monsters only caused more problems, so God, exasperated, sealed them away in disc stones.
  • Guide Dang It: Good luck trying to unlock most of the hidden monsters without one! The Beaklon from Monster Rancher 2 is probably the most egregious example, but there are tons.
  • Happy Fun Ball: The Mew is just a stuffed kitty brought to life...with wolverine claws. One of its attacks involve shacking a rattle in front of an enemy with one paw as a distraction before stabbing him in the face with the other.
    • Lots of monster species fall into this category.
      • The Ducken is a children's wooden block toy in the shape of a duck. It tends to fall apart when it's disappointed.
      • The Doodle is a living stick figure. It attacks by blowing up its own head, summoning giant stilletto heels from the sky to stomp on its opponents, and by running them over with a chicken on wheels. No, really.
      • The Monol is even better. It's a giant floating faceless rectangular slab of rock.
      • That's because it's a Shout Out to Two Thousand One A Space Odyssey
      • The Gali is a cape with an Aztec sun mask for a face. It is also able to create psychic projections of limbs for physcal attacks.
  • Hello Insert Name Here: Justified, as the protagonist in most of the games is supposed to be you, the player.
  • Idle Animation: Very nice "standard" animations for all the monsters, too.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Not only do some monsters attack with things like yodels, walnuts, and bells, but there's an entire species of monster (the Monol) that is pretty much its own improbable weapon.
  • Kamehame Hadoken
  • Killed Off For Real: Your monsters die when they get old. You can't get them back.
    • Averted with the Phoenix species, which just fly away to 'return to nature' whenever they get too old, what with Phoenixes being known for their reincarnation, and all. The effect is pretty much the same, though. They never return.
  • Killer Hare
  • Last Lousy Point: Mention Octochrome to a hardcore Monster Rancher Advance 2 player. Watch the tears start to form.
  • Let's Play: Skillfully done by Mr. Swoon, there's a Let's Play for the first game and the second game, where the main character is an abusive drunk. [1] and [2], respectively.
  • Limited Move Arsenal: Type 1 for 1 and 2, Type 2 for 3. Averted in the fourth.
  • Lost Forever: Unfortunately, due not to programming but to Game Breaking Bugs.
  • Magikarp Power: Every single monster, more or less.
  • Mana Drain: Guts drain, actually. Loads of moves use this.
  • The Mario: Or in this case, the Suezo/Mocchi. Mocchis are moreso than Suezos, which skew toward intelligence and have low defense, but Suezo is often treated as an in-universe "Mario."
  • Mighty Glacier: The Golem species. Their attack is so high, they can defeat many monsters in one hit—but they're sssssoo ssssslow...
    • Beaklons are pretty much an insect Expy of the Golem. High attack. High Defense. Slow as molasses.
  • Mons
  • Nintendo Hard: They've gotten slightly easier recently. Slightly. The first two Playstation games, however, were absolutely merciless.
  • No Export For You: The first DS game was never released outside Japan. However, thankfully, its sequel was announced for March 2010.
  • Numbered Sequels
  • Obake: The Baku species, although they don't seem to bear much resemblance to their mythical counterparts. Also, the Ripper species.
  • Palette Swap: More or less every monster was this in the Advance games. They all had different stats and growth patterns, though.
  • Protagonist Without A Past: Justified. You are the protagonist of most games.
  • Quicksand Box: Part of what makes the games Nintendo Hard.
  • Relationship Values
  • Save Scumming: Trying to raise that perfect monster? You'll find yourself saving and resetting a lot.
  • Schizo Tech
  • Serious Business: Justified. Monster battling is a major league sport, with lots of money to be made.
  • Shout Out: A variation in some games, where certain discs will result in exclusive monsters so close to the title or subject of the disc that it's blatantly intentional. For example, a Dead Or Alive game disc creating a Cute Monster Girl based off series heroine Kasumi, or the Rush Hour soundtrack giving a "Kung-Fu Bunny"
    • And you get a living samurai armor suit called a "Shogun" with "Brave Fencer Musashi" in 2.
  • Squishy Wizard: The Pixies, who have very high Intelligence (thus powerful magical abilities), but low Strength, Defense, and Life. They're pretty fast, though.
  • Stone Wall: The Monol species. Both figuratively and literally.
  • Tech Tree
  • That One Boss: More like "that one monster," actually. Especially in the earlier games, certain computer-controlled opponent monsters were noticably harder than others.
    • In 2, essentially every Rank had one of these. In S Rank, every single monster is "That One Boss." Let's not even get started on the major 4...
  • To Be A Master
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change: Pretty much the entirety of Monster Rancher EVO falls into this category.
  • Use Your Head: So many species of monsters have headbutt attacks, it isn't even funny.
  • Vendor Trash: And lots of it, oh boy.
  • Wizard Needs Food Badly

Monsters Rule!
As stated above, the game also produced an anime of the same name. The plot of the series followed the adventures of Genki, a very hyperactive boy (which means "energy") who wins a beta disk of Monster Fight (which has the same properties of the real MR game) in a video game tournament. No sooner then Genki starts it up, he transported within the game where he find there a real world of monsters inside. However its currently in turmoil due to a evil monster named Moo (yes thats his real name) turning monsters evil and ruling the land with an iron fist. Genki joins up with a girl named Holly and her monster Suezō who are on a quest to find and unlock the monster, Phoenix, which is the only known one that can stop Moo. Genki gain his own monster Moochi at the start of the series and soon the group are joined by Golem, Tiger, and Hare in their uphill battle against Moo and his forces. The third season, which featured Durahan (who was an Elite Mook in the second season) as the main big bad, takes place a year later and has the group trying to save Holly's Father soul whose trapped in a dark mystery disk along with Moo after his defeat. However most of the MacGuffins the crew had before are now prizes in a tournament, forcing the crew to enter it to accomplish their goal. All the while dodging attacks from Durahan and his baddies.

The show managed to run for three seasons, two of which aired stateside on syndication, Fox Kids and ABC Family respectively. The third never aired in the U.S., but was dubbed, and is available online to watch. The show was also quite different from the other mon shows at the time (Pokemon, Digimon) in that the human protagonists were not afraid to battle alongside the monsters. While not as famous as its fellow mon series, the anime managed to at least gain a cult following. Many even regard it as a hidden gem among anime for it focus on character development and well done story pacing.

The anime provide example of:

MonsterNoteworthy AnimeMoonlight Lady
Monster LabEastern RPGMr Robot
new edits
forum
page history
edit page
view source
discuss
Creative Commons License
This wiki is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.