History VideoGame / MonsterRancher

* JokeCharacter: Some {{Hidden Character}}s from some games could be considered this, due to their ridicule nature and the fact they never appear again. Since they are sometimes very strong, that makes them LethalJokeCharacters. Particularly [[http://monsterrancher.wikia.com/wiki/Bajarl Bajarl]] (a genie like creature), [[http://monsterrancher.wikia.com/wiki/Disk Disk]] (a living monster disk), [[http://monsterrancher.wikia.com/wiki/Doodle Doodle]] (a living Stick-man) and [[http://monsterrancher.wikia.com/wiki/Wracky Wracky]] (a Chucky-like doll).

** [=LordSmapy=] [[AndZoidberg and aichon]] do [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSLRKWdn1n8 a LP of MR3.]]

** [=BlueThePrairiedog=] has a Let's Play of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR7-A8hJV7o&feature=related MR: EVO up.]]

* StealthPun: Zilla is a [[{{Godzilla}} Gorilla Whale mix]]

** Then there's Ghost from ''2''

** Joker's Real status effect is a good example. When you are having a huge advantage(mostly by hitting with your moves several times in a row) Joker get a huge status buff and damage/hit rate/evasion buff to every stats for a limited time. Its also a case of PowerupLetdown and/or DeadlyUpgrade though. When it ends, you get a huge penalty on your stats so much that if it happen early in the match, you might as well forfeit, making it a sort of HeroicRROD (or in this case, Villainous, since Jokers definitely aren't of the heroic type).

* SuperMode : Every game has special status effect that give status modification or special effect to a monster in specific condition. Theres some that is a species exclusive. In the second game, two is alvailable to every species depend on how good/bad they are.

** Joker's Real status effect is a good example. When you are having a huge advantage(mostly by hitting with your moves several times in a row) Joker get a huge status buff and damage/hit rate/evasion buff to every stats for a limited time. Its also a case of PowerupLetdown and/or DeadlyUpgrade though. When it ends, you get a huge penalty on your stats so much that if it happen early in the match, you might as well forfeit.

** Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Monster Farm Online, the MMORPG. Even if you go through the trouble of singing up for a Japanese account, you can't play it because it blocks all foreign IPs.

** Alternatively using the first game as a Disc Stone in the second game produces a Sueki Suezo who has MASSIVE all around stats including one maxed stats. The Sueki Suezo can only survive for one week, but you can use it to win a couple of Tournaments, including the Free-for-alls to get an extra cash to work with. It is also useful to unlock a couple of a monster species.

** [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghost]] from ''2'' looks like [[CasperTheFriendlyGhost Casper]] except without legs, a beige tint, and a magician's hat.

* DifficultButAwesome: The game as a whole, really. Certain monsters as well, which appear to suffer from CripplingOverspecialization, can be turned to the player's advantage with the right training.

** Joker: Quite possibly the most variable one of the lot, the Joker changed almost completely from its first incarnation--where it was fully corporeal, and had a MonsterClown face--to its second, where it became a floating spirit with RaymanianLimbs and a blank mask face. Then ''that'' changed into a fierce, floating humanoid head.
* ArtShift: ''Monster Rancher 3'' was the first entry to drastically redesign the monsters' appearance, skewed towards {{Kawaisa}}. Perhaps best represented by the Jells, which went from humanoid slimes to 'cuddly' balls of goo.
* ArtificialStupidity: 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. Therefore, it's always the mandatory way to give your monster advice during battles. Unfortunately, that doesn't occur when it is in an errantry facing a wild monster. You'll just have to pray that your monster gets the upper hand in defeating it and in time, since there's a hidden time limit dictating the fight and if it runs out, your monster loses the battle by count out regardless if its life bar is more than the opponent's.
** Controlling the monster in Errantry in the DS game is horrible. You click 50 times in the same spot and then, for some reason, it decides to go in the opposite direction.

* AwesomeButPractical : Lots of example. High level moves with good accuracy is textbook example, particularly those that cost ranges at 40-45. Heavy, hard hitting moves with low guts cost is another good example. However the best example has to be the moves with C damage rating(above average) and A or S hit rate usualy with guts cost at range of 28 - 35. These moves hits rather hard and hits often making it a good choice to spam, and most of them looks pretty nice(Kato blows 2 tornado on the field for example).
** For a specific example, Tiger's Blizzard in most games. It looks cool, being Tigers ultimate/signature move, but it costs rather low and has a good hit rate, damage and critical hit ratio. A lot of huge monsters have lots of these as well to balance their lower guts regen. Golem in the second game, for example, has a move that deals B class damage with B hit rate while only costing 26 in guts.
* BlindIdiotTranslation: Various games across the series have had translation quirks, but the standout is probably ''Battle Card'' for the GameBoy--the whole thing is a mess of pea-souper Engrish, with lines such as [[http://www.zanyvgquotes.com/monsterrancherbattlecard/clicking.png this]], [[http://www.zanyvgquotes.com/monsterrancherbattlecard/help.png this]], and [[http://www.zanyvgquotes.com/monsterrancherbattlecard/learn.png this.]]

* BoringButPractical: Consequently, spamming your opponent with many smaller moves can be more effective than trying to pull off big ones. The downside of this is if you miss a lot, or if you can't KO the enemy fast enough(a common occurence since smaller moves tend to be weaker), you will give a lot of bonus hit rate and damage to your opponent thanks to how the battle system works: your opponent gets a hit rate and damage bonus whenever your monster uses a move, while your monster suffers a hit rate and damage penalty.
** Withering tactics. Using guts burning moves to make your opponent unable to attack or only able to attack with low class moves. Combined with enough speed and skill, this is probably one of the most annoying and effective playstyles as a whole.

** Advance 2 has a notable one. See the entry of ChekhovsGun.

** Holly, the first game's breeder's assistant, appears as a monster breeder herself in the second game to fight you on a certain event that unlocks other monsters.

* ChekhovsGun, doubles with ChekhovsGunman. Ragnaroks(Dragon + Monol) card lore in the second game which is as follow "They say the ancient culture might have been destroyed by it". Like every other card lore, it seems unimportant until it is used in Advance 2 as a fairy tale from Zest's book as a part of an event which is only alvailable if your monster is Angel(Pixie + Gali). Later in the game, you have to face the Ragnaroks itself as a BonusBoss with an Angel to stop it from doing the same to the modern day's culture.
** The Dragon family seems to have a knack to this tropes. [[spoiler: Moo, the BigBad of the anime series is from Dragon family that appears in second game. It also appears in Monster Rancher EVO as the FinalBoss, and its the goal of the enemy to revive Moo, albeit its appearance resembles Death Dragon from the second game than Moo]].

** One of the step to unlock Advance 2 Phoenix is unlocked by getting 5 orbs by raising 5 specific species of monster and do a specific things with them. Those 5 monster are the protagonist of the anime referencing their role as a part of the phoenix.

** In the first ''MonsterRancher Advance'' game, you can get a White Mocchi by using the password "Most"--the name of the infamous White Mocchi BonusBoss in ''2.'' Same case with Pabs from Master Pabs the owner of Most.
** Tesla produce White Suezo, as a nod to Poritoka, the BonusBoss in 2 at the same match as Most.
** Ragnaroks just Ragnaroks
* CreepyDoll: Wracky from 2. The first time you get it, your trainer not only is freaked out by its appearance but is quite disapproving of its character. Even better, she names it Charles, a ShoutOut to ''Film/ChildsPlay.''

* DifficultButAwesome: There are some monsters that despite having ridiculously low numbers in certain stats and low stat gains, they with lots of patience and correct methods, can become incredibly powerful in their own right in battles. Examples include Monol, Undine, Niton, Metalner, and Wracky.
** Another good example is Colorpandora in second game. Its only has 2 generic combination which means its hard to tweak its stats growth, and no monster can has its sub breed which means no stats tweaking for some easy combination results. Its stats is bad in every area except for Life, Skill, and Speed and lifetype means its going to raise its stats slowly. At the same time, it has ridiculously good movepool that covers almost every area you would want it to covers and said area where its good at are the area where you want a monster to excel. At the same time, it has humongous lifespan.
** Another example from 2 is the starting seasonal Market monsters. Mocchi are a defensive god with average stats, but bad movepool. Zuum are completely balanced except for its Inteligence. Suezo ? Its stats are geared towards GlassCannon yet it has not many powerful moves on Intelligence area where it excels(it has average Power). Hare are noted below a GlassCannon, which was plain harder to raise. Arrowheads are StoneWall to its core, but unlike most example, it dont has the sheer offensive power that other simmilar monsters has and its starting stats are notably worse than the other monsters. Gaboo are yet another GlassCannon that is less fragile than Hare thanks to its high Lif.
** The awesome part ? Unlike other starting monster, they are more specialized which means its easier to gain stats in the place where you want it. All of them has notably better movepool than Mocchi(horrendous) and Zuum(JackOfAllStats in movepool form), Suezo is geared towars GradualGrinder, Hares has tons of highly damaging moves, Arrowheads movepool are, to put it simply ideal in every area, and Gaboos has tons of powerful moves(so much that it is the posterboy of ThatOneAttack in the game). Also, theres nothing stopping you from combining them, which gets pretty abusable especialy with Suezo, whose combination with Zuum and vice versa if you [[GuideDangIt know what youre doing]] means that you can create an [[InfinityPlusOneSword InfinityPlusOneMonster]] really early for a pretty huge amount of the alvailable monster.
** Dragon. There's a REALLY good reason that it is considered as one in-universe. Massive offensive stats, but REALLY bad attitude and Guts regenerations. Not to mention a terribly short lifespan. In a sense, it is the hardest monster to train because of this.
** The game in general. If you knew how to get past the GuideDangIt and know the correct method and set ups, the game become ridiculously easy to abuse and complete.
* DumpStat : Averted in earlier game. All stats has a use no matter what your monster and its playstyle is, and you can max them anyway(at least in earlier game). The closest example might be int or pow for monster that don't need them and def or spd. However the former stats also increases defense, the latter is a useful defensive stats. All things considered, defense(pow and int increases defense indirectly) and speed(when attempting pure MightyGlacier) is this.
** Some of the later games have stats cap, making those example a common DumpStats mostly speed (since skill, lif and one side of offensive stats are commonly the favored stats, the advantage of having speed is neutralized and having balanced offense a risky choice thanks to commonly maxed lif and having low defense is just risky since skill and offensive stats is favored)
** This can happen in earlier game as well. An explorer monster only needs defensive stats for battling until it reach the appropriate rank(with some lluck and offensive stats, its actualy possible to ignore them completely). After that, put your stats to power until the point where you can handle every obstacle and put the rest in int and lif.

** [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghost]] from ''2'' looks exactly like [[CasperTheFriendlyGhost Casper]] except without legs, has a beige tint, and sports a magician's hat.

* GameBreakingBug: ''DS'' (the translated version of Japan's ''DS 2'') seems to be positively riddled with them. Most of them are freezing bugs, which are nasty since resetting the game incurs massive monster penalties--the most peculiar of which involves monsters finding textureless white items during the Kawrea Volcano errantry. But one Magic Spel glitch can ''prevent you from combining monsters forever.'' Ouch.
* GeniusBruiser: Dragons have very high attack and intelligence, balanced out by sub-par speed, very slow guts regenartion, an extremely short lifespan, and a bad attitude.

* GlassCannon: The Hares; they have high speed and physical attack, but their average HP and "exceptional" Defense are... lacking. On 2, Katos are intelligence versions of Hare. In fact, a lot of smaller monsters are this, having nice attack power but lousy defense. Suezo has nice attack and int., and skill but lacking in speed, defense and life.
** However thanks to the defense calculating system, a monster can't become a pure GlassCannon. Essentially, power and int takes a lot of part for reducing damage taken, maybe even more than defense. This translates into Hare becoming LightningBruiser against power based mon and Kato becoming the same for intelligence.

* GuideDangIt: [[GuideDangIt/MonsterRancher Has its own subpage for them.]] The games make you think they seem accessible to a casual gamer, but when you're about to get started, [[RealityEnsues you'll soon realize that they aren't Pokemon.]]

** The game as a whole, though is a total aversion of this, especially in the earlier installment. The effect of knowledge of the game system and learning curve is really apparent and taken to another level. So much that in the second PSX game (one of the harder ones, though ultimately one of the best ones [[GuideDangIt if you can be able to know your way around it]]), when a clueless beginner and intermediate player played the game for several years in game time and spent a lot of time to beat the game (read: Major Four and Legend Cup) and fail or barely manage to do it and usually ending with a mon with rather disappointing stats and cap at 3 years even with long lasting species. An expert can do the same in ONE day and at the same time producing a monster that only fails to reach the stats Cap of 1-2 stats that last 5-6 years. Yes, it's THAT ridiculous.

* JackOfAllStats: Mocchis.
** Unless its the second installment. To clarify, it has high speed, skill and defense and average everything else, and overall the best stats in the game. Thanks to having 3 above average stats, its definitely not a JackOfAllStats, while its too fast to become MightyGlacier AND too sturdy to be considered FragileSpeedster. Its more of a defensive god of sorts thanks to having good defensive stats and the [[GuideDangIt hidden mocchi luck factor]]. Also thanks to this, if Mocchi is combined with say, Dragon, it become a LightningBruiser at a cost of its speed being average. The only thing stopping Mocchi from being GameBreaker is its lousy movepool
** It should be noted, in second installment, Mocchi has, bar none the best stats in the game, number wise. It has good speed, good skill, good defense and average everywhere else, therefore making it too bulky to be a FragileSpeedster while too weak to become LightningBruiser(moreso thanks to its bad movepool) making it more of a defensive beast thanks to its high defense and speed and its [[GuideDangIt Luck Factor]]. However thanks to this, if you combine Mocchi with monster that has good offense stats(notably Dragon), it turns into a straight LightningBruiser.
** Another example from second game, Zuums. Average in everything, bad in intelligence, good in skill and has a +1 bonus in Lif. However theres no hard drill that focused on increasing Skill and Lif to balance this out. This become a litteral example when combined with Suezo or Gali which results in a monster that is average in everything and good in skill.

** Ghost from ''2'' looks exactly like [[CasperTheFriendlyGhost Casper]] except without legs, has a beige tint, and sports a magician's hat.

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: A sort of meta-example in ''DS.'' In all the previous games, the idea has ''always'' been: Even if you're training a Gali, Monol, or Magic--which are supposedly ''[[OlympusMons gods in human form]]''--you have to train hard and work a lot to get a truly butt-whooping monster. Then the DS game introduces the Xenon species, which is [[LightningBruiser better at everything]] and can dominate with its ''basic attacks'' due to their high damage, accuracy, and Guts drop rates. Sorry, Gali...
** The game as a whole, though is a total aversion of this, especialy in the earlier installment. The effect of knowledge of the game system and learning curve is really apparent and taken to another level. So much that in the second PSX game(one of the harder one), when a clueless begginer and intermidiate player played the game for several years in game time and spent a lot of time to beat the game(read : Major Four and Legend Cup) and fail or barely manage to do it and usualy ending with a mon with rather dissapointing stats and cap at 3 years even with long lasting species, An expert can do the same in ONE day and at the same time producing a monster that only fails to reach the stats Cap of 1-2 stats that last 5-6 year. Yes, its THAT ridiculous

** 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.

* GlassCannon: The Hares; they have high speed and physical attack, but their average HP and "exceptional" Defense are... lacking. On 2, Katos are intelligence version of Hare. In fact, a lot of smaller monster are this, having nice attack power but lousy defense. Suezo has nice attack and int, and skill but lacking in speed, defense and lif

* GlassCannon: The Hares--they have high speed and physical attack, but their average HP and "exceptional" Defense are... lacking. On 2, Katos are intteligence version of hare. In fact, a lot of smaller monster are this, having nice attack power but lousy defense. Suezo has nice attack and int, and skill but lacking in speed, defense and lif
** However thanks to the defense calculating system, a monster can't become a pure GlassCannon. Essentialy, power and int takes a lot of part for reducing damage taken, maybe even more than defense. This translates into Hare becoming LightningBruiser against power based mon and Kato becoming the same for intelligence.

* WizardNeedsFoodBadly
* StealthPun: Zilla is a [[{{Godzilla}} Gorilla Whale mix]]